2020 Mountain West Football Top 50 Players: #31, Colorado State QB Patrick O’Brien
The Rams quarterback lands on our list of Mountain West football’s best players for 2020.
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At the helm of a potent offense.
It isn’t easy stepping into the breach when your team’s situation at quarterback starts falling apart, but the next player on our countdown of Mountain West football’s top players, Colorado State’s Patrick O’Brien, more than held his own.
O’Brien only played sparingly in the first two weeks of the 2019 season, but when incumbent starter Collin Hill tore his ACL, the transfer from Nebraska helped put the passing game in gear, completing 7-of-10 passes for 106 yards and a touchdown. The next week against Toledo, he threw for 405 yards, and he ultimately finished the year completing 61.8% of his attempts for 2,803 yards and 13 touchdowns against seven interceptions, ranking third among qualifying quarterbacks in the conference with a 140.04 passer rating and leading that group with 8.3 yards per attempt.
With Hill gone to South Carolina, O’Brien enters 2020 as one of the rarest things in the Mountain West: An unquestioned starter at quarterback. And with a talented crew of pass catchers at his disposal, he’ll be the key to whatever rebound the Rams have.
