#16

Austin Reed

Senior quarterback for Western Kentucky. 2023: 3,324 passing yards, 31 TD, 11 INT.

QB · Western Kentucky · Sr. · #16

6′2″ · 220 lb · Saint Augustine Beach, FL

CFB Index 59 · #46 of 140 QBsHigh confidenceAll-ConferenceWestern Kentucky 2023 alumnus

The story

4 quarterback for Western Kentucky. 2023: 3,324 passing yards, 31 TD, 11 INT.

Transferred from Western Kentucky to Western Kentucky in 2023.
Named Conference USA Newcomer of the Year in 2022.

His career, year by year

How it ended

Two seasons at Western Kentucky, 8,071 passing yards — his college career is complete.

His career

He was winning awards before he was old enough to be a story.

202214 games

Entered the portal
Conference USA Newcomer of the Yearwinner
All-Conference USAsecond

202312 games

Entered the portal
All-Conference USAhonorable_mention

Career arc

Recruit

—

No recruit profile

CFB

College

Western Kentucky

2022–2023

NFL

NFL Draft

—

Not drafted

Trophy case · Confirmed honors

What the selectors said

6 honors · 1 category

🎖

ALL-CONFERENCE USA

All-Conference USA mention (2023)

2023 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2 seasons under Tyson Helton, all pass-leaning offenses — 17-10 over that span.

2022Western Kentucky9-5HC: Tyson Helton · Pass-leaning

2023Western Kentucky8-5HC: Tyson Helton · Pass-leaning

Where this profile ranks vs the QB cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles

59Quality starter #46 of 140?

High confidence13 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: sack rate (98th percentile). Strength: pass tds (96th percentile). Concern: interceptions (9th percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

Sack rate#4 / 177 · 98th pct

1.5%

EPA / dropback#52 / 177 · 71st pct

0.36

Interception rate#80 / 177 · 55th pct

0.4%

Success rate#88 / 177 · 50th pct

41.7%

Explosive rate#108 / 177 · 39th pct

9.4%

Box-score rates (8)

Pass TDs#8 / 179 · 96th pct

Fumbles lost#1 / 167 · 93rd pct

Pass yards#22 / 179 · 88th pct

3324

Rush TDs#49 / 179 · 67th pct

Completion %#84 / 179 · 53rd pct

61.5%

Yards / att#93 / 179 · 47th pct

7.1

Rush yards#100 / 179 · 44th pct

100

Interceptions#159 / 179 · 9th pct

Season trend

Last seasonThis season

EPA / dropback

74th → 71st percentile

Success rate

72nd → 50th percentile

Explosive rate

83rd → 39th percentile

Sack rate

96th → 98th percentile

Interception rate

72nd → 55th percentile

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season. Most bars are box-score rates; EPA / success-rate bars are computed from real play-by-play (offense only — no defensive EPA model exists yet).

Passing profile

Pass Profile · Completions by yards gained (PBP)

Adjusted ANY/A, sack rate, and where the yards came from

284/456 (62.3%) · 31 TD · 11 INT

456 of 470 attempts matched to play-by-play

Adjusted ANY/A

7.1470 of 212 QBs

Sack rate

1.5%9 of 212 QBs

Rarely sacked (9 of 212 QBs) and still 70 of 212 in Adjusted ANY/A.

Adjusted ANY/A uses full-season box-score totals (attempts, yards, TDs, INTs); sack rate is play-by-play-derived.

Short

0–9 yds

56%of completions

160 comp4.3 yds avg8 TD

Middle

10–19 yds

29%of completions

81 comp14.1 yds avg5 TD

Deep

20+ yds

15%of completions

43 comp34.0 yds avg17 TD

Overall 62.3% completion on 456 attempts · 43 deep completions averaging 34.0 yds.

Situational

Is he a different quarterback when it matters

Each situation vs his own 2023 baseline

+58

percentile points better on third down or later

BaselineThis situation

Down 1

-31 pct pts vs baseline · sacks 2/165 (1.2%) · league sack rate 4.9% · ~our read

Down 2

-13 pct pts vs baseline · sacks 1/150 (0.7%) · league sack rate 5.2% · ~our read

Down 3+

+58 pct pts vs baseline · sacks 3/122 (2.5%) · league sack rate 9.1% · ~our read

Deltas are vs. this player’s own season baseline, never a league average. League sack rate by down is shown as context because sack attribution isn’t incompletion-denominated.

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2023 season · 12 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	YDS/g	TD/g	YPA	INT/g
Home6g	319	3.0	7.6	1.2
Road6g	235	2.2	6.6	0.7

First half vs Second half

	YDS/g	TD/g	YPA	INT/g
Weeks 1-76g	278	2.3	6.9	0.5
Weeks 8+6g	276	2.8	7.3	1.3

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Tyson Helton

Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.

Awards

Player standing · 2023

All-Conference

Picked for an all-conference team by at least one selector.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

59 · #46 of 140 QBs

Career stats

Season	Team
2023	Western Kentucky	289	470	61.5%	3,324	7.1	31	11	138.0	45	--	--
2022	Western Kentucky	390	602	64.8%	4,747	7.9	40	11	149.3	70	--	--
Career		679	1,072	63.3%	8,071	7.5	71	22	144.3	58	--	--

Season	Team
2023	Western Kentucky	42	100	2.4	4	--
2022	Western Kentucky	90	232	2.6	8	--
Career		132	332	2.5	12	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 2 · 2023

W 52–22

vs Houston Christian

253 yds · 4 TD · 0 INT · QBR 74.0 · 14 rush yds (4 car) · 1 TD

Dominant 30-point win at home against Houston Christian.

With E. Messer — 18 rush yds (1 car) · T. Ellard — 39 AVG · 41 LONG · 3 NO

Signature plays

Signature plays · top plays by |EPA|

The plays that mattered most

fact

Week 11 · New Mexico State · 3&7 · Q1 · EPA +6.93Austin Reed pass complete to Elijah Young for 72 yds for a TD (Lucas Carneiro KICK)
Week 12 · Sam Houston · 2&7 · Q4 · EPA +6.53Austin Reed pass complete to Malachi Corley for 75 yds for a TD (Lucas Carneiro KICK)
Week 6 · Louisiana Tech · 2&5 · Q1 · EPA +5.98Austin Reed pass complete to Malachi Corley for 70 yds for a TD (Lucas Carneiro KICK)
Week 1 · South Florida · 1&25 · Q3 · EPA +5.83Austin Reed pass complete to Moussa Barry for 51 yds for a TD (Lucas Carneiro KICK)
Week 6 · Louisiana Tech · 3&6 · Q2 · EPA +5.32Austin Reed pass complete to Malachi Corley for 48 yds for a TD (Lucas Carneiro KICK)
Week 9 · Liberty · 1&10 · Q4 · EPA +5.05Austin Reed pass complete to River Helms for 63 yds for a TD (Two-Point Conversion failed)
Week 9 · Liberty · 3&6 · Q4 · EPA +4.83Austin Reed pass complete to Elijah Young for 43 yds for a TD Liberty Penalty, Defensive Offside (Jerome Jolly Jr.) declined (Two-Point Conversion failed)
Week 6 · Louisiana Tech · 2&24 · Q2 · EPA +4.62Austin Reed pass complete to Malachi Corley for 29 yds for a TD (Lucas Carneiro KICK)
Week 9 · Liberty · 4&13 · Q4 · EPA +4.60Austin Reed pass complete to Malachi Corley for 21 yds for a TD (Lucas Carneiro KICK)
Week 13 · Florida International · 3&3 · Q3 · EPA +4.57Austin Reed pass complete to K.D. Hutchinson for 45 yds for a TD (Lucas Carneiro KICK)

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2023 season · 12 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	CMP/ATT	YDS	TD	INT	YPA	QBR	Note
Wk 1	W 41-24vs South Florida	29/50	336	2	0	6.7	52.9	Clean 2-TD game
Wk 2	W 52-22vs Houston Christian	27/33	253	4	0	7.7	74.0	4 TD passes
Wk 3	L 10-63@ Ohio State	21/37	207	1	1	5.6	75.1
Wk 4	L 24-27@ Troy	24/40	275	2	0	6.9	73.8	Clean 2-TD game
Wk 5	W 31-10vs Middle Tennessee	30/52	297	2	1	5.7	54.8
Wk 6	W 35-28@ Louisiana Tech	19/34	297	3	1	8.7	72.5	3 TD passes
Wk 8	L 17-20@ Jacksonville State	24/48	250	2	1	5.2	44.6
Wk 9	L 29-42vs Liberty	30/44	365	4	1	8.3	60.5	4 TD passes
Wk 10	W 21-13@ UTEP	11/20	102	1	1	5.1	45.9
Wk 11	L 29-38vs New Mexico State	20/36	270	3	1	7.5	65.0	3 TD passes
Wk 12	W 28-23vs Sam Houston	28/41	392	3	4	9.6	39.2	Season-high 392 yds · 4 INTs — rough day
Wk 13	W 41-28@ Florida International	26/35	280	4	0	8.0	84.6	4 TD passes
Total		289/470	3324	31	11	7.1	61.9

How he plays

Play style

Balanced passer who operates within the system, without one standout number carrying the profile.

CFB Index positional classification

Checkdown vs gunslinger · 3rd-and-long

Where the completions actually land

fact

57.8%Completion %

37.0%Conversion/dropback

34.6%Land short of sticks

0INTs

57.8% completion on 3rd-and-8+, but only 37.0% conversion-per-dropback — 34.6% of completions land short of the sticks.

Where completions land is fact — whether incompletions were aimed deep is intent, not recorded here, so this card counts completions only. ~ our read: checkdown by design

Short-yardage / goal-line · enumeration

Who gets the tough yard

fact

9/123rd/4th & short

9 of 12 on 3rd/4th-and-2-or-less (75.0%).