#16

Bryson Barnes

Senior quarterback for Utah State. 2025: 2,802 passing yards, 18 TD, 5 INT.

QB · Utah State · Sr. · #16

6′2″ · 210 lb · Milford, UT

CFB Index 60 · #43 of 146 QBsHigh confidenceAll-ConferenceReturning to Utah State for 2026

Next upSat Sep 19 · 3:30 pm ETat UtahRice-Eccles StadiumUtah by 28

The numbers

2,802

passing yards · 2025

18 TD · 5 INT · 7.9 per attempt

Backed by 15 car · 44 yds · 3 TD -- top 1% rushing TDs game.

The play that turned itSwung Utah State from 28% to 75% to win.Utah State at UNLV · 29-26

His career numbers, season by season

The story

4 quarterback for Utah State. 2025: 2,802 passing yards, 18 TD, 5 INT.

Transferred from Utah to Utah State in 2024.

The full story, with sources

How he plays

Extends plays with his feet until something opens up.

Interception rate: 89th percentile.

The full scouting read

Bryson Barnes

QB · Utah State · Sr · #16

Extends plays with his feet until something opens up. Bryson Barnes has played for three head coaches across five seasons and two programs. He has been named All-Mountain West two seasons running, most recently in 2025. The receipt on tape: 326 pass yds, 54 rush yds against San José State, Week 8, 2025.

Low coverage — composed from the verified record.

positional archetype classification
head-coach lineage
recognition record
game log

2025 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2021Utah10-4HC: Kyle Whittingham · Run-leaning

2022Utah10-4HC: Kyle Whittingham · Run-leaning

2023Utah8-5HC: Kyle Whittingham · Run-heavy

2024Utah State4-8HC: Nate Dreiling · Balanced

2025Utah State6-7HC: Bronco Mendenhall · Balanced

Where this profile ranks vs the QB cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles

60Quality starter #43 of 146?

High confidenceAscending13 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: interception rate (89th percentile). Strength: rush yards (93rd percentile). Concern: sack rate (6th percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

Interception rate#20 / 183 · 89th pct

1.1%

Explosive rate#88 / 183 · 52nd pct

9.3%

Success rate#91 / 183 · 51st pct

40.5%

EPA / dropback#117 / 183 · 36th pct

0.14

Sack rate#172 / 183 · 6th pct

9.7%

Box-score rates (8)

Rush yards#14 / 183 · 93rd pct

740

Rush TDs#14 / 183 · 91st pct

Yards / att#44 / 183 · 75th pct

7.9

Pass yards#47 / 183 · 75th pct

2802

Pass TDs#49 / 183 · 72nd pct

Interceptions#53 / 183 · 67th pct

Completion %#125 / 183 · 32nd pct

59.3%

Fumbles lost#132 / 174 · 18th pct

Season trend

Last seasonThis season

EPA / dropback

31st → 36th percentile

Success rate

57th → 51st percentile

Explosive rate

67th → 52nd percentile

Sack rate

58th → 6th percentile

Interception rate

6th → 89th 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 · True throw depth (charted plays)

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

203/354 (57.3%) · 18 TD · 5 INT

354 of 356 attempts matched to play-by-play

149 of 354 attempts charted for true throw depth

Adjusted ANY/A

6.9370 of 206 QBs

Sack rate

9.6%191 of 206 QBs

Sacked on 9.6% of dropbacks (191 of 206) — and still 70 of 206 in Adjusted ANY/A.

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

Behind LOS · Negative air yds

15% of attempts (23)

91%comp1 INT

Air -2.7 · YAC 7.7 avg

Short · 0–9 air yds

35% of attempts (52)

56%comp

Air 4.2 · YAC 4.3 avg

Middle · 10–19 air yds

33% of attempts (49)

47%comp

Air 14.7 · YAC 4.2 avg

Deep · 20+ air yds

17% of attempts (25)

28%comp1 INT

Air 27.2 · YAC 8.9 avg

Overall 57.3% completion on 354 attempts · 28% completion on 25 deep attempts (20+ air yds).

Situational

Is he a different quarterback when it matters

Each situation vs his own 2025 baseline

No situation moves him more than 8 percentile points from his baseline.

BaselineThis situation

Down 1

-8 pct pts vs baseline · sacks 10/145 (6.9%) · league sack rate 4.2% · ~our read

Down 2

+8 pct pts vs baseline · sacks 11/111 (9.9%) · league sack rate 4.5% · ~our read

Down 3+

+2 pct pts vs baseline · sacks 15/104 (14.4%) · league sack rate 7.8% · ~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

2025 season · 13 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	YDS/g	TD/g	YPA	INT/g
Home7g	247	1.4	9.3	0.3
Road6g	179	1.3	6.4	0.5

First half vs Second half

	YDS/g	TD/g	YPA	INT/g
Weeks 1-77g	205	1.7	8.2	0.4
Weeks 8+6g	228	1.0	7.6	0.3

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Bronco Mendenhall

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

Awards

Player standing · 2025

All-Conference

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

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

60 · #43 of 146 QBs

Unranked recruit. Now #43 at the position.

2026 outlook

In the mix for All-Pac-12

Based on 2025: #3 of 14 Mountain West QBs — his program moves to the Pac-12 for 2026

How the All-Pac-12 estimate is computed

49% estimated, 95% confidence interval 43–54%. Base rate measured from players who finished at a comparable rank in their conference and came back the next season. It is an estimate from a small sample, not a forecast of this player. The base rate was measured on players who stayed in the same conference; this estimate is not adjusted for the move to the Pac-12.

Career stats

Season	Team
2025	Utah State	211	356	59.3%	2,802	7.9	18	5	139.3	25	--	--
2024	Utah State	77	126	61.1%	856	6.8	12	6	140.1	46	--	--
2023	Utah	142	242	58.7%	1,572	6.5	12	11	120.5	36	--	--
2022	Utah	37	57	64.9%	430	7.5	4	2	144.4	--	--	--
2021	Utah	2	2	100.0%	23	11.5	1	0	361.6	--	--	--
Career		469	783	59.9%	5,683	7.3	47	24	134.5	32	--	--

Season	Team
2025	Utah State	189	740	3.9	10	--
2024	Utah State	68	530	7.8	5	--
2023	Utah	89	277	3.1	3	--
2022	Utah	20	116	5.8	0	--
2021	Utah	1	10	10.0	0	--
Career		367	1,673	4.6	18	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 4 · 2025

W 48–7

vs McNeese

293 yds · 3 TD · 1 INT · QBR 90.7 · 128 rush yds (13 car) · 2 TD

Dominant 41-point win at home against McNeese.

With M. Davis — 118 rush yds (13 car) · 1 TD · L. Rehkow — 56 AVG · 60 LONG · 2 NO

Signature plays

Signature plays · top plays by |EPA|

The plays that mattered most

fact

Week 8 · San José State · 3&9 · Q3 · EPA +7.07Bryson Barnes pass complete to Anthony Garcia for 74 yds for a TD (Tanner Rinker KICK)
Week 12 · UNLV · 3&6 · Q4 · EPA +6.17Bryson Barnes 58 Yd Run (Tanner Rinker Kick)
Week 3 · Air Force · 2&10 · Q2 · EPA +5.34Braden Pegan 54 Yd pass from Bryson Barnes (Tanner Rinker Kick)
Week 4 · McNeese · 3&7 · Q1 · EPA +5.16Kahanu Davis 45 Yd pass from Bryson Barnes (Two-Point Pass Conversion Failed)
Week 3 · Air Force · 3&9 · Q3 · EPA +4.74Braden Pegan 38 Yd pass from Bryson Barnes (Tanner Rinker Kick)
Week 4 · McNeese · 2&5 · Q1 · EPA +4.45Bryson Barnes pass complete to Brady Boyd for 53 yds for a TD (Tanner Rinker KICK) (Tanner Rinker KICK)
Week 11 · Nevada · 1&10 · Q1 · EPA +4.10(13:21) No Huddle-Shotgun #16 B.Barnes pass complete deep left to #5 B.Boyd caught at NEV30, for 53 yards to the NEV00 TOUCHDOWN, clock 13:19, 1ST DOWN #14 T.Rinker kick attempt good (H: #16 L.Rehkow, LS: #13 H.Hatch)
Week 1 · UTEP · 1&10 · Q2 · EPA +4.01Broc Lane 52 Yd pass from Bryson Barnes (Tanner Rinker Kick)
Week 14 · Boise State · 4&2 · Q4 · EPA -3.90(15:00) Shotgun #16 B.Barnes rush left for 2 yards loss to the BSU14 (#10 D.Ganter Jr.; #51 R.Caywood), TURNOVER ON DOWNS
Week 1 · Washington State · 3&8 · Q1 · EPA -3.84No Huddle-Shotgun #16 B.Barnes pass intercepted by #23 M.Durrance at WSU00, Touchback

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2025 season · 13 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	CMP/ATT	YDS	TD	INT	YPA	QBR	Note
Wk 1	W 28-16vs UTEP	19/28	233	1	0	8.3	45.8
Wk 2	L 22-44@ Texas A&M	15/30	169	2	0	5.6	19.0
Wk 3	W 49-30vs Air Force	17/22	287	2	0	13.0	78.0	Clean 2-TD game
Wk 4	W 48-7vs McNeese	19/27	293	3	1	10.9	90.7	3 TD passes
Wk 5	L 35-55@ Vanderbilt	15/22	161	3	0	7.3	77.1	3 TD passes
Wk 7	L 26-44@ Hawai'i	14/26	175	1	1	6.7	28.5
Wk 8	W 30-25vs San José State	22/31	326	1	0	10.5	62.0	Season-high 326 yds
Wk 9	L 14-33@ New Mexico	13/23	164	1	1	7.1	24.6
Wk 11	W 51-14vs Nevada	20/27	288	3	0	10.7	88.9	3 TD passes
Wk 12	L 26-29@ UNLV	19/38	256	1	0	6.7	65.7
Wk 13	W 28-17@ Fresno State	16/30	150	0	1	5.0	70.6
Wk 14	L 24-25vs Boise State	13/31	184	0	0	5.9	33.0
Bowl	L 21-34vs Washington State	9/21	116	0	1	5.5	5.7
Total		211/356	2802	18	5	7.9	53.0

How he plays

Play style

Makes plays with feet when the pocket collapses. Efficiency still on the rise.

CFB Index positional classification

Checkdown vs gunslinger · 3rd-and-long

Where the completions actually land

fact

41.7%Completion %

17.5%Conversion/dropback

50.0%Land short of sticks

2INTs

41.7% completion on 3rd-and-8+, but only 17.5% conversion-per-dropback — 50.0% 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

8/133rd/4th & short

9/20Inside-5 share

8 of 13 on 3rd/4th-and-2-or-less (61.5%). 9 of the team's 20 inside-the-5 carries (45.0%).

2026 Outlook

Utah State

Preseason read · May 27

2026 Depth chart

Returning starter

Quarterback · Utah State