Kalieb Osborne

#7 · QB · UConn6′4″ · 218 lb · Pontiac, MI · Waterford Mott

ZPR4864th of 119 QBsLast gameL 26–35at Air Force · Oct 31
Nextvs North CarolinaSat Nov 7 · 12 pm ET
via uconnhuskies.com ↗

Graded Solid or better in each of the last two games.

Last game: L 26-35 at Air Force, Oct 31 · 17 of 33 for 263 yards, 2 touchdowns · 8 carries for 10 yards. Started all eight of UConn’s games.

UConn’s next game: vs North Carolina, Sat Nov 7, 12:00 p.m. ET · CBS Sports Network

UConn is 4-4 in the eight games played. A vertical passer.

Strongest: an interception on 1.0% of throws, 25th lowest of 158 starters. Weakest: sacked on 9% of dropbacks, 14th highest of 158 starters.

Passing yards

1,857

129 of 215, 60%

TD–INT

14–2

8.6 per throw

NCAA rating

152.2

34th of 119

ZPR

48

64th of 119

How ZPR works

Solid or better in 6 of 8 graded games.

  • No interceptions in the last four games.

Best by our grade: at Southern Miss. Lowest: at Miami (OH), with 1 interception. Best play: Completion for 25 yards, touchdown, against Syracuse, overtime 0:00. Win chance 55% to 78%.

Tap a game for its plays

Q1Q2Q3Q4

Season

Fades after halftime

How to read this

Each column is a quarter. Blue and up is a good stretch for the quarterback, red and down a bad one, hatched means the game was already decided. A red cross is a turnover and a black dot a touchdown. The word on the right grades the whole game; on games with a lot of running it grades the passing only. A gold line means the r/CFB game thread kept naming the quarterback. Tap a game to open its plays: each bar is one of the quarterback’s plays, up helped the team’s chance of winning and down hurt it, and the grey line is that chance.

The word grades the game against every FBS quarterback start, from Rough to Great, using the same throws as the season Zeitgeist Passer Rating and adjusting for the defense faced. Bars are points added per throw in that quarter. The Season row leaves out quarters after a game was decided.

Style of play

Vertical passer

Also: explosive runner, big-play arm

Why this word
Runs6.5 a gameRarelyA lot
Throws12.0 yards past the lineShortDeep
Completes59% by play-by-playFewerMore
Takes sacks9% of dropbacksRarelyOften

The dot is this quarterback, among this season’s starters; the tick is the middle.

Throws deeper than most and runs some. 6.5 carries a game. Closest matches: Purdie, DeShields ’25, Sheppard, Kaliakmanis ’25.

Where the throws go

Behind the line13%typical 17%
Short37%typical 47%
Middle27%typical 22%
Deep23%typical 14%

Runs 6.5 times a game; 74% of starters run less.

Closest in style

PurdieDeShields ’25SheppardKaliakmanis ’25This QB

Nearer the middle means more alike.

  • Purdie Liberty · Vertical passer
    1,453 yards, 10 TD, 1 INT so far. Both score a lot and protect the ball.
  • DeShields ’25 Kent State 2025 · Vertical passer
    2,030 yards, 18 TD, 3 INT. Both protect the ball and rarely throw behind the line.
  • Sheppard Temple · Chain-mover
    1,245 yards, 8 TD, 3 INT so far. Both rarely throw behind the line and score a lot.
  • Kaliakmanis ’25 Rutgers 2025 · Vertical passer
    3,124 yards, 20 TD, 7 INT. Drafted in round 7 (No. 223 overall) by Washington, 2026. Both throw deep and rarely throw behind the line.

Compared with the 158 FBS starters this season for throws and running, and with 219 quarterbacks across 2 seasons for the matches, on how they play and how they have done.

This week

  • RecordUConn is 4-4.
  • What fans say

    Over the last few games, UConn fans have been high on Osborne.

    “Osborne is really the only one I trust in this offense so far”

    From r/CFB game thread. Read by AI.

What’s being said

5 stories in the last 30 days, from 5 outlets.

Oct 21: 1Oct 23: 2Oct 25: 1Oct 27: 1W 34-20 at TempleWW 35-16 vs MassachusettsWL 26-35 at Air ForceLOct 6Nov 4Most in a day: 2
Oct 21: 1Oct 23: 2Oct 25: 1Oct 27: 1W 34-20 at TempleWW 35-16 vs MassachusettsWL 26-35 at Air ForceLOct 6Nov 4Most in a day: 2
Stories per day. W and L: the team’s results.

Kalieb Osborne, Shamar Porter guide UConn to 35-16 victory over UMass

CT Insider +1 Oct 25

All 20 stories this season

Worth knowing

  • Kalieb Osborne has 7 rushing touchdowns, tied for 7th among FBS quarterbacks.
  • Kalieb Osborne spent two seasons at Toledo before this one.

His most important play this season

  1. Q1, 4:39 · UConn tiedKalieb Osborne finds Jediyah Willoughby for a 36-yard touchdownMaryland at UConn, week 2Q1, 4:39 · UConn 7, Maryland 0UConn opened the scoringUConn opened the scoringK.Osborne pass complete deep right to J.Willoughby caught at UM00, for 36 yards to the UM00 touchdown, 1ST DOWN, kick goodWatch from this play CBS Sports College Football

All 2 of his plays on video

Kalieb Osborne

QB · UConn · #7

Filling the Shoesas of Nov 4

Kalieb Osborne takes over from Joe Fagnano at UConn.

1,857passing yards14passing TD346rushing yards

PRODUCES ABOVE PERCEPTION · PCTL GAP

+28

perception vs production percentile · 2026

Fans price the perception around the 25th percentile; the tape produces at the 53rd — so where is the credit?

Read the story so far

Kalieb Osborne arrived as a 3-star prospect. Kalieb Osborne lines up at QB for UConn.

On the field, the headline is 1,857 pass yds, with 14 pass td.

Kalieb Osborne inherited the QB job from Joe Fagnano.

The number to watch: +28 — produces above perception · pctl gap.

QB successionleap of faith
  • Inherited fromJoe Fagnano
  • Pushed byJake Merklinger 4★
  • How many games until Jake Merklinger (4★) takes the job from Kalieb Osborne?

AI-generated narrative · may contain errors · not journalism · updated 2026-11-04