7/16/2023 football Edit

BeaversEdge Top 25 For 2023: No. 14 Ben Gulbranson

Brenden Slaughter • BeaversEdge

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In the months leading up to the start of fall camp, BeaversEdge.com will be counting down the Top 25 Oregon State football players on the 2023 roster.

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MORE: Beavers Add Hawaii OL Rustin Young | OSU Baseball Adds WSU Transfer | A Closer Look At OSU's 10 Commits | Inside The Dam: How Things Are Shaping Up

No. 14 Ben Gulbranson

No. 17

6-foot-3, 214-pounds

Quarterback

Rs-So.

Newbury Park, Calif.

Newbury Park HS

2022 Stats: Played in 10 games (eight starts) - 121-of-194 (62.4%) for 1,455 yards and nine touchdowns. Also ran for 52 yards and five touchdowns while recording one catch

2022 Recap

Entering the season as one of the backup quarterback options behind starter Chance Nolan, Gulbranson figured to see action sparingly as he didn't play in 2021 due to injury and saw just 11 snaps in the season finale against Arizona State in 2020.

However, due to an injury to Nolan against Utah in week five, the door opened for Gulbranson to take the reins of the Oregon State offense and he did just that over the final eight games. Gulbranson went 7-1 as a starter, notching wins over Stanford, WSU, Colorado, Cal, Arizona State, Oregon, and Florida while falling to Washington in Seattle.

Per PFF, Gulbranson finished with an overall offensive score of 63.5, and a passing grade of 62.8 For perspective, the last time OSU had a starting quarterback PFF score in that range was 2016...

The transition from Nolan to Gulbranson wasn't without its ups and downs and lack of clarity, but Ben was the guy for the rest of the season and got better as it went along and was playing his best football by the time the Las Vegas Bowl rolled around, earning MVP honors...

However, there was a reason the Beavers took the to the transfer portal and added DJ Uiagalelei to the roster. As good as Gulbranson was at guiding the offense in his best moments, there were times when it was clear there were some limitations, notably with deep ball passing and accuracy.

Gulbranson averaged 145 yards passing per contest, and some of that was by design, but some was out of necessity as the Beavers' best offensive option was running the ball over and over again, and the Oregon game was the punctuation on that point.

However, Gulbranson was as good of a 'game manager' as you could have asked for given the circumstances and his lack of in-game experience when taking the reins. Going 7-1 against Pac-12 competition is very impressive regardless of circumstance, and he most importantly took care of the ball, with only three interceptions as a starter.

2023 Outlook

Entering fall camp, Gulbranson finds himself in a unique position as he's entrenched in a three-way quarterback battle with two highly-touted prospects in Clemson transfer DJ Uiagalelei and four-star freshman Aidan Chiles.

Not often would a starting QB and MVP of the bowl game the prior season be in a quarterback derby the following fall camp, but it speaks to the uniqueness of Oregon State's situation. The momentum surrounding the program is early 2000s-like and the Beavers have extremely high goals heading into the 2023 campaign.

Quarterback play is an area marked for improvement and last year, is just that, as the Beavers hope to shore up an area of offensive concern and have a more robust passing attack.

Full disclosure, I expect Uiagalelei to ultimately win the Beavers' starting quarterback job, but that doesn't mean there isn't a lot left to prove on the practice field and that Gulbranson won't still have a massively important role on this team. Anything can happen in fall camp, so it's not over until it's over as they say...

Very similar to how former quarterback Tristan Gebbia served a crucial role to the team despite not being the starting quarterback the two years, I could see Gulbranson filling a similar role if Uiagalelei ends up winning the job.

Gulbranson is the type of glue guy that Oregon State needs in its locker room, and there's no question that he won over his teammates in a big way last season. The Beavers saw their starting quarterback go down with what ended up being a season-ending injury and still remained in the thick of the Pac-12 hunt and finished with 10 wins, all with a largely unproven Gulbranson helping steer the ship.

I think back to the Las Vegas Bowl postgame press conference when Jaydon Grant and Jack Colletto endorsed Gulbranson for the job based on what he had showcased as a leader throughout the season, and I wouldn't be the least bit surprised to see Ben voted a captain this year, regardless of whether or not he's the starting QB.

As of writing this story and entering fall camp, the quarterback competition remains open, and we believe that Gulbranson serves a vital role in this team. He's a terrific insurance policy in the case of injury, and as mentioned above, he's the type of teammate you need to have in the locker room.

While we at BeaversEdge do believe Uiagalelei will win the QB job and be OSU's stater come San Jose State, Gulbranson's value to the squad in 2023 cannot be understated and that's why he comes in inside the top-15 of BeaversEdge Top 25...