Stanford names Oregon State switch Ben Gulbranson as QB1

STANFORD, Calif. — After spending most of his 5 seasons at Oregon State as a backup, Ben Gulbranson enters his remaining faculty season because the beginning quarterback for Stanford.

Gulbranson beat out Elijah Brown to earn the job beginning, with the Cardinal’s season opener below interim coach Frank Reich on Saturday at Hawaii.

“I’m just really grateful to have another opportunity at it with the teammates and coaches and associate staff here that we have at Stanford,” Gulbranson mentioned Monday. “I think just given the fact that I’ve played five years in the past, been a part of college football for five years, just knowing that this is my last year and I’m trying to make the most of it and just taking it day by day and do my best each and every day.”

Gulbranson transferred to Stanford in late April after being lured by normal supervisor Andrew Luck. He started his profession with the Beavers in 2020 and made eight begins in 2022. He began simply 4 video games the previous two seasons, however his expertise helped him win the job over Brown, who made one begin for the Cardinal final season as a freshman.

“Ben just did a really good job with the whole thing,” Reich mentioned. “Good command and mastery of the offense. He did a really good job. Accurate passer, a strong arm guy that can get the ball to all parts of the field. I thought he had good command and control of decision-making. He had good poise in the pocket. So really showed a lot of positive attributes that we’re looking for.”

Gulbranson’s greatest season got here in 2022 when he took over as starter halfway via the season and went 7-1 for the Beavers. One of his largest highlights got here in his first begin at Stanford when he threw a 56-yard TD go to Tre’Shaun Harrison with 13 seconds left for a 28-27 comeback win.

Gulbranson performed in 18 video games, with 12 begins for the Beavers, finishing 61.8% of his passes for two,648 yards with 15 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.

Gulbranson mentioned he was thrilled to be recruited personally by Luck, a quarterback he grew up watching as he starred within the NFL for Indianapolis after a stellar profession at Stanford.

Now he relishes the possibility to be taught from Luck and Reich, who has expertise as a quarterback and head coach within the NFL. He mentioned he already has stuffed up a number of notebooks with suggestions.

“Just trying to learn as much as I can from those guys,” Gulbranson mentioned. “Obviously NFL guys that have seen so much football and learned so much. They are just great teachers. They always have something new that I never even really thought about or heard about.”