A walk on to Purdue,  Aidan O’Connell stepped up big at the end of his career, starting the 2020 season before it was ended prematurely with an injury. In 2021, O’Connell lost a camp battle to Jack Plummer before getting the job back early in the season, and then played through 2022 with a rib injury. To me, the biggest question mark about his game comes from the style – O’Connell isn’t exactly a mobile option. But, his anticipation and ability to throw with timing and touch is special – and should get him looks alone. 

O’Connell doesn’t have a whole lot he can get better about realistically. His timing and anticipation is already about as good as it’s going to get because of his feet. I don’t think you can reasonably expect O’Connell to improve much of anything else, other than to learn a system and play it well in a pinch. 

AIDAN O’CONNELL DART pic.twitter.com/uQ84p2oMkS

— The Transfer Portal CFB (@TPortalCFB) September 2, 2022

Suffered a season-ending injury three games into the 2020 season that forced him to miss the rest of the short season. Missed a game in 2022 with a rib injury and battled the rest of the year playing through it.

Aidan O’Connell’s scouting report

Quarterback Ability (65)

Arm Talent: 20

• Arm Strength (5.5/10) – Average arm strength. Doesn’t look like he can drive the football very effectively. Struggles to drive the ball to the perimeters. Purdue ran a very heavy pass offense last year, so we know that O’Connell has stamina. 
• Touch Ability (3.5/5) – O’Connell has a very nice touch ball. Needs to be better about when he uses his touch ball and when he throws a bullet. 
• Release (2.5/5) – Release is elongated and over extended. Really messes up his ability to get the ball out quickly. 

Accuracy/Placement: 25

• Accuracy (11/15) – Very accurate quarterback. He’s throwing to a spot – excellent with timing concepts. Struggles to throw effectively through pressure. 
• Placement/Vision (7.5/10) – Shows excellent placement ability. Struggles to throw in the red zone consistently. Struggles to place the ball well when throwing toward the sideline, especially beyond 10 yards on outs and other timing concepts. 

Pocket Presence: 10

• Pocket Positioning (2.5/5) – Doesn’t have great pocket awareness. Wants to get out of there as quickly as he can. 
• Pocket Maneuverability (3.5/5) – Maneuvers well in the pocket, it’s when he’s trying to decide whether he needs to leave the pocket or stay that he has issues. 

Footwork: 10

• Consistency (3/5) – Good feet throughout his drop, abandons all technique under pressure. Stance tends to be wide when he plants, especially to launch a bullet. 
• Quickness (3.5/5) – O’Connell has good, quick feet. 

Athleticism (20)

Mobility: 12

• Outside of the pocket (3.5/7) – Average ability outside of the pocket. Can move alright, but doesn’t throw well on the move and doesn’t have the speed to outrun most defenders. 
• Downfield Ability (2/5) – Not much of a scrambler, and doesn’t have a lot of great ability. 

Improvability: 8

• Natural Improvability (1.5/4) – I don’t see a lot of improv ability from O’Connell. 
• Play Extension (2/4) – O’Connell can only extend the play so much. Might be a part of the dying quarterback generation. 

Intelligence (15)

Football IQ/Field Vision: 10

• Football Intelligence (3.5/5) – Doesn’t do a good job reacting to disguised coverages. Very smart with his decision making. Quickly reads the play and makes solid, quick decisions. 
• Ability to read pre-snap (3/5) – Makes a lot of accurate pre-snap reads. 

Overall: