PRONUNCIATION: tuh-RON Dickens
2025 (Redshirt Sophomore): Started the final nine games of the season at quarterback … Finished 271-of-365 through the air for a school-record 3,508 passing yards … Eclipsed the 300-yard passing mark seven times in his nine games, surpassing 400 yards four times with a pair of 500-yard passing efforts ... Accounted for four of the Top 13 individual passing games in the NCAA FCS during the regular season, throwing for 551 yards against No. 10 Mercer (Nov. 8), 427 yards on the road at Campbell (Sept. 29), and 426 passing yards against ETSU (Nov. 15) … His 74.2% completion percentage led the NCAA FCS and ranked second in the SoCon record books … Set a SoCon record for passing efficiency at 188.24, eclipsing the previous mark held by Marshall's Michael Payton (181.3, 1991) … Broke the Southern Conference single-season record with 38 touchdown passes, tossing at least two TD passes in each game four or more six times … Added 321 rushing yards and a TD on the ground for a WCU single-season record of 3,829 yards of total offense … Passed for a career-high 582 yards and six touchdowns in his season debut against Samford (Sept. 20) … … Connected on a NCAA football record 46-straight pass attempts in the road win at Wofford (Oct. 4) … Combined with the final four pass completions at Campbell, set the NCAA multi-game record with 50-straight pass completions …
Three-time Southern Conference Offensive Player of the Week … Recognized five times as the
NCAA FCS National Offensive Player of the Week, earning honorable mention four times and the top honor on Oct. 6 following the Wofford win …
Named the 2025 Roy M. “Legs” Hawley Southern Conference Offensive Player of the Year and
first-team All-Southern Conference from the league’s head coaches … Honored on
five postseason All-America teams, collecting second-team All-America honors from both
FCS Football Central and
the AFCA, was a
first-team honoree by Stats Perform FCS,
third-team All-America from Phil Steele, and collected an
honorable mention from The Associated Press. …
One of three finalists for the Walter Payton Award, invited to Nashville, Tenn., for the national awards show …
Finished a program-best second in the voting for the 2025 Walter Payton Award voting, recording the second-most first-place votes (10) and led the field with a dozen second-place votes …
Named first-team Preseason All-Southern Conference at quarterback and
the SoCon Preseason Offensive Player of the Year ...
Dubbed second-team Preseason All-America by Stats Perform FCS.
2024 (Redshirt Freshman): Played in seven games with four consecutive starts at the end of the season in place of Cole Gonzales, guiding WCU to a 3-1 record as a starter … Finished 127-for-172, completing 73.8 percent of his pass attempts, with 12 touchdown passes and three interceptions … Tossed TD passes in five of the seven games he played … Rushed for 56 yards and two scores on the season … Made his first collegiate start in the home win over Chattanooga (Nov. 2), throwing for a career-high 431 passing yards with five passing touchdowns, adding 41 rushing yards on a career-high 19 attempts and one reception for eight yards to total 480 yards of total offense … Earned his first of two Southern Conference Player of the Week honors following the Chattanooga win … Eclipsed the 400-yard passing mark in the road win at Samford (Nov. 23), completing a career-high 36 passes for 408 yards and two TDs to earn
SoCon Offensive Player of the Week accolades …
Selected to the SoCon All-Freshman team … Named
third-team Freshman All-America by Phil Steele and was a
Freshman All-America honoree by FCS Football Central by Sports Illustrated …
Was a finalist for the Jerry Rice Award, finishing 15th in the final vote … Completed 7-of-12 passes for a scrimmage-best 151 yards, including a nine-yard TD passes to lead the White Team in WCU’s annual Spring Game.
2023 (Freshman): Played in two games as a reserve at quarterback as a true freshman … Finished 4-for-6 passing for 127 yards and a touchdown … Made his collegiate debut in the home win over Charleston Southern (Sept. 23) … Completed 3-of-4 passes for a career-high 91 yards through the air including a long pass of 65 yards and his first career touchdown pass of 17 yards to Ca’Lique Cunningham … Rushed six times against the Buccaneers … Completed 1-of-2 passes against ETSU (Nov. 11) for 36 yards … In WCU’s annual Spring Game, completed 4-of-10 passes for 54 yards with an interception.
Prior to Western Carolina: In 10 games, completed 137-of-212 passes (64.6%) for 2,233 yards and 22 touchdowns with just four interceptions, according to MaxPreps … Added 424 rushing yards with five touchdowns on the ground … Selected as the Florida 6A Player of the Year and the top-rated passer in Florida … Over his final two years as a prep, passed for 5,976 yards with 64 touchdowns and 12 INTs, adding a total of 911 rushing yards and 14 scores … Listed as a three-star recruit by 247Sports and a two-star recruit by Rivals.
Personal: Full name is Taron Tyger Dickens.
WCU Career-Highs:
Pass Completions - 36, at Samford (11/23/24)
Pass Attempts - 48, Chattanooga (11/2/24)
Passing Yards - 431, Chattanooga (11/2/24)
400-Yd Passing Games - 2
Passing Touchdowns - 5, Chattanooga (11/2/24)
Rushes - 19, Chattanooga (11/2/24)
Rushing Yards - 41, Chattanooga (11/2/24)
Rushing Touchdowns - 2, at ETSU (11/9/24)
