Danny O'Brien (gridiron football)

Danny O'Brien
No. 5 Ottawa Redblacks
Position: Quarterback
Personal information
Birth name: Daniel Matthew O'Brien
Date of birth: (1990-09-26) September 26, 1990
Place of birth: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Height: 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Weight: 220 lb (100 kg)
Career information
High school: Kernersville (NC) East Forsyth
College: Catawba
Undrafted: 2014
Career history
Roster status: Active
Career highlights and awards
Career CFL statistics as of 2014
Comp. / Att.: 29 / 54
Passing yards: 421
TD-INT: 2-5
Rushing yards: 10
Rushing TD: 0

Daniel Matthew "Danny" O'Brien (born September 26, 1990) is an American gridiron football quarterback for the Ottawa Redblacks of the Canadian Football League (CFL).

Early years

O'Brien was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and at the age of 12, moved to Kernersville, North Carolina, where he attended East Forsyth High School.[1] During his interscholastic career, he played basketball and football as a quarterback.[1] As a junior in 2007, he completed 151 of 248 pass attempts for 1,905 yards and 15 touchdowns and rushed for 290 yards and seven touchdowns.[1] As a senior, he completed 117 of 235 pass attempts for 1,640 yards and 16 touchdowns and six interceptions and had 160 rushing attempts for 780 yards and 11 touchdowns.[1] That season, he led his team to the Metro 4A conference championship and the third round of the state playoffs.[1]

Rivals.com rated him a three-star college prospect and ranked him the 36th best quarterback in the nation and 35th best player in the state of North Carolina.[2] Scout.com also rated him a three-star prospect.[3] Miami, North Carolina, North Carolina State, Notre Dame, Wake Forest, and Virginia Tech showed interest in O'Brien, and Duke, East Carolina, and Maryland offered him an athletic scholarship.[2][3]

College career

O'Brien enrolled at the University of Maryland in the fall of 2009 but was "redshirted" and did not see playing time that year.

O'Brien entered the 2010 season as the backup quarterback behind Jamarr Robinson. He saw his first action in the season opener against Navy, losing a fumble on his only play of the game. In the second game of the season, O'Brien saw his first serious action against Morgan State. Up 24-0 in the second quarter, O'Brien capitalized by throwing 3 touchdowns in his first four passes before giving way to third string Quarterback, C.J. Brown in the 62-3 win. Against West Virginia, O'Brien again only saw one play of action, getting sacked for a five-yard loss. Robinson's sore arm moved O'Brien into the starting role against Florida International. In the first start of his college career, O'Brien passed for 250 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions.

O'Brien shattered all significant Freshman quarterback records at the University of Maryland, passing for 2,438 yards and 22 touchdowns. In addition, he rushed for a twelve-yard touchdown against Virginia and collected a four-yard touchdown reception against Clemson.

During the 2010 season, the Atlantic Coast Conference named O'Brien the ACC Rookie of the Week a total of five times. Upon the conclusion of the season, he was named the ACC Rookie of the Year.[4] O'Brien was the first Maryland player to ever receive the honor.[4] The Football Writers Association of America named O'Brien to its Freshman All-America team.[5]

On February 13, 2012 O'Brien announced he would be transferring from the University of Maryland. O'Brien announced on March 28 that he would transfer to the University of Wisconsin, and on August 20 he was named the starter for Wisconsin's season opener against the Northern Iowa Panthers.[6] On September 20, Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema replaced O'Brien with redshirt freshman Joel Stave, citing problems with turnovers.[7] After Stave suffered a season-ending injury during the October 27 game against the Michigan State Spartans, O'Brien remained the backup behind fifth-year senior Curt Phillips.[8]

On June 10, 2013 it was announced that O'Brien would not be returning to Wisconsin and will instead seek another school for his remaining year of eligibility.[9] It was later announced that O'Brien transferred to Catawba College.[10]

Statistics

Statistics
  Passing   Rushing
Season Team GP Comp Att % Yds Avg TDs Long Int Rating Att Yards Avg Long TDs
2010 Maryland 13 192 337 57.0 2,438 7.2 22 71 8 134.5 31 -48 -1.6 12 1
2011 Maryland 9 150 266 56.4 1,648 6.2 7 69 10 109.6 33 57 1.7 30 2
2012 Wisconsin 7 52 86 60.5 523 6.1 3 53 1 120.7 15 -82 -5.5 7 0
2013 Catawba 10 248 365 67.9 2,490 6.8 15 50 6 135.5 70 35 0.5 15 3
Career
Career 39 642 1,054 60.9 7,099 6.7 47 71 25 127.5 149 -38 -0.3 30 6

Sources: [11] http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/7570977/maryland-terrapins-danny-obrien-transferring

Professional career

After being undrafted in 2014, he was offered a tryout at rookie minicamp with the Atlanta Falcons.[12]

On May 27, 2014, O'Brien signed with the Columbus Lions of the Professional Indoor Football League (PIFL).[13]

O'Brien signed with the Ottawa Redblacks on May 31, 2014.[14][15] O'Brien began the season as the third QB on the RedBlacks depth chart, but a season ending injury to second string quarterback Thomas DeMarco allowed O'Brien to see action during the 2014 CFL season. Danny O'Brien played in 8 games in his first season in the CFL, receiving significant playing time in 2 of those games. He would finish the season completing 29 of 54 passing attempts for 421 yards, with 2 touchdowns and 5 interceptions (53.1 passer rating).

References

Terps' Danny O'Brien transferring

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