Daniel Matthew O'Brien (born September 26, 1990) is an American

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach and former

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

. He is currently the Quarterbacks Coach at

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with ca ...

. As a professional, he was a member of the Columbus Lions,

Ottawa Redblacks The Ottawa Redblacks (officially stylized as REDBLACKS) (Canadian French, French: ) are a professional Canadian football team based in Ottawa, Ontario. The team plays in the East Division (CFL), East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL ...

Edmonton Eskimos The Edmonton Elks are a professional Canadian football team based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club competes in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member of the league's West Division and plays their home games at Commonwealth Stadium. The E ...

, and

BC Lions The BC Lions are a professional Canadian football team based in Vancouver, British Columbia. The Lions compete in the West Division (CFL), West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), and play their home games at BC Place. The Lions playe ...

. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the Univ ...

University of Wisconsin A university () is an institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly means "community of teachers and scholars". Uni ...

and Catawba College.

Early life

O'Brien was born in

Minneapolis, Minnesota Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

, and at the age of 12, moved to

Kernersville, North Carolina Kernersville is a town in Forsyth County, North Carolina, Forsyth County, North Carolina, and the largest suburb of Winston-Salem. A small portion of the town is also in Guilford County, North Carolina, Guilford County. The population was 26,481 ...

, where he attended East Forsyth High School. During his interscholastic career, he played

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

and

as a

. As a junior in 2007, he completed 151 of 248 pass attempts for 1,905 yards and 15

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchd ...

s and rushed for 290 yards and seven touchdowns. As a senior, he completed 117 of 235 pass attempts for 1,640 yards and 16 touchdowns and six

interception In Ball game, ball-playing Competitive sport, competitive team sports, an interception or pick is a move by a player involving a pass of the ball—whether by foot or hand, depending on the rules of the sport—in which the ball is intended for ...

s and had 160 rushing attempts for 780 yards and 11 touchdowns. That season, he led his team to the Metro 4A conference championship and the third round of the state playoffs.Player Bio: Danny O'Brien
University of Maryland, retrieved November 27, 2010. 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.Danny O'Brien
Rivals.com, Yahoo! Sports, retrieved November 27, 2010. Scout.com also rated him a three-star prospect.Danny O'Brien Profile
Scout.com, retrieved November 27, 2010.

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

, North Carolina State, Notre Dame, Wake Forest, and

Virginia Tech The Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, commonly referred to as Virginia Tech (VT), is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia, United States ...

showed interest in O'Brien, and

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of Royal family, royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and above sovereign princes. As royalty or nobi ...

, East Carolina, and

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

offered him an

athletic scholarship An athletic scholarship is a form of scholarship to attend a college or university or a private school, private high school awarded to an individual based predominantly on their ability to play in a sport. Athletic scholarships are common in the U ...

College career

Maryland

O'Brien enrolled at the University of Maryland in the fall of 2009 but was

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

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 A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...

, 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 West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

, 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 Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

and collected a four-yard touchdown reception against Clemson. During the 2010 season, the

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

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.Friedgen, O'Brien Honored by the ACC Friedgen earns league's coach of the year award for the second time; O'Brien first-ever Terp rookie of the year
, University of Maryland, November 30, 2010. O'Brien was the first Maryland player to ever receive the honor. The

Football Writers Association of America The Football Writers Association of America (FWAA) is an organization of college football media members in the United States founded in 1941. It is composed of approximately 1,200 professional sports writers from both print and Internet media out ...

named O'Brien to its Freshman All-America team.

Wisconsin

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. On September 20, Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema replaced O'Brien with redshirt freshman Joel Stave, citing problems with turnovers. After Stave suffered a season-ending injury during the October 27 game against the

Michigan State Spartans The Michigan State Spartans are the athletic teams that represent Michigan State University. The school's athletic program includes 23 Varsity team, varsity sports teams. Their mascot is a Spartan Army, Spartan warrior named Sparty, and the sc ...

, O'Brien remained the backup behind fifth-year senior Curt Phillips.

Catawba College

On June 10, 2013, it was announced that O'Brien would not be returning to Wisconsin and would instead seek another school for his remaining year of eligibility. It was later announced that O'Brien transferred to Catawba College. During his 2013 season with Catawba, O'Brien started ten games while passing for 2,490 yards with 15 touchdowns and six interceptions. The team finished with a 6–5 record. O'Brien also played in the 2014 Medal of Honor Bowl, a postseason

all-star game An all-star game is an exhibition game that showcases the best players (the "stars") of a sports league. The exhibition is between two teams organized solely for the event, usually representing the league's teams based on region or division, bu ...

, passing for 87 yards (5-for-11) and rushing for a touchdown.

Statistics

Sources: Danny O'Brien Stats
ESPN, retrieved 01 April 1, 2012.

Professional career

After being undrafted in 2014, he was offered a tryout at rookie minicamp with the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The Falcons were founded o ...

. However, O'Brien was not signed.

Columbus Lions

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

Ottawa Redblacks

On the day before his first game for the Lions, O'Brien signed with the

of the CFL on May 31, 2014. O'Brien was placed on the exempt list for the PIFL, and began the season as the third QB on the Redblacks depth chart. A season-ending injury to second-string quarterback Thomas DeMarco allowed O'Brien to see action during the

2014 CFL season The 2014 CFL season was the 61st season of modern-day Canadian football. It was the 57th Canadian Football League season. Vancouver hosted the 102nd Grey Cup on November 30. The league expanded to nine teams with the addition of the Ottawa Red ...

. Danny O'Brien played in eight games in his first season in the CFL, receiving significant playing time in two 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).

Edmonton Eskimos

After winning the Grey Cup with the Redblacks in 2016, O'Brien signed with Edmonton Eskimos for the

2017 CFL season Seventeen or 17 may refer to: *17 (number) * One of the years 17 BC, AD 17, 1917, 2017, 2117 Science * Chlorine, a halogen in the periodic table * 17 Thetis, an asteroid in the asteroid belt Literature Magazines * ''Seventeen'' (American ...

, reuniting him with former offensive coordinator and Edmonton Head Coach

Jason Maas Jason ( ; ) was an ancient Greece, ancient Greek Greek mythology, mythological hero and leader of the Argonauts, whose quest for the Golden Fleece is featured in Greek literature. He was the son of Aeson, the rightful king of Iolcos. He was m ...

, and replacing the retired Jordan Lynch as the third quarterback, as well as holder for convert kicks and field goals. On August 11, 2018, O'Brien completed his first pass in nearly two years, on a fake field goal to defensive tackle Almondo Sewell. By the season's end he had completed four out of five passes for 44 yards; his one incompletion was an intercepted

Hail Mary pass A Hail Mary pass is a very long forward pass in American football, typically made in desperation, with a very small chance of achieving a completion (American football), completion. Due to the difficulty of a completion with this pass, it makes r ...

in at the end of a game. After going 15 of 26 for 93 yards in two preseason games to begin the 2019 season, and failing to produce a scoring drive,

Logan Kilgore Logan Kilgore (born May 24, 1990) is an American professional American football, football coach and former quarterback who is an offensive quality control coach for the Denver Broncos of the National Football League (NFL). Kilgore made his profe ...

won the backup job and O'Brien was released. When asked about O'Brien's release, Edmonton kicker, Sean Whyte simply replied, "It sucks". O'Brien was the final member of the previous season's quarterback room to leave the team in 2019.

BC Lions

Following the preseason, O'Brien was reunited with Mike Reilly as his backup when he signed with the

. After Reilly suffered a season ending injury near the end of the regular season O'Brien made his starting debut for the Lions in Week 19 in a losing effort against the

Saskatchewan Roughriders The Saskatchewan Roughriders are a professional Canadian football team based in Regina, Saskatchewan. The Roughriders compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West Division. The Roughriders were founded in 19 ...

. In the game O'Brien completed 16 of 25 pass attempts for 171 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He retired during the following off-season.

References

External links

Ottawa RedBlacks bio

ESPN profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Obrien, Danny 1990 births Living people American football quarterbacks Canadian football quarterbacks Catawba Indians football players Maryland Terrapins football players Wisconsin Badgers football players People from Kernersville, North Carolina Players of American football from Minneapolis Columbus Lions players Ottawa Redblacks players Edmonton Elks players Players of Canadian football from North Carolina BC Lions players BC Lions coaches Sports coaches from Minneapolis Players of Canadian football from Minneapolis Players of American football from Forsyth County, North Carolina Penn State Nittany Lions football coaches Coaches of American football from Minnesota