Danny O'Brien

Daniel Matthew O'Brien (born September 26, 1990) is an American football coach and former quarterback. He is currently the Quarterbacks Coach for the Virginia Tech Hokies. As a professional, he was a member of the Columbus Lions, Ottawa Redblacks, Edmonton Eskimos, and BC Lions. He played college football for the University of Maryland, University of Wisconsin and Catawba College.

Early life 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.

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. Scout.com also rated him a three-star prospect. 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. O'Brien was the first Maryland player to ever receive the honor.

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

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 3Career Career 39 642 1,054 60.9 7,099 6.7 47 71 25 127.5 149 -38 -0.3 30 6

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Professional career After being undrafted in 2014, he was offered a tryout at rookie minicamp with the Atlanta Falcons. 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 Ottawa Redblacks 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. 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, reuniting him with former offensive coordinator and Edmonton Head Coach Jason Maas, 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 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 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 BC Lions. 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. 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.

Coaching Career

BC Lions In 2020, O'Brien served as the running backs coach for the BC Lions in the Canadian Football League.

Penn State University Danny O'Brien joined the Penn State football staff in 2021 as an offensive analyst, after having played quarterback at Maryland during James Franklin's tenure as quarterbacks coach there. He served three seasons as an offensive analyst and offensive graduate assistant before being promoted to quarterbacks coach in 2024. Clifford concluded his career as the program's all-time leader in wins by a starting quarterback, completions, passing touchdowns, passing yards, and total yards, and was later selected in the fifth round of the NFL Draft.