Former Maryland quarterback Danny O’Brien made a trip from his North Carolina home to State College, Pennsylvania to check out Penn State’s spring football practice and new head coach Bill O’Brien. It was his second visit to the program, still recovering from a massive scandal just months ago. O’Brien was seen wearing a Penn State sweatshirt and windbreaker but said that it should not be taken as an indication that he had made up his mind.
On Wednesday afternoon O’Brien finalized his decision, and signed with Wisconsin.
The Wisconsin Badgers , for a second straight year , signed college football’s equivalent of a free agent quarterback out of the ACC. Last year Wisconsin welcomed Russell Wilson to the program, filling the one glaring hole on the roster following the departure of Scott Tolzien from Wisconsin’s co-Big Ten championship and Rose Bowl team of 2010. The Badgers returned to Pasadena and won the outright Big Ten championship in the inaugural Big Ten championship game.
Now the pressure will be on for O’Brien to lead Wisconsin to similar results.
Which O’Brien is Wisconsin getting?
O’Brien took the ACC by storm in his redshirt freshman season of 2010, passing for 22 touchdowns, eight touchdowns and 2,438 passing yards for a quarterback rating of 134.5. O’Brien was named the ACC’s Rookie of the Year and was named a Freshman All-American by the Football Writers Association of America, being honored with five weekly ACC Rookie of the Week awards along the way. O’Brien also established a solid relationship with former Maryland offensive coordinator James Franklin, who is now the head coach at Vanderbilt.
Things were much different in 2011, with a coaching change and new offensive system installed with little success. O’Brien also worked through injury and played nine games last fall, throwing for seven touchdowns and being intercepted 10 times.
O’Brien’s red zone production also slipped in 2011 but the question is how much of the downward offensive trend should be pinned on O’Brien, and how much should be placed on Randy Edsall and a new offensive coordinator Gary Crowton?
Crowton is now an offensive coordinator with the Canadian Football League’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers, after being fired by Maryland.
When will he be eligible to play?
Right away.
While typical NCAA rules force a transferring player to sit out a season at the FBS level, O’Brien will not be held to those rules. The reason is because O’Brien will be graduating form Maryland this spring, and as long as he enrolls in a graduate program not offered by Maryland, he will be eligible to play this fall.
What does this do for Wisconsin’s Big Ten hopes?
Wisconsin was already largely considered the Big Ten Leaders Division champion for 2012, considering the uncertainty at Penn State and Illinois as well as the postseason ban being served by Ohio State. With O’Brien taking over the quarterback responsibilities, much like Wilson before him, O’Brien will fill the biggest spot on the roster for the Badgers right away.
Running back Montee Ball figures to remain the focus of the Wisconsin offense, as well he should as a Heisman favorite, but having a quarterback of O’Brien’s potential will give Bielema and the Badgers a more reliable option to run the offense than other potential options.
Speaking of which…
Will Wisconsin lose any quarterbacks to transfer?
This remains to be seen of course, but it should be considered a possibility. O’Brien will come to Wisconsin with two years of eligibility remaining. If he sticks around as the starter through the end of the 2013 season that leaves little time remaining for Joe Brennan, a redshirt sophomore. In even more of a sticky situation is redshirt junior Jon Budmayr, who is limited at best this spring recovering from an elbow injury.
If either of these players wants to have a shot at playing quarterback in 2012 or 2013, a transfer may serve as the best option to do so.
What does Wisconsin’s consecutive transfer quarterback signings mean for recruiting?
The bottom line when it comes to college football recruiting for many recruits is whether or not a program will win football games. Wisconsin has proven that they are able to put the ingredients together to cook up a winning season with two straight Big Ten titles and BCS game appearances.
But for quarterbacks, should there be a concern about what Wisconsin is doing at the position? This is a fair question to discuss for any quarterback recruit checking out Wisconsin.
There are two messages that are worth analyzing being sent by Wisconsin.
- Wisconsin has struggled to develop quarterbacks
- If things aren’t going well, Wisconsin will look to bring in another player
But again, the bottom line is winning. Isn’t it?
