Penn State has promoted one of its assistants.
Danny O’Brien is now the team’s quarterbacks coach according to Penn State’s website.
Penn State now lists graduate assistant Danny O'Brien as its quarterbacks coach. It's a subtle change that is the latest indication of his importance to the program, and offense, in 2024.
Story: https://t.co/VxoZ116gMw pic.twitter.com/52NjwJlxKh
— Greg Pickel (@GregPickel) February 21, 2024
This shouldn’t come as a surprise.
O’Brien became the de-facto QBs coach toward mid November when Penn State fired Mike Yurcich, who coached the position in addition to his more prominent role as the team’s offensive coordinator.
He even listed himself as the quarterbacks coach in his X (formerly Twitter) bio before the news became official. O’Brien had previously been a graduate assistant who worked closely with Drew Allar and the rest of the QB room. While Yurcich was working from the booth last season during games, O’Brien was on the field, a sign of the trust head coach James Franklin and company have in him.
Penn State’s new offensive coordinator is Andy Kotelnicki, who Franklin and co. hired from Kansas University.
Kotelnicki touched on the role O’Brien would have at his introductory press conference in December.
“There’s going to be three of us that are working quarterbacks: Myself, Coach Franklin, and [graduate assistant’ Danny O’Brien,” Kotelnicki said in December. “And I know Danny, who I’ve interacted with, has been there for the last couple of weeks [after Mike Yurcich was fired in November] and does a fantastic job.
“You have a chance for a guy who’s played professional football, the quarterback position, to interact with the quarterbacks. I think that’s a huge deal. And then Coach Franklin, being an offensive guy, to be involed, and then myself, I’ve coached quarterbacks in the past and have been able to see the whole big picture with them. So, it’ll be very NFL-like in terms of how we interact with those guys.”
