The Penn State quarterback room experienced a loss Tuesday night.
Penn State quarterbacks coach Danny O’Brien and Drew Allar before the Villanova game on Sept. 13, 2025. Joe Hermitt | jhermitt@pennlive.comO’Brien’s connection with Franklin is long-standing. He played for the latter at Maryland in college and started as an offensive analyst with Penn State in 2021.
O’Brien became the de facto quarterbacks coach for the Nittany Lions while he was a graduate assistant in 2023, following the firing of then-offensive coordinator/QBs coach Mike Yurcich. He earned the full-time role in 2024. A former ACC Rookie of the Year and brief Canadian Football League player, O’Brien also made college stops at Wisconsin and Catawba College. Franklin was long a staunch supporter of O’Brien’s. He took every chance he could to mention his rising star status as a coach. “I recruited him, I went to his home, I went to his high school,” Franklin said in 2023. “There’s a trust there personally, and there’s a trust there professionally. “And the other thing with , which, I’m drawn to these type of guys, he loves . He’s sending me stuff all the time that he’s seen … whether it’s on social media or an NFL game or another college game." O’Brien was a tutor for Penn State quarterback Drew Allar, who finished his Lions career first in completion percentage and interception rate in program history.Max Ralph is a sports reporter at PennLive, covering Penn State Athletics with a primary focus on Nittany Lion football. He is a 2024 Penn State graduate with a major in broadcast journalism, completing...
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