Danny O’Brien’s time at Wisconsin appears to be over, as the former Maryland quarterback who started at the beginning of the 2012 season for the Badgers is no longer with the program, per Fox Sports Wisconsin.
Danny O’Brien leaving Wisconsin after leaving Maryland, according to report
The Danny O’Brien experiment didn’t pan out at Wisconsin, as the one-time Maryland starter will move on after being benched early in the Badgers’ 2012 season and failing to regain his starter status.
O’Brien had been the presumptive starter as soon as he arrived in Madison, but quickly found himself replaced by then-freshman Joel Stave and junior Curt Phillips. He went 0-for-3 in the spring game, with Stave and Phillips well established ahead of him on the depth chart.
After an ACC transfer panned out perfectly in 2011 with NC State’s Russell Wilson leading Wisconsin to a 2011 Big Ten Championship and the Rose Bowl, Bret Bielema went to the well again in 2012. O’Brien had been a freshman All-American in 2010, breaking school freshman records for his 2,438 yards and 22 touchdowns, against just eight picks. But things fell apart under new coach Randy Edsall, and O’Brien wanted to start over at Wisconsin, eligible right away due to the graduate transfer rule.
He looked fine in a season-opening win over Northern Iowa, but was 20-for-38 with a pick and a touchdown in a 10-7 loss to Oregon State. He struggled again the next week against Utah State, going just 5-for-10 with 63 yards and two lost fumbles, and Bielema pulled him at halftime. He’d only appear in seven games on the year, with no more starts, as Stave took the majority of snaps before an injury, followed by Phillips’ leading the team to a second-straight Big Ten Championship Game win.
It’s not clear what O’Brien’s plans are going forward. His high school coach, who confirmed the news, said that he’s at home in North Carolina instead of Wisconsin summer workouts. He has one year of eligibility remaining, but the fact that he’s already used the graduate transfer exception once makes things somewhat complicated if he wants to transfer to another FBS institution.
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