Danny O’Brien, Penn State quarterback mentor, sees title shift

Penn State football has made the obvious official: It now lists graduate assistant Danny O’Brien as its quarterbacks coach. The multi-year member of James Franklin’s staff had changed his Twitter bio earlier this year to make that his title. And, while graduate assistants have long been tied to a certain position, the program has never updated its website to point that out. Doing so for O’Brien makes sense, however. After all, he’s picked all five winter workout competitors of the week at quarterback so far this month, has been described as the de-facto quarterback coach who helps handle recruiting the position, and will oversee the room this year alongside Franklin and new offensive coordinator Andy Kotelnicki.

“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.”

While updating the title of O’Brien, who is still a graduate assistant, Penn State also officially marked letterman Jordan Lucas as its new defensive graduate assistant, as Blue-White Illustrated has previously reported. He replaces Bryce Jones as the helper in the secondary. Jones left the Lions for a full-time role at Northern Iowa earlier this year.

Penn State players rave about Danny O’Brien

College football players never speak badly about one of their coaches in a public setting. But, rarely do they offer effusive praise in the way Penn State players have talked about O’Brien since he moved into an on-field role before the 2023 season.

“I think Danny aligns with the program in the right way and obviously played under Coach Franklin for a year at Maryland, so he knows how to operate under a Coach Franklin offense and just philosophy,” Drew Allar said before the Peach Bowl. “So I thought that was very important to have in the room.

“Danny played in big-time college football, obviously Power 5, and then played in the CFL for multiple years. He just brings a lot of experience and knowledge to that room. I think he just relates to everybody really well.”

Second-year Nittany Lion quarterback Jaxon Smolik echoed those thoughts last week in an interview with BWI’s Nate Bauer.

“Danny is a really good guy,” Smolik said. “He’s always there in the film room. You text him, he’ll be there with you working on the offense. He’s a really reliable guy. I’m glad he’s still here. He’s got experience playing. He’s a really good college player. That’s really cool that your coach knows. He has been through the stuff you’ve been through, been through the workouts you’ve been through. He knows exactly what you’re going through. And he’s a younger guy too, so you connect with him better.”

It all helps explain why Penn State wants to make crystal clear to the public what has long been known internally: O’Brien is the leader of its quarterbacks’ room from a coaching standpoint.

Lions’ 2024 on-field coaching staff is set

With the move of Lucas from recruiting department staffer to graduate assistant, the 10-man Penn State assistant coaching staff and four-man graduate assistant staff are set. Analysts can be on the field at practices and on the sidelines during games. But, only those 14 men, plus head coach James Franklin, can do instruction during drills, warmups, and the like. Here’s the list:

Terry Smith – Associate Head Coach/Defensive Recruiting Coordinator/Cornerbacks

Ja’Juan Seider – Assistant Head Coach/Co-Offensive Coordinator/Running Backs

Andy Kotelnicki – Offensive coordinator

Tom Allen – Defensive coordinator/Linebackers coach

Justin Lustig – Special teams coordinator/outside linebackers/nickels

Deion Barnes – Defensive line

Marques Hagans — Wide receivers/offensive recruiting coordinator

Ty Howle – Co-offensive coordinator/tight ends

Anthony Poindexter – Co-defensive coordinator/safeties

Phil Trautwein – Offensive line

Torrence Brown – Graduate assistant (with defensive line focus)

Kevin Ceh – Graduate assistant (with offensive line focus)

Jordan Lucas – Graduate assistant (with secondary focus)

Danny O’Brien – Graduate assistant (Quarterbacks coach)