Danny O'Brien: Potentially the top Maryland freshman QB ever

On Saturday, the Spiffy Chart du jour was comparing Danny O'Brien's first start --- an 18-for-27, 250-yard, two-touchdown performance against Florida International --- to the last dozen or so quarterbacks for Maryland.

The next logical step? Looking at how it stacked up against every freshman start in school history.

That sounds imposing, but O'Brien was only the fifth freshman to get a nod under center for the Terrapins. Those five men combined for 19 (and counting) starts.

Perhaps the most interesting fact of the company O'Brien is keeping among freshman QBs to start at Maryland is that not one of them played quarterback as a senior for the Terps.

Ken Mastrole wrapped up his career at Rhode Island. Randall Jones was converted into a safety. Calvin McCall opted to pursue basketball. Latrez Harrison wound up at wideout.

Anyway, the chart after the jump, plus some analysis afterward.

QB	Year	Opponent	C-A	Yards	TD	INT	Rating	Result
Ken Mastrole	1996	at West Virginia	5-17	32	0	0	45.22	L, 13-0
Ken Mastrole	1996	N.C. State	15-28	140	0	1	88.43	L, 34-8
Ken Mastrole	1996	at Duke	5-17	106	0	0	81.79	W, 22-19
Randall Jones	1998	at Clemson	7-18	69	0	0	71.09	L, 23-0
Randall Jones	1998	Wake Forest	6-10	81	0	1	108.04	L, 20-10
Randall Jones	1998	Georgia Tech	4-15	27	0	0	41.79	L, 31-14
Randall Jones	1998	at North Carolina	1-3	11	0	0	64.13	L, 24-13
Calvin McCall	1999	at Temple	10-23	100	0	0	80.00	W, 6-0
Calvin McCall	1999	Western Carolina	10-17	152	1	0	153.34	W, 51-10
Calvin McCall	1999	West Virginia	11-19	178	2	0	171.33	W, 33-0
Calvin McCall	1999	at Georgia Tech	15-30	221	0	2	98.55	L, 49-31
Calvin McCall	1999	at Wake Forest	11-21	182	1	0	140.90	W, 17-14
Calvin McCall	1999	Clemson	9-18	148	0	0	119.07	L, 42-30
Calvin McCall	1999	North Carolina	8-14	76	1	0	126.31	W, 45-7
Calvin McCall	1999	Duke	7-18	72	0	1	61.38	L, 25-22
Calvin McCall	1999	at N.C. State	12-19	135	0	0	122.84	L, 30-17
Latrez Harrison	1999	at Florida State	2-4	17	0	0	85.70	L, 49-10
Latrez Harrison	1999	Virginia	2-7	0	0	0	28.57	L, 34-30
Danny O'Brien	2010	Fla. International	18-27	250	2	0	168.89	W, 42-28

So, in one try, O'Brien already owns the Maryland records for completions (18) and passing yards (250) for a freshman starter, and shares the record for passing touchdowns (two). His passer rating was better than all but one of the previous 18 starts by a Terp freshman, but not by much.

Is there much to read into this? Not really. And some of that's because of the fairly undistinguished college careers --- as quarterbacks, anyway --- for the four other players on this list.

Mastrole made seven more career starts. McCall had eight. Neither Jones nor Harrison started again at quarterback, though both eventually became solid contributors at other positions.

So O'Brien has a chance to wind up as the best freshman quarterback ever to come through College Park if he remains the Terps' starter. That might not be saying much, but it's a sliver of encouragement Maryland will happily take at this stage.

Comments

[Jonah]

O'brien seems like an intelligent player. I remember that he said that the reason he committed was because Franklin was given HCIW guarantee. A couple of things. One, what would happen to O'brien if Franklin is fired and two, while o'brien is young his football knowledge appears to be sound and his faith in franklin either belies the views of many terp fans that franklin sucks as an x's and 0's guy or reinforces the view that Franklin is an outstanding salesman.

[ngaterp]

If Franklin & Fridge are sold on play calling from the field, then that is a problem. Plays need to be coming from the pressbox where you can actually see the field and what the defense is doing. As for the QB situation I would not be telling anybody who is going to start (too much information for our opponent). Let them worry about preparing for two entirely different types of QB's. I like the suspense...

[D1scourse]

Jonah ---

Probably dont have answers for either of your questions. The first one in particular is not a what-if Ive asked OBrien about.

Either Franklin or OBrien (Im blanking on which) said the two had very similar personalities, so Im sure that has a little bit to do with the bond they seem to share.