Terps Quarterback Starts at Smith

For Maryland Terrapin quarterback Danny O’Brien, the start of the 2011 – 2012 academic year meant two things: Football is back in full swing and his first year as a Robert H. Smith School of Business student is officially underway.

On the field, head coach Randy Edsall has high expectations for the young quarterback: “My expectations are for [Danny] to improve his game,” Edsall said at Maryland Terrapin media day prior to the season’s beginning. “I’ve seen him make really big strides in these past few days. … You show him ‘This is gonna make you better,’ and he immediately goes and makes those corrections. He has a lot of confidence and wants to make those big plays.”

Off the field, O’Brien’s game plan becomes more of a business plan. The sophomore recently joined the business school and is still deciding whether to focus on business management or marketing.

Already focused on gathering business experience, O’Brien has interned at UnderArmour in the company’s highly selective rookie program. On Terrapins Rising, a Comcast Sports Net television show, O’Brien discussed his internship at the sports apparel company, saying it was a great opportunity to get into things he was interested in exploring once his football career ended.

He explained on the show that as someone new to the corporate business scene, he tried to soak up everything like a sponge during his summer internship, and that he was thankful for the opportunity because it piqued his interest in marketing.

His connection with UnderArmour didn’t stop there – CEO Kevin Plank ’96 visited the football team during their spring practices, as was documented on Terrapins Rising.

“The connection with Kevin Plank is awesome because not only is he a very successful man, obviously, but to have played at the same university that we’re playing at, we’ve gone through the same things,” O’Brien said on the show. “So he’s practiced on the same field we’ve practiced on. He worked his butt off to get where he is today and we’re following in his footsteps on the football side of things. The connection that he not only went to the same school but played on the same team – that was pretty awesome.”

And just as Plank balanced life as a business student and a student athlete, so will O’Brien: “I am just as excited to be in the business school as I am to start this season,” he said. “It’s gonna be a challenge for sure, but it’s gonna come down to time management and really relying on our academic staff here as far as tutoring and making sure I get all my assignments in on time. But as is the case with every guy on our team, to be a student athlete at the Division 1 level, especially in the ACC, you have to have your time management skills down pat.”

Jessica Bauer, Writer and Editor, Office of Marketing Communications