Danny O ' Brien ( American football ) Daniel Matthew " Danny " Moses O ' Brien is an American football quarterback for the Wisconsin Badgers at the University of Wisconsin . Early years . O ' Brien was born in Minneapolis , Minnesota , and at the age of 12 , moved to Kernersville , North Carolina , where he attended East Forsyth High School . During his interscholastic career , he played basketball and football as a quarterback . As a junior in 2007 , he completed 151 of 248 pass attempts for 1 , 905 yards and 15 touchdown s and rushed for 290 yards and seven touchdowns . As a senior , he completed 117 of 235 pass attempts for 1 , 640 yards and 16 touchdowns and six interception s and had 160 rushing attempts for 780 yards and 11 touchdowns . That season , he led his team to the Metro 4A conference championship and the third round of the state playoffs . Rivals . com rated him a three - star college prospect and ranked him the 36th best quarterback in the nation and 35th best player in the state of North Carolina . Scout . com also rated him a three - star prospect . Miami , North Carolina , North Carolina State , Notre Dame , Wake Forest , and Virginia Tech showed interest in O ' Brien , and Duke , East Carolina , and Maryland offered him an athletic scholarship . College career . O ' Brien enrolled at the University of Maryland in the fall of 2009 but was " redshirted " and did not see playing time that year . O ' Brien entered the 2010 season as the backup quarterback behind Jamarr Robinson . He saw his first action in the season opener against Navy , losing a fumble on his only play of the game . In the second game of the season , O ' Brien saw his first serious action against Morgan State . Up 24 - 0 in the second quarter , O ' Brien capitalized by throwing 3 touchdowns in his first four passes before giving way to third string Quarterback , C . J . Brown in the 62 - 3 win . Against West Virginia , O ' Brien again only saw one play of action , getting sacked for a five yard loss . Robinson ' s sore arm moved O ' Brien into the starting role against Florida International . In the first start of his college career , O ' Brien passed for 250 yards and two touchdowns with no interceptions . O ' Brien shattered all significant Freshman quarterback records at the University of Maryland , passing for 2 , 438 yards and 22 touchdowns . In addition , he rushed for a twelve yard touchdown against Virginia and collected a four yard touchdown reception against Clemson . During the 2010 season , the Atlantic Coast Conference named O ' Brien the ACC Rookie of the Week a total of five times . Upon the conclusion of the season , he was named the ACC Rookie of the Year . O ' Brien was the first Maryland player to ever receive the honor . The Football Writers Association of America named O ' Brien to its Freshman All - America team . On February 13 , 2012 O ' Brien announced he would be transferring from the University of Maryland . O ' Brien announced on March 28 that he would transfer to the University of Wisconsin , and on August 20 he was named the starter for Wisconsin ' s season opener against the Northern Iowa Panthers . On September 20 , Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema replaced O ' Brien with redshirt freshman Joel Stave , citing problems with turnovers . After Stave suffered a season ending injury during the October 27 game against the Michigan State Spartans , O ' Brien remained the backup behind fifth - year senior Curt Phillips . Statistics . http : / / espn . go . com / college - football / story / _ / id / 7570977 / maryland - terrapins - danny - obrien - transferring References . http : / / espn . go . com / college - football / story / _ / id / 7570977 / maryland - terrapins - danny - obrien - transferring