Penn State and Bill O’Brien landed verbal commit number 11 for the 2014 recruiting year as four-star quarterback Michael O’Conner announced his commitment Saturday. That’s according to multiple media outlets.
At 6-foot-5, 223 pounds, the Canadian native based out of Bradenton, Florida’s IMG Academy holds offers from over 10 different schools including Michigan State, Rutgers, Vanderbilt and Southern Miss.
O’Connor marks the seventh offensive recruit in the 2014 class. Penn State is limited to only 15 scholarships due to NCAA sanctions handed down in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse scandal.
Penn State is currently waiting for the arrival of highly-touted quarterback commit Christian Hackenberg who will join the team this summer.
“The big thing is for him to get acclimated to the class schedule first,” O’Brien said of Hackenberg. “They’ll take a couple classes, they’ll take study hall, getting to know his way around campus, which he knows a lot about that already.
“Then he’ll work out with Fitzy. We can’t have any football meetings with him, so it’ll be incumbent upon the older guys to help incorporate the younger guys, including Christian, into the mix in different 7-on-7s that they’re having and the things that they’re doing on their own. Then we’ll officially start coaching him in training camp [on Aug. 5].”
Even if O’Connor is not destined to make immediate contributions he’ll provide much-needed depth at a position lacking in experience. Sophomore quarterback Steven Bench recently left the program.
Junior college transfer quarterback Tyler Ferguson is currently ahead in Penn State’s quarterback race according to O’Brien, but that could change once Hackenberg touches down in State College this July.
