It is incredibly rare for a former four-star quarterback recruit to transfer to a school outside of the United States. In fact, it has never been done before yesterday. Michael O’Connor, a former Penn State quarterback, is transferring to the University of British Columbia.
QB Michael O’Connor, formerly of Penn State has signed with #UBCFootball. Best Cdn QB prospect since Jesse Palmer. HUGE coup for Blake Nill!
— Farhan Lalji (@FarhanLaljiTSN) February 12, 2015
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsO’Connor will certainly be stepping into a different world of football. He now goes from Penn State with a stadium capacity of 110,000 to UBC with a home seating capacity of 3,500 fans and standing room for an extra 5,000 fans. Considering some of the other potential options that seemed to be on the table for O’Connor, this is a bit of a surprise. Syracuse was reportedly one team with mutual interest in adding O’Connor, although he would have had to sit out the 2015 season due to NCAA transfer rules. Now he will be eligible to play right away in his native country.
The signing of @TheTrueQB is a game changer for #UBCFootball. Will go a long way towards changing the balance of power in #CanadaWest #CIS
— Farhan Lalji (@FarhanLaljiTSN) February 12, 2015
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O’Connor made the decision to transfer from Penn State in December, prior to Penn State’s appearance in the Pinstripe Bowl. Recruited under former head coach Bill O’Brien, O’Connor was the eighth quarterback to transfer from Penn State since 2008. With Christian Hackenberg taking on the starting job as a freshman in 2014 and likely not to lose the job, O’Connor was going to have to wait for his opportunity to play any serious role.
For those unfamiliar with the Canadian equivalent of the NCAA, the University of British Columbia plays in Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS). The Thunderbirds have had some success on the field in the past but the program has gone a lengthy stretch now without a winning season (2004 was the last winning season at UBC).
UBC did once flirt with the idea of joining the NCAA as a Division 1 program, but NCAA rules put in place would only allow a Canadian school to join Division 2. UBC was ready to apply for NCAA Division 2 status but backed out before filing its application for membership.
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