Part of Maryland week ...
Brian: A pair of freshman quarterbacks took the field last year for the Atlantic Division's Boston College Eagles and Maryland Terrapins. One threw for 2,438 yards, 22 TDs and 8 INTs in his freshman campaign, while the other threw for just 1,238, 6 TDs and 9 INTs. The former, Maryland's Danny O'Brien has a lot of Terrapin faithful dreaming big this season. O'Brien is even getting odds to win this year's Stiff Army Trophy, albeit a long shot at 75-1. The other has the fan base wondering whether he can turn the corner in his sophomore season under a new offensive coordinator.
Though it's not hard to see why O'Brien is getting a lot more love in the preseason over BC's Chase Rettig when you consider their performance in their head to head meeting last season:
Danny O'Brien (Maryland): 26-of-39, 179 yards, 3 TDs, 0 INTs, 130.6 Passer Rating
Chase Rettig (Boston College): 18-of-33, 189 yards, 1 TDs, 2 INTs, 100.5 Passer Rating
Each QB has three years left at their respective schools. So the question is why QB has more upside? Which QB do you like to have the better career when it's all said and done? Your thoughts?
Jeff: More upside from where they have been so far is absolutely Chase Rettig. For both QBs I would say the goal is to lead their team to an ACC Championship and an Orange Bowl berth. Danny O'Brien was close in his first season. Maryland just needed to win their final two games to go on to Charlotte. However, Rettig was eliminated from conference title contention before the Eagles won their first conference game. O'Brien will be expected to put up similar numbers this season as he did last year, if not improved numbers. That will be difficult for him to duplicate.
Rettig, however, will have a much easier time improving. He has a lot more room for improvement and the play calling will be adjusted to allow him to be successful as his career goes on. O'Brien, who was a redshirt freshman last season, not a true freshman like Rettig, was asked to win some games with his arm for the Terrapins while Rettig was basically asked to not lose it and hand off to Montel Harris.
When talking about their careers, if we are going to go on personal stats alone, it will be tough to bet against Danny O'Brien. O'Brien had superior stats to Rettig last season and Rettig might outperform him going forward and still not catch up in career TD:INT ratio. O'Brien and Rettig were not in the same recruiting class but Rettig was rated the best pocket passer in the country according to some outlets and we might be saying a few years from now that Rettig has a better chance in the NFL than O'Brien even though O'Brien could have better collegiate stats.
If we are basing these QB's careers on team success, like a ACC Championship, I do think that BC has a much better chance of bringing home a Championship in the next three seasons compared to Maryland. I do like Edsall but O'Brien is not Matt Ryan that Jags walked into when he went to BC. Maryland also doesn't have Mark Herzlich on defense. Maryland fired their previous coach while Jags replaced someone who moved on for more money and better opportunities. Maryland will not win an ACC Championship in the next three seasons while BC at least has a chance.