|
Neil Kennedy O'Donnell (born July 3, 1966) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League for 14 seasons (1990–2003) with the Pittsburgh Steelers, New York Jets, Cincinnati Bengals, and Tennessee Titans. He played college football at Maryland. ==Early life== O'donnell grew up in Madison, New Jersey, and played high school football there at Madison High School.〔Eskenazi, Gerald. ("PRO FOOTBALL;Jets Waste No Time Wooing O'Donnell" ), ''The New York Times'', February 17, 1996. Accessed January 3, 2008. "He is a local product, having grown up and played football at Madison High School in New Jersey, not far from where the Giants have run their summer camp."〕 Neil Kennedy O’Donnell was born July 3, 1966 in Madison. Neil’s four older brothers played for local coaching legend Ted Monica and won state championships. Stephen O’Donnell was an All-State quarterback who went on to play for Duke. Coach Monica had retired by the time Neil enrolled at Madison High School, but mentored him throughout much of his young football life. Neil was the skinny brother, but that didn’t keep him from trying to compete with his siblings. His father, Jack—who owned a car dealership in nearby Morristown—nicknamed him Super Babe. Neil developed a rifle arm and a take-no-prisoners brand of toughness by the time he reached Madison High, in preparation for his tryout for the squad his freshman year. He was the star of the Dodgers varsity as a sophomore and junior, but the team won just three games in those two seasons. Despite this, he was promoted as the team's captain and, at the end of the season, Neil went out and recruited his friends who had quit the team to rejoin him as a senior. It was during his senior year that he reconnected to his football roots, becoming the team's quarterback. Neil showed up after the summer with more than 25 pounds of new muscle and willed the team to a respectable 4-2-3 season in 1985. Coach Bobby Ross of Maryland liked everything about Neil, even though he lacked the stats and honors of other high school stars.〔http://www.njsportsheroes.com/neilo%27donnellfb.html〕 ==College career== At the University of Maryland O'Donnell red-shirted the 1986 season and went on to play in 3 seasons (1987–89) taking over the starting QB job in the 1988 & 89 seasons. He played under Head Coach Joe Krivak who was promoted from QB coach after Bobby Ross left the program in 1986. The Krivak era was marked by mediocre results and the O'Donnell years featured an especially tough out of conference schedule. The Terps finished 5-6 in 1988 and 3-7-1 in 1989 notably tying Penn State, only the second time Maryland had avoided losing to the Nittany Lions in the series up to that point.〔Maryland–Penn State football rivalry〕 The Terps failed to reach a bowl game during O'Donnell's career there. He was backed up by QB Scott Zolak who pushed O'Donnell for playing time during both of his seasons as a starter. O'Donnell wore #14 for the Terps as he later would for most of his Pro Career. He was awarded the Ray Krouse Award for Maryland team MVP in 1989 and finished his Maryland career with 26 Touchdown passes, 3 rushing Touchdowns, and 5,069 total yards.〔http://www.umterps.com/ViewArticle.dbml?&DB_OEM_ID=29700&ATCLID=208126658#TDCareer〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Neil O'Donnell」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|