Earlier today, the Browns announced the hiring of Kevin O'Connell as the team's new quarterbacks coach, rounding out the 2015 offensive staff.
We covered the basics in the announcement. Here are a few more things you might not have known about O'Connell.
- As a college quarterback at San Diego State, O'Connell filled out pages of a personal journal after each game, according to the New York Times. O'Connell would write down everything from coverages that confused him to what worked. Attention to detail is a big strength of his.
- When Bill Belichick drafted O'Connell in the third round of the 2008 draft, it was the highest round the Patriots coach/general manager had ever selected a quarterback.
- O'Connell's X's and O's prowess actually began when he was the third-string quarterback with the Jets. O'Connell worked hand-in-hand with Mark Sanchez, specifically helping his teammate with third downs, red-zone situations and two-minute drills play calls. New York players started referring to him as "Coach O'Connell" because he was that involved. Read more from the New York Times.
- One of the biggest things O'Connell said about working with Duke Johnson Jr. last offseason was actually about the classroom.
- "He's got a photographic memory," O'Connell told CBS Houston last offseason. "He can remember what he was thinking, why he made the decision he did and why a protection went a certain way it did. He just constantly wants to be learning and understanding the bigger picture."
- On the basketball court, the 6-foot-6 O'Connell was high school teammates with Minnesota Timberwolves forward Chase Budinger.
- When going through the Scouting Combine process in 2008, O'Connell counted one of his mentors as former Browns quarterback Charlie Frye.
- Guess who became the quarterback coach the year after O'Connell left San Diego State? Browns legend Brian Sipe.
- O'Connell spent the past few football seasons as an analyst for ESPN and CBS Sports Network.
