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John O'Korn
Head and shoulders photograph of O'Korn
O'Korn in 2016
Personal information
Born: (1994-11-22) November 22, 1994 (age 29)
Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Height:6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Weight:211 lb (96 kg)
Career information
High school:St. Thomas Aquinas
(Fort Lauderdale, Florida)
College:Houston (2013–2014)
Michigan (2015–2017)
Position:Quarterback
Undrafted:2018
Career highlights and awards

John August O'Korn (born November 22, 1994) is a former American football quarterback. After attending St. Thomas Aquinas High School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where he led his team to the 2012 FHSAA 7A state high school title, O'Korn chose to attend the University of Houston.[1] He began as the starting quarterback for Houston during the 2013 season as a true freshman after teammate David Piland suffered career-ending injuries.[2] After throwing 3,117 yards and 28 touchdowns as a freshman and honored with the American Athletic Conference Freshman Player of the Year, he lost his starting position after starting the first five games in the 2014 season. On February 5, 2015, he announced his plans to transfer to the University of Michigan, where he threw for 1,146 yards and 4 touchdowns over two years.[3]

Early life

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John O'Korn was born to Gary and Paula O'Korn in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania.[4] He attended Huntingdon Area High School, where he played quarterback, throwing for 1,018 yards and 10 touchdowns as a sophomore, starting 5 games. As a youth, John was an outstanding baseball and basketball player as well as wrestler, placing in several national tournaments. When his family moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, O'Korn attended St. Thomas Aquinas High School. In his first season at St. Thomas Aquinas, he threw for 377 yards, seven touchdowns and three interceptions. The next season, he led the team to the 2012 FHSAA 7A state title with an average of 43 points per game. Throwing for 22 touchdowns with just 4 interceptions and over 2,500 yards.

He received scholarship offers from Wisconsin, Louisville, Syracuse, Mississippi State, North Carolina, South Florida, and UCF in addition to Houston.[5]

College career

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Houston

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2013 season

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O'Korn earned the backup position for quarterback during preseason camp behind David Piland.[5] However, he made his first collegiate appearance during the first half of the season opener. He became the quarterback beginning with the 2013 Bayou Bucket Classic against Rice.[6] When Piland announced that he would end his career due to concussions, O'Korn was solidified in the role.[7]

2014 season

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O'Korn was the starting quarterback for the first five games of the 2014 season before being benched in favor of Greg Ward Jr.[8] The benching was due to an offensive scheme change due to 2013 Offensive Coordinator Doug Meacham leaving for same position at TCU.

Michigan

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2015 season

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On February 5, 2015, O'Korn announced that he would be transferring to the University of Michigan. Due to NCAA transfer rules, O'Korn sat out the 2015 season. He spent the 2015 season serving as the scout team quarterback.[8][9]

2016 season

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2016 Spring practice began on February 29 with a highly anticipated quarterback battle between redshirt junior Shane Morris, O'Korn, redshirt sophomore Wilton Speight, true freshman Brandon Peters and redshirt freshman Alex Malzone.[10][11] As Spring practice wound down in late March, Speight, O'Korn and Morris seemed to be the leading three,[12] but in that order.[13] O'Korn and Speight were the starters in the April 1 Spring game.[14][15]

On September 3 before the opening game against Hawaii, Speight was named as the starting quarterback, despite O’Korn leading the preseason point challenge.[16] O'Korn made his Michigan debut in the third quarter after Michigan had built a 49–0 lead,[17] and he went 3–3 on a touchdown scoring drive.[18] After Speight was sidelined with an unspecified shoulder injury, O'Korn started and led the team to a 20–10 victory over Indiana on November 19. O'Korn posted 7 completions in 16 attempts for a total of 59 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions. The performance represented the lowest passing yardage total for Michigan since John Navarre posted 58 in a November 17, 2001, victory for the 2001 Wolverines against Wisconsin.[19][20]

2017 season

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After another quarterback battle for the starting role,[21] O'Korn entered the 2017 season as Speight's primary backup again and relieved him briefly in the second quarter of the season opener against Florida.[22][23] After Speight suffered what would become a season-ending injury on September 23 against Purdue, O'Korn became the primary starter.[24] He helped lead the Wolverines to victory against Purdue,[25] but in his first season start of the season in the rivalry game against Michigan State, O'Korn threw three interceptions in a 14–10 loss.[26][27] Against rival Ohio State, he also threw a costly pick in the fourth quarter with 2:47 left to play which cost the Wolverines the game. After the game, he emotionally blamed himself for the loss, saying with tears falling down his face, "the hardest part for me is just you come here to win this game and our senior class wasn’t able to do it, and you know I hold myself responsible for a lot of that…. I can’t imagine a worse feeling right now"[28]

Statistics

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Through the end of the 2017 season, O'Korn's statistics are as follows:[29]

NCAA collegiate career statistics
Houston Cougars
Season Passing Rushing
Comp Att Yards Pct. TD Int QB Rating Att Yards Avg TD
2013 259 446 3,117 58.1 28 10 133.0 77 104 1.4 1
2014 90 173 951 52.0 6 8 100.4 32 18 0.6 1
Michigan Wolverines
2015
Redshirt
2016 20 34 173 58.8 2 0 121.0 12 31 2.6 0
2017 84 157 973 53.5 2 6 102.1 44 −54 −1.2 0
NCAA career totals 453 810 5,214 55.9 38 24 119.6 165 99 0.6 2

References

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  1. ^ Sonnone, Brendan (June 22, 2012). "St. Thomas Aquinas QB John O'Korn commits to Houston". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved October 10, 2013.
  2. ^ Huguenin, Mike (September 19, 2013). "John O'Korn, a true freshman, will make first start for Houston". National Football League (NFL). Retrieved October 9, 2013.
  3. ^ Murphy, Dan (February 5, 2015). "John O'Korn transfers to Michigan". ESPN.com. Retrieved February 6, 2015.
  4. ^ "John O'Korn signs to play at Houston". The Daily News. February 7, 2013. Retrieved October 9, 2013.
  5. ^ a b Duarte, Joseph (September 25, 2013). "UH's O'Korn no stranger to pressure". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved October 9, 2013.
  6. ^ Price, Tim (September 27, 2013). "Houston tries to remain unbeaten against UTSA". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved October 9, 2013.
  7. ^ "QB David Piland cites concussions". ESPN. October 8, 2013. Retrieved October 9, 2013.
  8. ^ a b Murphy, Dan (February 5, 2015). "John O'Korn transfers to Michigan". ESPN.com. Retrieved June 18, 2016.
  9. ^ Baumgardner, Nick (March 30, 2016). "Michigan QB John O'Korn getting his feet back under him after a year off". MLive.com. Retrieved June 18, 2016.
  10. ^ Kercheval, Ben (February 24, 2016). "Who Has the Edge in Michigan's Quarterback Battle?". Bleacher Report. Retrieved April 14, 2016.
  11. ^ Baumgardner, Nick (February 22, 2016). "John O'Korn, Shane Morris, someone else? Michigan's QB 'cage match' set to begin". MLive.com. Retrieved April 14, 2016.
  12. ^ Baumgardner, Nick (March 26, 2016). "Wilton Speight, John O'Korn, Shane Morris are Michigan's top QBs, but no one has pulled away". MLive.com. Retrieved April 14, 2016.
  13. ^ Baumgardner, Nick (March 29, 2016). "Michigan's top three QBs all want to start, but say the competition is far from over". MLive.com. Retrieved April 14, 2016.
  14. ^ "Spring Fling". MLive.com. Retrieved April 14, 2016.
  15. ^ Snyder, Mark (April 2, 2016). "Wilton Speight best of QBs, leads 2 TD drives in Michigan spring game". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved April 14, 2016.
  16. ^ Foltin, Lindsey (September 3, 2016). "Jim Harbaugh had a strange way of pumping up Michigan's new QB". FOX Sports. Retrieved September 4, 2016.
  17. ^ Burchfield, Will (September 4, 2016). "The Michigan QB Battle That Never Was". WWJ-TV. Retrieved September 5, 2016.
  18. ^ Robinson, Geoff (September 3, 2016). "Michigan blog recap: Wolverines rout Hawaii, 63–3". Detroit News. Retrieved September 5, 2016.
  19. ^ "Boxscore: #7 Michigan 63, Hawaii 3". MGoBlue.com. CBS Interactive. September 3, 2016. Archived from the original on September 6, 2016. Retrieved September 3, 2016.
  20. ^ "Without Speight, No. 3 Michigan shakes off Indiana, 20–10". ESPN. Associated Press. November 19, 2016. Retrieved November 30, 2016.
  21. ^ McMann, Aaron (May 26, 2017). "Jim Harbaugh 'rooting for all 3' in Michigan's QB competition". MLive.com. Retrieved July 7, 2017.
  22. ^ McMann, Aaron (September 2, 2017). "Michigan starts Wilton Speight at QB vs. Florida". MLive.com. Retrieved September 15, 2017.
  23. ^ Baumgardner, Nick (September 2, 2017). "Harbaugh briefly sat Michigan's Wilton Speight to calm down vs. Florida". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved September 15, 2017.
  24. ^ VanHaaren, Tom (October 2, 2017). "Wilton Speight out several weeks; John O'Korn to start vs. MSU". ESPN. Retrieved October 19, 2017.
  25. ^ "O'Korn, defense help No. 8 Michigan rally past Purdue, 28–10". ESPN. Associated Press. September 24, 2018. Retrieved November 13, 2018.
  26. ^ "Michigan football commits 5 turnovers in 14–10 loss to Michigan State". Detroit Free Press. Retrieved October 10, 2017.
  27. ^ "Michigan St beats No. 7 Michigan 14–10 for 8th time in 10 games". ESPN. Associated Press. October 8, 2018. Retrieved November 13, 2018.
  28. ^ "What we learned from Michigan Football's loss to Ohio State". November 25, 2017.
  29. ^ "John O'Korn". sports-reference.com. Retrieved January 16, 2018.
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