Northwestern is leaving no stone unturned in its search for players who can help turn around a program that finished 1-11 last season. You want an example? Take Quintin O'Connell.
O'Connell will play for the Wildcats this fall as a walkon graduate transfer from North Carolina. That's hardly unique in this era of wide-open transfer rules.
What makes O'Connell an intriguing addition is that he didn't play football for the Tar Heels, he played lacrosse. In fact, he hasn’t played football since the fall of 2018, when he was a senior at New Canaan (Conn.) High School.
If this scenario sounds familiar to you, it should. Converting a lacrosse player to another sport worked wonders for Northwestern's basketball team with Pat Spencer a few years ago. Now, the football team will try to do the same thing with O'Connell.
O’Connell wasn’t the dominant college lacrosse player that Spencer was – Spencer won the Tewaaraton Award, the lacrosse equivalent of the Heisman Trophy. But he was a team captain for the Tar Heels as a senior, and he was a good enough high school football player to earn a preferred walkon offer from Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh.
O'Connell says he can’t wait to play football at the highest level to see what he can do.
“I’m going to try and live this football dream out again,” he said.
O’Connell had what he called a “great” lacrosse career at North Carolina. He played three years with his older brother, Ryan, and he has no regrets about choosing to play lacrosse out of high school.
“I have nothing but love and appreciation for that school and that lacrosse program,” he said. “I’m very grateful for the last four years.”
At the same time, he says the itch to go back to the sport he played in high school never went away.
“I always still had the yearning and love to play football,” he said.
O’Connell didn’t abandon football entirely over the last four years. In the summers and on breaks during his college career, O’Connell would go back to New Canaan and run routes for his old high school quarterback, Drew Pyne, the former Notre Dame signal caller who transferred to Arizona State for this upcoming season.
O’Connell says he did it mainly to help his buddy out, but also found that it rekindled the fire he had for football. So he made up his mind to pursue football again with his fifth and final year of eligibility.
At the end of the 2023 lacrosse season, after he graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in history and political science from UNC, O’Connell decided to enter the transfer portal with the intent to play football. He compiled a unique highlight tape that consisted of clips from his lacrosse career at North Carolina, his football career at New Canaan and even film of the routes he ran for Pyne in those summer workouts.
Northwestern was a school he targeted early, and, as it turns out, one of the first schools to show interest. He first talked to director of player personnel Jonny Kovach, and then wide receivers coach Armon Binns.
“I reached out and kinda said, ‘this is my story,’” he said. “It’s a pretty unique story.”
Kovach and Binns were receptive and liked what they saw of O’Connell on tape. They were intrigued enough by O’Connell’s skills to take a chance on him – though, as a non-scholarship player, they really had nothing to lose.
Northwestern wound up offering him a preferred walkon spot on the Saturday before Memorial Day. O’Connell committed a few days after that, without ever setting foot on NU’s campus.
O’Connell was a star football player at New Canaan, where he set school career records for receptions, receiving yards and touchdowns as Pyne’s No. 1 target.
As a senior, he amassed more than 1,700 all-purpose yards. He had 91 catches for 1,158 yards and 14 touchdowns as a wide receiver, 222 yards and five TDs rushing, and 362 yards and one more score as a returner. He was named all-state, and he and Pyne led New Canaan to the state championship game, where they were blanked, 34-0, by Greenwich.
O'Connell was also a two-time All-American in lacrosse at New Canaan. He decided to follow in his older brother’s footsteps and accept a scholarship offer to play lacrosse at North Carolina – though a late preferred walkon offer from Harbaugh that came after his commitment gave him pause.
O’Connell wasn't a star for the Tar Heels. He appeared in eight games over his first two seasons and never started a game in his career. A defensive midfielder, he scored five total goals: one as a freshman and four this past year as a senior.
The fact that O’Connell was named a captain for the Tar Heels this season tells you that his impact wasn’t necessarily measured by statistics. He thinks that his leadership ability is “the No. 1 skill set” he will bring to the Northwestern program.
“I was a leader of the team. I understand team dynamics and the importance of leadership,” he said. “That’s a skill set that transcends sports and applies directly to football.”
O’Connell also thinks that some of the cuts and moves he made as a midfielder at North Carolina are similar to coming in and out of breaks on the routes he’ll run as a wide receiver at Northwestern.
At the same time, O’Connell isn’t kidding himself. He knows that the transition will be challenging. While lacrosse is a physical, contact sport, he realizes that he hasn’t been tackled in four years. He’s not small at 6-feet and 190 pounds, but that first hit, from a Power Five corner, safety or linebacker, is going to feel a lot different than the last one he took in high school, nearly five years ago.
When it came time to target potential destinations for football, Northwestern was at the top of O’Connell’s list. A well organized and thoughtful sort, he lists three reasons.
“No. 1, I want to pursue a Master’s degree, and there’s no better academic school in the country than Northwestern,” he said. “No. 2, it’s Big Ten football, the highest level of college football. It’s always been my dream to play at the highest level.
“No. 3 is the most impressive part: the coaching staff completely blew me away. I couldn’t believe how generous everyone was. The character of every coach at Northwestern impressed me.”
O’Connell finally got to meet all the coaches last Thursday, when he took his first visit, saw the campus and facilities, and “shook hands with Coach Fitz [head coach Pat Fitzgerald].” He also found an apartment in Evanston, so he’ll be taking part in summer workouts with the team.
O’Connell isn’t sure what he’ll be able to bring to Northwestern’s team this season. Spencer set a high bar in terms of instant impact, albeit in basketball: he was a starter and often the best player on what was a very bad Wildcat team in 2019-20. He led the Wildcats in assists and finishing second in scoring.
No one is expecting O’Connell to come in and lead the Wildcats in catches, but he’ll be a welcome addition to a wide receivers room that lost its top two pass catchers from an offense that ranked 128th in the nation at scoring in 2022. While it remains to be seen how much he can contribute on game days, if nothing else O'Connell will give the unit some depth.
Ask the former captain for his goals and he talks about the team first.
“I’m a team guy,” he said. “I’m going to give every ounce of my commitment and my sweat to the team to help them this season. I’m going to do everything in my power to enhance the success of the team.”
He has no idea what kind of personal goals to set. He says everything is on the table in terms of his role, whether it’s as a receiver, runner, return man or special teams gunner. He’ll do anything.
“I’m incredibly excited to put on a football helmet again,” said O’Connell, with enthusiasm you can hear over the phone. “I loved playing college lacrosse, and playing with my brother was a dream come true.
"Then to play football this year is another dream. I can’t wait to be a Wildcat.”
