The Las Vegas Raiders have made a few substantial changes recently. They punted on the Josh McDaniels experiment, swapping the failed former head coach out for linebackers coach Antonio Pierce. They also demoted quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo in favor of rookie Aidan O’Connell.
Early returns have been promising. Both Pierce and O’Connell earned their first professional victories as leading men during last Sunday’s convincing, 30-6 victory over the New York Giants. That win put Vegas within a game of .500, meaning they remain very much relevant in the playoff picture at the season’s midway point.
In order to stay there, though, the Raiders will need to stack victories. They’ll get the opportunity to even their record this week when they play host to the New York Jets on Sunday Night Football. For many football fans, it may well serve as their introduction to O’Connell.
Which begs the question…
What Is Aidan O’Connell’s Alma Mater?
Fans of Big Ten football are likely familiar with O’Connell. The 25-year-old signal-caller is an alum of Purdue University. He wasn’t a highly coveted prospect out of high school, only earning one scholarship offer from Division II Davenport University.
Instead, O’Connell joined the Boilermakers team as a preferred walk-on. His was something of a classic underdog story. O’Connell went from buried on the Purdue depth chart to etching his name in school record books over the course of six seasons.
MORE: Las Vegas Raiders Depth Chart
O’Connell wound up logging a total of 28 career starts. He earned second-team All-Big Ten honors twice. He ranks top five all-time in school history in both passing yards (9,219) and touchdowns (65).
O’Connell earned a scholarship heading into his redshirt sophomore season in 2019. That season also marked the first time he saw meaningful action under center for the Boilermakers. He started the team’s final three games and racked up numbers in the process, throwing for 968 yards and seven scores.
He’d again split duties with incumbent Jack Plummer in the COVID-shortened 2020 season, notching another three games as the starter of note. Again he’d light up the stat sheet in limited action, throwing for 916 yards and seven scores.
O’Connell really took off for Purdue in the 2021 season, starting every game but the opener and leading the team to a 9-4 finish. Notably, he led the Boilermakers to victories over the No. 2 Iowa Hawkeyes and No. 3 Michigan State Spartans.
In that season, O’Connell completed over 70 percent of his passes for 3,712 yards, 28 touchdowns, and 11 interceptions. He eclipsed the 300-yard mark in six games and even went over 500 twice. In one of those 500-yard outings, he threw for five touchdowns in a thrilling shootout victory over Tennessee in the Music City Bowl.
O’Connell enjoyed one more successful season — his final one with Purdue — in 2022. He threw for 3,490 yards, 22 touchdowns, and 13 interceptions. He led the Boilers to an 8-6 finish, two more ranked wins, and an appearance in the Big Ten Championship opposite Michigan.
From a walk-on to competing on football’s biggest stage, O’Connell’s already defied expectations to this point in his football career. Don’t be surprised if he does so again, starting with this Sunday night against the New York Jets’ ferocious defense.
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