Norwin grad Declan O'Brien thriving in 3rd season as receiver at Allegheny

When Braden Layer was serving as offensive coordinator for the Allegheny football team, he had speedy wide receiver Alex Victor at his disposal. He was a player who, in Layer’s words, “made my life a lot easier.”

The numbers bear it out. Victor graduated in 2020 as the Gators’ all-time leader in career receptions (219), receiving yards (3,294) and touchdown receptions (36).

Now, as Allegheny’s head coach, Layer has another top-notch receiver to deploy: Norwin grad Declan O’Brien. A senior playing his third season with the Gators — his freshman year was scuttled by the pandemic — O’Brien is the clear-cut go-to guy in the passing game.

Over the first two games — Allegheny went 1-1 — O’Brien caught 27 passes for 327 yards and three touchdowns. His second touchdown in the opener against Waynesburg was the overtime winner.

Layer said he can see a little bit of Victor in O’Brien.

“I think the big similarity between them, honestly, is the flexibility to move around the offense,” said Layer, in his first season at the helm. “It’s not necessarily Alex or, now, Declan just played an outside receiver spot or played in the slot. … Having that versatility really allowed us to kind of take advantage of what our offense can provide.”

And while he isn’t likely to threaten any of Victor’s career records, O’Brien quickly is moving up the Gators’ career charts. His 27 receptions through the first two games gave him 118 for his career, putting him alone in seventh place. With 50 more catches — not out of the question given his current rate — he would take sole possession of second place in Allegheny history.

His 1,638 yards also rank seventh, and he has a legitimate shot to be only the third receiver in program history to reach 2,000 for his career. His 15 TDs are tied for sixth. Reaching 21 career TDs would move him into second alone.

O’Brien said he really doesn’t keep track of his statistics on a game-to-game bases, let alone for his career. But he is not unaware of them, thanks to his father.

“My dad always likes to tell me what my numbers were (in games),” O’Brien said. “Now this year he likes to tell me where I’m sitting in the all-time rankings for yards and stuff. I guess I figure it out either way.”

What hasn’t been figured out is how an opposing defense can slow O’Brien.

His numbers in the early going, while gaudy, hardly come as a surprise. Over his first two seasons, he caught 91 passes for more than 1,300 yards and added 12 touchdowns.

In 2021, his first season, he had a 10-catch, 205-yard, three-touchdown game against Wooster.

Layer said he has seen O’Brien slowly evolving from strictly a vertical threat to someone who can keep defenses honest with crisp intermediate routes.

“I think he knows how to set defensive backs up,” the coach said. “I think he understands leverage and cushion and really knows how to work to collapse that and, ultimately, set up for success. I think for him to really take the ultimate step now, it’s some double-move stuff … really using more lateral quickness or some side-to-side movement.”

O’Brien said being more physical also has helped. After entering college at 150 pounds, the 5-foot-11 O’Brien is up to 170, which, he said, enables him to get more yards after catches and disengage from defenders when they try to jam him during his release.

He also has developed a strong rapport with quarterback Jack Johnson. The senior from Massachusetts entered this season having thrown for more than 4,400 yards in his first two seasons — nearly a third of those to O’Brien. Of his 770 yards through the first two games of 2023, more than 42% went to O’Brien.

“We’ve been together now for three years,” O’Brien said. “We definitely have a good chemistry, and I think he’s able to tell where I’m going with my routes. I try to make my breaks very defined to make his job easy.

“He’s really good at throwing me open and finding spots between the defenses, which makes it a little easier for me.”

And if he wasn’t already doing enough to help the offense, O’Brien also is getting involved with the running game, something else his sturdier frame will allow him to do.

In the opener against Waynesburg, he had his lone handoff called back because of a penalty. In the Week 2 loss to Geneva, his one carry resulted in 5 yards.

This season marked the first time O’Brien was the recipient of handoffs. He said in the past he caught a shovel pass or two coming out of the backfield but hadn’t taken a straight handoff at the collegiate level.

“(Layer) asked me in the summer if I would be willing and able to take handoffs,” O’Brien said. “And, of course, I said, ‘Yep.’ ”

After Saturday’s game against Saint Vincent and a Sept. 23 home game against Bethany, the schedule gets much tougher for the Gators as, in successive weeks, they will face Carnegie Mellon, W&J, Grove City and Westminster. If Allegheny is to stay in those games against the Presidents’ Athletic Conference’s heavyweights, O’Brien must continue to be a big part of the offense.

Layer doesn’t see his standout receiver slowing down — or being slowed down — anytime soon.

“Declan might be one of the better lead-by-example guys that I have ever been around in coaching,” he said. “As far as his work ethic … we’ve had to have specific periods where we’ve had to dial him back.

“I think he’s always willing to push his body to the ultimate limit.”