NFL Careers of Maryland QBs

So I was watching the NFL's Greatest Games on ESPN, and seeing Frank Reich's moment of fame inspired this homage to great Maryland quarterbacks of the recent past (my lifetime). This has nothing to do with the agony of some of the recent years, discussed relative to the past by the Baltimore Sun here.

The greatest and best known MD QB of recent memory is of course Boomer Esiason, who led the Bengals to the Super Bowl and threw for 37,920 yds and 247 TD's over 14 seasons as a pro. More recently known as a commentator for CBS, Boomer set 17 school records and led the Terps to a conference title. He was also Honorable Mention All-American twice.


The greatest comeback QB ever, Frank Reich followed Boomer at Maryland, and then proceeded with his own 14 season NFL career. While he only started 15 games over that period, he is well remembered for the most incredible comeback of all time, leading the Bills over the Warren Moon Oilers in the first round of the playoffs. Reich's career at Maryland was also highlighted by a comeback, leading a 42-9 second half comeback against Miami which was the greatest in college football history at the time.

Stan Gelbaugh was the real starter after Boomer, and he enjoyed his own 9 seasons in the pros. He rode the bench behind Frank Reich (and Jim Kelly) in Buffalo before getting his shot and starting 8 games in Seattle in 1992. He led Maryland to ACC Championships in 1984 and 1985.

Neil O'Donnell, longtime journeyman of the NFL, led the Steelers to the Super Bowl in 1995. He threw for over 20,000 yds and was the Steelers starting QB for 5 years.

After only one year as a starter at Maryland, Scott Zolak went on to a 9 year career in the NFL, 8 years as the backup of the Patriots.

Scott Milanovich was the star of the Mark Duffner offense in the mid 1990's setting almost all of the passing records at MD, and was a backup for 4 years with the Bucs. The proudest moment of his short pro career was certainly as the #1 draft pick of the first XFL Draft.

More recently, Shaun Hill and Sam Hollenbach are still holding clipboards in the NFL.

While Maryland is not known as a football school, we have quite an impressive quarterback tradition. 5 quarterbacks that started at Maryland between 1981 and 1990 went on to NFL careers of at least 9 years, and two of them were the starting QB in a Super Bowl. A third started and won multiple playoff games. How many other schools can claim such a tradition over that short a time period? Even the great football powerhouses would have trouble matching such a history.

It is also worth noting that during that period, Maryland's basketball program was terrible. Len Bias' death and the departure of Lefty in the mid 80's started a downward spiral, which took Gary into the mid 90's to reverse. Every year, I hope for the return of Maryland as a football power, when fans will think of football before basketball.