"When his friends were all going out to the beach and hanging out, having a good time, Patrick was working out with me on the football field," said Steve Calhoun, the nationally respected California quarterback guru, who's worked with O'Brien since he was in the seventh grade.
"He never skipped a workout," Calhoun said. "And let's face it, when you're in high school, you always have that peer pressure."
It derails some kids, but not O'Brien, who starred at San Juan Hills High School before arriving at Nebraska in the spring of 2016.
"He always wanted to be a great quarterback and he understood what he needed to do every day to become that," Calhoun said.