A Chance Meeting for a Pair of Nebraska QB Transfers
Almost unnoticed, Patrick O'Brien and Tristan Gebbia stood off to the side at Reser Stadium, easily chatting amongst themselves before the Washington-Oregon State football game.
They were opposing Pac-12 Conference quarterbacks on Saturday night in Corvallis who would not enter the Beavers' 27-24 victory, yet they know each other well and found time to catch up.
In 2017, O'Brien and Gebbia were Nebraska teammates who waged a competitive head-to-head battle for the backup quarterback job behind Cornhuskers starter Tanner Lee.
Both hail from California, the 6-foot-5, 230-pound O'Brien from San Juan Capistrano, south of Los Angeles, while the 6-foot-2, 203-pound Gebbia comes from Calabasas, north of LA, or about 85 miles apart.
Each deemed a 4-star recruit, Gebbia threw for 5,338 and 61 touchdowns as a high school senior, O'Brien for 2,895 yards and 32 scores in his final prep season.
A year apart, they were well acquainted before arriving at the Big 12 school. Both left in 2018, O'Brien to Colorado State before joining the Huskies this past offseason, Gebbia to OSU, where he started one and four games the past two seasons.
Gebbia, who called the signals in the Beavers' 27-21 loss to the UW to open the 2020 season, severely injured a hamstring muscle in the Oregon-OSU rivalry game to close the year and hasn't been able to fully recover and play again, giving way to Chance Nolan and Sam Noyer as starters.
O'Brien has played just one series for the Huskies, pulling duty against Arkansas State.
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