A career backup quarterback turned into a go-to starter for football knowledge: J.T. O’Sullivan.
O’Sullivan played in the NFL for nine seasons for 11 teams, plus a year in the Canadian Football League. In his post-playing career, O’Sullivan has a YouTube channel — The QB School — dedicated to educating viewers on football.
O’Sullivan and his family currently reside in Coronado, a resort city in the San Diego Bay, where his wife is originally from. Together, they have three boys, all of whom play sports.
“It’s a special time to soak in where you get an opportunity to play a lot of catch with three dudes,” O’Sullivan said. “And spend a lot of time going to their games, cheering them on, and being a dad in the stands.”
Post-Pros Education
After playing in the league, O’Sullivan shied away from coaching in the pros. He still wanted to be involved in sports, but he wanted to branch out.
“When I first started playing, I thought I was going to coach,” O’Sullivan said. “I saw that lifestyle from the inside and realized I didn’t want that.”
After he finished playing, O’Sullivan went back to school, which gave him a chance to see more through the administrative lens.
Back in 2016, O’Sullivan had spent time at San Diego State University, working on the compliance staff for the athletic department. He worked in development, facilities and operations, which allowed him to see different sectors of the administrative role.
He described his role as being the “low person” on the totem pole, observing compliance issues, legislation, research, waivers, and rules.
One of O’Sullivan’s goals became wanting to be an athletic director at a university.
“I realized that might be something that could tether to my love of sports,” O’Sullivan said. “Also, give back to the Intercollegiate Athletic model that gave me so much and gave me such a great experience as a student athlete.”
But after some time, he wanted to transition elsewhere.
“I quickly realized that that was not the lane I wanted to live in very long and I was able to transition to the development team, which is just a fancy way of saying fundraising,” O’Sullivan said. “That was much more enjoyable — [more] relationship oriented. You speak the good word of the department and help raise money and help create great experiences for those students.”
The QB School
In 2018, J.T. O’Sullivan started his YouTube channel, “The QB School.”
O’Sullivan had completed his Ph.D. in Leadership studies at University of San Diego in 2017 and was figuring out what to do after grad school.
“(I) wasn’t necessarily training to play,” O’Sullivan said. “Wasn’t keeping track of the tendencies or X’s and O’s. Just thought I’d get back in and figure out what I was going to do.”
His brother, Patrick, is a cinematographer and was in podcasting.
“He thought the YouTube world would translate really well to what I could share and do,” O’Sullivan said. “He thought it was a good idea if I tried to do a YouTube channel and thought the film thing would be something that could translate to a niche audience.”
Patrick hooked up J.T. with gear and workflow needed to set up the behind the scenes.
As he set up his first podcast, to his left were the soundboard and the mic set up. A cup of coffee was placed to his right. And behind O’Sullivan, were shelves of books, game balls and helmets.
As O’Sullivan got his feet wet with his new set up, it took him a month to realize this was the route to go down.
“I knew I was onto something,” O’Sullivan said. “I just really enjoyed it, and it’s just been snowballing since then.”
In the Booth
The 11-year NFL veteran began going over his checklist, when he’s looking for indicators for cover one versus cover three, as well as cover two versus cover four.
“Basically the same middle of the field, closed or open, differentiating man or zone,” O’Sullivan said. “The easy things to look at are the second level of the defense. If they’re up, what’s the technique of the corner? What’s the leverage of the defenders? Where are their eyes? Are they looking at the quarterback?”
O’Sullivan gave an example of doing homework.
“If it looks like it’s cover three, but you’ve done film study,” O’Sullivan said, “and you know they only run quarters and cover one, well, it’s probably cover one. It’s a combination of all those types of things that go into being able to differentiate [the coverage].”
The 11-year veteran hit on the point of the perspective of film study versus in-game.
“The quarterback position is played from eye level,” O’Sullivan said. “So you have to have the capacity to see all those things on film, but then translate it to being able to play quickly from within the pocket and that eye level.”
Now, the QB School has over 368,000 subscribers as of 2025.
“Why Do Quarterbacks Point Out the Mike Linebacker?” is the QB School’s most watched video, with over 557,000 views.
Career Highlights
During his junior year at UC Davis, J.T. O’Sullivan set the school single-season record with 38 touchdown passes and became the first Division II player to receive a vote for the Heisman Trophy.
“It means I had one fan,” O’Sullivan said with a chuckle. “No, I mean, it’s a really cool thing. The quarterback probably gets too much credit when things go well. It just represents what UC Davis was doing at the time, offensively and as a program.”
In 2007 with the Detroit Lions, he threw his first career touchdown to Calvin Johnson against Minnesota’s defense.
“We had two fades on each side,” O’Sullivan said. “I actually knew the corner that I threw it against. So I knew the corner on the other side (opposite) — Antoine Winfield — pretty good player. And the guy down here at the bottom was Cedric Griffin. I had played for Minnesota in the past and had played against those guys on the practice squad.”
Having Johnson simplified things.
“Throw it up, let him go get it and do what he does,” O’Sullivan said.
Opportunities to play quarterback at the highest level are hard to come by. In a 2008 preseason game against Green Bay, O’Sullivan ripped a 60-yard touchdown pass to Josh Morgan.
“This actually helped secure my opportunity to play,” O’Sullivan said. “It was a corner route. Josh Morgan beat his guy and it was an alert throw where he just popped into my vision. I couldn’t get it out of my hands fast enough.”
That season, O’Sullivan would go on to start in eight games — his most ever during his time in the league.
Football Memories
Having 11 years of NFL experience, J.T. O’Sullivan recounted some of his favorite stories during his time in the league.
He grew up a big fan of Brett Favre, describing him as a “hero of mine.”
In 2005, O’Sullivan was traded to Green Bay and became teammates with Favre.
For O’Sullivan, it was the first time he felt that it wasn’t in the coaching staff’s best interest to help progress his career.
It frustrated him and Favre pulled him aside one day at training camp after a meeting.
“He basically told me ‘at some point you got overcome your coaching, like that can’t be an excuse,” O’Sullivan said. “So I use that all the time, whether I’m talking to my own kids, whether I’m coaching. At some point, your career has to be your career. You got to take ownership of what that looks like.”
Learning from one of the best to ever do it, J.T. realized that success was about taking accountability.
“So that just gave me a big sense of clarity,” O’Sullivan said. “I apply it still to this day. So, I appreciate Favre doing that for me.”
One of his other favorite stories was the hardest hits he absorbed.
In college, Leroy Glover (San Diego State and 12-year NFL veteran) put his helmet right into O’Sullivan’s ribs and then landed on top of O’Sullivan.
In the pros, O’Sullivan took a vicious hit from Junior Seau in a preseason game.
“He (Sean) actually hurdled the guy that was supposed to be blocking him,” O’Sullivan said. “And smacked me pretty good across the face. And I remember being definitely startled, but also kind of smiling, like, man, I just got hit by Junior Seau. It was wild.”
Learn the Game from J.T. O’Sullivan
O’Sullivan’s ‘The QB School’ is the go-to starter for fans who want to expand their football knowledge.
The combination of his valuable insight and stories shows what it’s like to play quarterback in the NFL; however, it’s J.T.’s inquisitive nature and willingness to go the extra mile that will keep viewers around for a long time.
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