Danny Brannagan (born July 4, 1986) is a former professional

Canadian football Canadian football, or simply football, is a Sports in Canada, sport in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete on a field long and wide, attempting to advance a Ball (gridiron football), pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposi ...

quarterback The quarterback (QB) is a position in gridiron football who are members of the offensive side of the ball and mostly line up directly behind the Lineman (football), offensive line. In modern American football, the quarterback is usually consider ...

for the

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team based in Toronto, Ontario. The Argonauts compete in the East Division (CFL), East Division of t ...

of the

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Early years

Brannagan attended high school at

Assumption Catholic Secondary School Assumption Catholic Secondary School is a Catholic school, Catholic high school in Burlington, Ontario. Background The school population for the 2015-2016 school year was approximately 870. Assumption receives most new students from local Separa ...

in Burlington where in his 5th and final year in 2004, he led the Assumption Crusaders to the GHAC finals where they defeated St. Jean de Brebeuf in a thriller, with the final score 29–28. Trailing by 27 points with less than 8 minutes to play, Brannagan led Assumption's offense to an amazing comeback, taking the lead with under 2 minutes left to play.

College career

2005

Brannagan began his university football career with the

Queen's Golden Gaels The Queen's Gaels (also known as the Queen's Golden Gaels) is the athletics program representing Queen's University at Kingston, Queen's University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada. The main athletics facilities include Richardson Stadium (Kingston) ...

in 2005 and quickly assumed the starting quarterback position. In a game against

Wilfrid Laurier Sir Henri Charles Wilfrid Laurier (November 20, 1841 – February 17, 1919) was a Canadian lawyer, statesman, and Liberal politician who served as the seventh prime minister of Canada from 1896 to 1911. The first French Canadians, French ...

, he came off the bench in the fourth quarter and threw for 110 yards, earning the start the following week against

York University York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...

. He threw for 341 yards in the team's win and never looked back, starting the final seven games of the season. He was named the OUA Rookie of the Year for the 2005 season after completing 115 passes out of 209 attempts for 1,860 yards to go along with 12 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.

2006-2007

In 2006, Brannagan started all ten games for Queen's (including two playoff games), leading the team to a 4–4 record. He finished the season ranked third in the OUA with 1,744 passing yards and threw for 11 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. In 2007, Brannagan started eight regular season games and one playoff game, as the team finished with a 6–2 record. He showed great improvement this season, passing for 2,123 yards for 15 touchdowns and only six interceptions. He also played in the CIS East/West Bowl in

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that year.

2008

Brannagan continued to improve for the 2008 season, as he completed 144 of 255 passes for 2,407 yards for a nation-leading 24 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. In a week six win versus the

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, he passed Tommy Denison as Queen's all-time leading passer. He again started all eight regular season games compiling an undefeated record of 8-0 and first seed in the OUA playoffs. However, the Golden Gaels were defeated by the

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in the second round of the playoffs. For his outstanding play, Brannagan was named to the CIS All-Canadian Second Team.

2009

While the team suffered their first loss in the last regular season game of 2009, it was the last time Brannagan lost a

CIS football U Sports football is the highest level of amateur play of Canadian football and operates under the auspices of U Sports, Canada's governing body for university sports. Twenty-seven teams from Canadian universities are divided into four athlet ...

game. Brannagan started seven games in 2009, en route to the Golden Gaels' 7–1 regular season finish. During the season, he became only the third CIS quarterback to throw for over 10,000 yards in a career, and finished second all-time behind

Michael Faulds Michael Faulds (born November 11, 1983) is a former Canadian football quarterback and the current head coach for the Wilfrid Laurier Golden Hawks football team. Playing career Faulds completed his five year playing career in CIS football w ...

with 10,714 yards. He threw for career bests of 2,580 yards and a 62.14% completion percentage to go along with 15 touchdowns and just seven interceptions. In the post-season, Brannagan was named

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MVP after recording a 43–39 win over Michael Faulds and the

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. He capped off his outstanding collegiate career with a 33–31 win over the

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in the

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where he was again named MVP for the game. Heading into the final week of the 2009 regular season and despite having already missed a game due to injury, Brannagan led Western quarterback Michael Faulds by 164 career passing yards, and sat just 30 yards short of the all-time CIS record of 10,455 yards which was set just one season earlier by former

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quarterback Matt Connell. However, Brannagan had a mediocre Week 8, completing 25 of 45 attempts for 289 yards and no touchdowns, while Faulds threw for an impressive 550 yards against the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

. Brannagan subsequently finished second on the all-time list with 10,714 yards, having been surpassed by Faulds, who finished with the record of 10,811 yards.

Professional career

After impressing at the 2010 CFL E-Camp, Brannagan was signed by the

the day after the camp ended, on March 15, 2010, to a three-year contract. He was named to Toronto's practice roster on June 23, 2010. On November 7, 2010, Brannagan made his pro-football debut at quarterback for the Argonauts against the

Montreal Alouettes The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: ''Les Alouettes de Montréal'') are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has disbanded twice and been re-established thrice. The Alouettes compe ...

& became the first Canadian quarterback to take a snap for the Argos since Frank Cosentino in . He, also, became the first Canadian quarterback to take a snap in the

since

' quarterback, Larry Jusdanis in . Despite making his CFL debut at the end of the 2010 season, Brannagan was released by the Argonauts on June 25, 2011.

References

External links

Toronto Argonauts bioQueen's University bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brannagan, Danny 1986 births Living people Canadian football quarterbacks Players of Canadian football from Ontario Queen's Golden Gaels football players Sportspeople from Burlington, Ontario Toronto Argonauts players