O'Connor received several scholarship offers to play football and was named ESPN's sixth-ranked quarterback in the 2014 recruiting class.

[1] The 4-star recruit ultimately chose Pennsylvania State University to play for then-head coach, Bill O'Brien, and the Nittany Lions.

[2] O'Brien had resigned to accept a position as the Houston Texans' head coach, but O'Connor elected to continue with his decision to enroll at Penn State anyway.

[3][4] As a freshman starter, he had immediate success, starting in all eight games, posting 165 completions on 276 pass attempts for 2383 yards, 13 touchdowns, and five interceptions to lead UBC to a 6–2 regular season record.

[5] He led the team to a perfect 4–0 record in the post-season, including UBC's 51st Vanier Cup championship win where he was named the game's most valuable player.

[13] He initially began the year as the backup quarterback, but was relegated to the third-string position following strong performances by Jake Maier.