Any productive quarterback must hold a high degree of confidence. It comes with the territory as the position mandates intelligence, quick thinking and creativity, along with a heaping amount of ability.
 
Asher O'Hara had those characteristics after a prep career at Rolling Meadows High School that finished in the fall of 2016.
 
What he didn't have was a college where he could showcase and improve upon those skills.
 
Enter COD, a familiar place for the O'Hara family as older brother Devin played for the Chaps before moving on to North Texas University, and younger brother Jace eventually played as a freshman in 2019, but had his season cut short due to injury.
 
"Playing for coach (Matt) Foster and his staff at COD in many ways was about betting on myself that I could play college football and hopefully move on to an FBS school,'' said O'Hara, who is in his redshirt junior season as starting QB at Football Bowl Subdivision member Middle Tennessee State. "My experiences at COD prepared me very well.''
 
The 6-0, 190-pound O'Hara ranks fourth among all quarterbacks in rushing yards in the country for the Blue Raiders (2-6 overall), who take on Troy this Saturday. He is the focal point on offense with 515 rushing yards with seven TDs, and passing for 1,750 yards on 173 of 264 attempts this season.
 
For his career, he has led MTSU in rushing in 16 of its last 20 games — all starts – with five 100-yard rushing games.
 
O'Hara made the most of his one season with the Chaps, leading the team to a Red Grange Bowl victory in 2017 with nearly 2,000 passing yards and 15 TDs on the year.
 
"Asher is the ultimate warrior, a winner and champion on and off the field,'' Foster said. "Leaders make everyone around you better and that's what you need from the quarterback position. We were blessed to have him at DuPage. He is a prime example of a young man in our program who had the skills and ability, and further developed into an NCAA Division I quarterback. He just needed the opportunity to play and get better.''
 
After his season at COD, he and his father (Les, who played at football at Minnesota) began an e-mail and letter that eventually led to Middle Tennessee, located in Murfreesboro, about 35 miles southeast of Nashville.
 
Like any Midwestern kid who plays football, Asher had dreams of playing in the Big 10 like his dad. Last season, he shared a bit of what his dad experienced with the Gophers when the Blue Raiders played at both Michigan and Iowa.
 
"I'm incredibly blessed with the way that everything turned out,'' said Asher, who is on schedule to graduate next fall. "I've got a great offensive coordinator (Tony Franklin), who believes in my ability. The offensive really is tailored to my ability, where I can run or pass, whether it's designed runs or reading off the defensive end.''