The Friday Five: Dan Orlovsky

Dan Orlovsky is still the only quarterback ever drafted from the University of Connecticut. After playing in the NFL for seven seasons, Orlovsky has been a go-to NFL analyst for ESPN.

We caught up with Orlovsky for this week’s Friday Five…

Who is your biggest mentor?

I think first of all, when I was a kid my father teaching me the importance of work ethic was huge for me. Since then, I’ve had some good coaches -- Randy Edsall (Orlovsky’s head coach at UConn) one of them. But I would say four guys stand out that are a really big deal: (Detroit Lions teammates) Jon Kitna, Mike Furrey, Josh McCown and (Lions team chaplain) Dave Wilson. Those guys, when I was together with them in Detroit, really had such a big impact on me becoming a man.

What is your biggest pet peeve?

I’d say my biggest pet peeve is laziness.

What is your favorite book?

I think my favorite book, outside of the Bible, is probably a book called Legacy, about the All Blacks New Zealand rugby team.

If you could have dinner with any three people in history, who would they be?

I would take Hank Aaron, just because of the impact he had on where we are as a country right now. The courage that took – the daily courage that took. I would just love to hear him share his vision of that. I would take Tiger Woods. He’s my favorite athlete ever. I would take Tom Brady. He’s my second.

Just hearing the stories of the journey for those guys would be so cool.

What advice would you give your younger self?

It was all worth it. Every single time you chose to do the work. Every single time you chose to sacrifice. Every single time that you chose your dream, your goal or your vision, it all becomes worth it.

Check out all of our Friday Five features — including Troy Aikman, Adam Schefter, Andrea Kremer and more — in the Friday Five archive