Tyler O’Connor stood poised in his white Nike shirt and green shorts and peered out over the media herd walking toward him — the inevitable was coming.

Someone would undoubtedly ask him about Connor Cook.

About Cook’s non-captaincy a year ago, about whether captaincy was a rite of passage for a quarterback and about whether the team requires a quarterback as captain.

Somehow, someway, perhaps in a subtle question, he would have to address it. But he didn’t expect it to be question number two.

“Does a quarterback need to have that or what are the benefits of having it?”

O’Connor, having waited four years to be named the starting quarterback, waited four years to make his mark on Saturdays instead of in the quiet hours of weekday practice with no cameras or media around to see him toil under center and forge his own path to leadership — and after losing a hotly contested battle with Cook in 2013 and lingering on anonymity for four years — the most pressing question posed from the gaggle of reporters was one concerning a controversy a year ago that had nothing to do with him.

He lowered his eyes to the turf contemplating the question, in what seemed to be a subtle show of frustration.

“You know, I don’t think necessarily that it has to come with the quarterback position,” O’Connor said. “It’s just like Coach Bollman literally just told us, ‘It’s who you are. Being captain doesn’t change what you have to do. Just be who you are and do what you’ve done and that’s why you’re voted captain in the first place.’”

The question avoided what O’Connor had done to have been named a captain, almost suggesting O’Connor had been named captain as a make-up for last year, though fifth-year senior defensive back Demetrious Cox dispelled that notion.

“I feel like Tyler O’Connor could be a wide receiver right now and because of his personality and leadership abilities, he would definitely be a captain,” Cox said.

Being who he is and shaking off comparisons to Cook will be one of the determining factors for O’Connor if he’s to lead the Spartans back to Indianapolis for the Big Ten championship game.

Fair or not to O’Connor, he’ll be judged in the shadow of Cook, who left school as the leader in touchdown passes with 71, passing yards with 9,194 and total offense with 9,403 yards en route to two Big Ten championships, a Rose Bowl and Cotton Bowl victory and a berth in the College Football Playoff.

And that stat line might have carried O’Connor’s name had he won the quarterback contest with Cook, but it remains important that he did not. He’s a different quarterback than Cook, a different person than Cook and he’ll lead differently than Cook because his focus won’t be predicated on replicating Cook.

“It’s more of just being your own personality,” O’Connor said of being captain, shrugging off the notions that quarterbacks must inherit a captain’s “C.” “I don’t think position has too much to do with it.”

Though he brushed aside the connection between position and captaincy, he made it clear he intends to take his leadership role seriously now that he’s the one under center and with the official title of captain.

When the pointed question about Cook came, O’Connor made it clear he intended to be his own.

“I’m my own person, I’m out there to be a quarterback my own special way and to lead my own way,” O’Connor said. “How he chose to lead, I learned a lot from Connor. I learned a lot about how he led teams and how guys responded to him and I’ll take that and run with it this year.”

The four year wait is now over and he’ll be the unquestioned leader of the offense, a role he’s wanted to play for the longest time because he’s spent his career mostly in the background.

“I’ve always said it and Coach D always says it, it’s hard to lead from the back,” O’Connor said. “It’s hard to lead when you’re not playing and you’re not the one going through the thick trials and tribulations on the field and everything like that.”

Now being the guy to have the pressure on him, he’ll face not only external pressure, but the pressure he places on himself. He’ll face continued questions about comparisons and readiness, but he finds himself ready to take the first snap against Furman Sept. 2.

“It’s hard to lead from off the field,” O’Connor said. “But to finally get that chance — it’s something that I’ve looked forward to.”