MADISON, Wis. — On the surface, Danny O’Neil’s decision to leave San Diego State after earning the season-opening starting quarterback job as a true freshman — the only one to do so since the program moved to Division I in 1969 — might be met with skepticism in the transfer portal era.
But O’Neil insists he wasn’t unhappy with the program, nor was he concerned about competition in the quarterback room. He wasn’t seeking a big payday at another school. He wasn’t even making a decision based strictly around football. Instead, the choice O’Neil made came down to something very simple.
“Family is the No. 1 thing to me,” O’Neil said. “Just being able to have their support and allow them to be able to come see me play, that was a huge reason why I wanted to come back a little bit closer. I wanted to be able to play in front of loved ones.”
As a result, O’Neil — an Indianapolis native — said he quickly narrowed his options down to four schools, all within roughly a five-hour drive from home: Wisconsin, Vanderbilt, Louisville and Purdue. A visit to Wisconsin, his first after entering the portal, impressed O’Neil and his parents so much — due to a comfort level with the staff, a new offense and the proximity — that he committed to the Badgers as part of an overhauled quarterback room.
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O’Neil did so knowing he’d potentially be sacrificing his starting spot, at least temporarily, because Wisconsin also planned to add a veteran from the portal. Wisconsin ultimately signed both O’Neil and former Maryland quarterback Billy Edwards Jr., who started for the Terrapins in 2024 and has one year of eligibility remaining. O’Neil has three.
“They were very honest from the jump about wanting to bring in an older guy,” O’Neil said. “And they told me they had a few guys in mind for that position. But they wanted to bring in another guy for the room, and they said that I was the only guy in mind for my position with years left and someone that they can bring in and groom and make the future.”
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Wisconsin’s quarterback room has undergone massive offseason turnover, with all four scholarship players from the roster last season entering the transfer portal: Cole LaCrue, Tyler Van Dyke, Braedyn Locke and Mabrey Mettauer. The Badgers are moving forward with Edwards, the presumptive starter for next season, as well as O’Neil, returning walk-on Milos Spasojevic and incoming freshman Carter Smith. Smith is rated in the 247Sports Composite as a four-star prospect and the No. 14 quarterback in the 2025 class.
O’Neil intrigued Wisconsin, in part, because he started 11 games at San Diego State and completed 63.3 percent of his passes for 2,181 yards with 12 touchdowns and six interceptions. He also had a previous relationship with Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell, director of recruiting Pat Lambert and director of player personnel Max Stienecker from their time at Cincinnati. The Bearcats offered O’Neil a scholarship in October 2022, roughly six weeks before Fickell became the head coach at Wisconsin, and O’Neil said he visited Cincinnati multiple times.
What gave O’Neil confidence in his decision to pick Wisconsin was the ability to be developed long-term at a Power 4 program in a system he believes fits his skill set. O’Neil said he spent considerable time on his visit talking with new offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes about what he planned to install.
“I think the scheme fits,” O’Neil said. “I think it fits the program with the pieces that we have. And then personally I think it fits just because there’s so many different things that we can do and so many different ways to attack a defense with his offense, and it’s very quarterback-friendly. You’ve just got to make sure that you’re checking to the right plays. Once you do that, it makes it easier on you as a quarterback.”
O’Neil started three seasons at Cathedral High School in Indianapolis and helped his team win a state championship as a sophomore. He threw for 7,786 career yards and 98 touchdowns while running for 1,326 yards and 27 scores. Cathedral football coach Bill Peebles described O’Neil as “one of the smartest, most competitive kids that I’ve ever been around.” Peebles said O’Neil graduated from high school with a 4.3 grade-point average.
“I think he has great instincts as a quarterback,” Peebles said. “He can process at a very high rate. I think it’s really difficult, I don’t care what level of Division I you’re at or really what level college you’re at, to come in as a true freshman and start for a program is hard. And what he did at San Diego State is kind of typical of the way he operates, which is very smart, very driven.
“He’ll come in and compete the same way at Wisconsin that he did there. He had to beat out some talented older players at San Diego State, and he will come in and compete for the job from day one.”
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San Diego State finished 3-9 and lost its final six games. O’Neil played behind an Aztecs offensive line that tied for 99th nationally in sacks allowed per game at 2.58 (Wisconsin ranked tied for 15th at 1.08). O’Neil was sacked 26 times and took at least three sacks in five games. He sustained a left knee injury in the second game of the season, missed a game against Cal and played with a bulky brace over the knee afterward.
Some have expressed concern about O’Neil’s stature at 6-foot and 195 pounds and how that will translate in the Big Ten. Locke, who started 12 games the past two seasons before he transferred, was listed at 6-1 and struggled with batted passes at the line of scrimmage. According to Pro Football Focus, Locke amassed 18 batted passes in two seasons.
O’Neil was credited with six batted passes on 330 attempts at San Diego State and said he didn’t expect his height to be an issue.
“At the end of the day, the average height for the Wisconsin O-line is 6-foot-6,” O’Neil said. “So there’s not going to be many 6-foot-6 quarterbacks that are going to be seeing over them. You know you’re going to be having to find lanes and having to move around in the pocket to create space and be able to see downfield.
“I think that’s one thing that I’ve been having to work on this whole last year, being able to work around an O-line. There weren’t many problems with it before. It’s just another thing that you’ve got to work on.”
O’Neil said he believed having a full season under his belt as a starter in college provided him with a firmer understanding of what he needed to improve. He is eager to show that growth at Wisconsin when spring practices begin.
“I need to work on my consistency,” O’Neil said. “That’s the biggest thing. But the highs are high. I faced a lot of adversity this last year. There were some things on the field, some things off the field that were going on. Injuries were part of it. And just being able to keep fighting as hard as I was and keep battling, I think that’s something I learned about myself is I’m a warrior and I’m going to fight no matter what.”
(Photo: Troy Babbitt / Imagn Images)
