Rookie QB Danny O’Neil Hasn’t Been Very Generous This Year
LARAMIE -- Sean Lewis was named the new head coach at San Diego State last November after spending one season on Deion Sanders' staff at Colorado.
He brought his own "Louis" with him to Montezuma Mesa.
Danny O'Neil, who originally committed to CU last March, instead decided to follow the Buffs' former offensive coordinator to sunny southern California. He enrolled in the spring and was named the starter just before the 2024 opener.
The Indianapolis product is the first true freshman to step under center to begin a season in the program's Division-I history, dating back to 1969.
He sure isn't playing like a rookie.
"Well, first of all, he hasn't turned the ball over," Wyoming head coach Jay Sawvel said Monday at his weekly press conference. "I don't think he's thrown an interception this year. So, he's keeping them from having major negative plays, which is a huge part of playing quarterback. To start with, don't beat yourself. That's the first thing."
While Sawvel is correct about not tossing one to the other team -- O'Neil has yet to do that on 113 attempts -- he did cough up a fumble inside Oregon State's 2-yard line early in the third quarter of a 21-0 blanking inside Snapdragon Stadium.
That miscue thwarted the Aztecs' lone scoring threat of the night.
Touted for his "cerebral" approach to the game out of Cathedral High School, the former three-star signal caller threw for 7,786 yards and 98 touchdowns during his prep career. He added 1,326 rushing yards and 27 scores to his resumé.
Those numbers earned him the label of the 12th-best dual-threat QB in the nation, according to ESPN and Rivals.com.
Aside from Colorado, Houston offered O'Neil. So did Illinois, Louisville, Northwestern, Purdue, Syracuse, Wake Forest and a whole host of Group-of-Five schools.
Now, at just 18 years old, he has already thrown for 791 yards and five touchdowns since beating out Florida State transfer AJ Duffy and redshirt freshman Javance Tuopou’ata-Johnson for the job.
"He's accurate," Sawvel said, adding that O'Neil is completing nearly 63% of his throws. "You know, he's putting the ball in good places for people. He's done a good job running the system."
Sawvel knows all about Lewis' system, too.
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These two faced off in December of 2021 at the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl in Boise. Lewis, then the head coach at Kent State, relied on quarterback Dustin Crum to run the show.
He did just that.
The senior completed 17-of-27 throws for 316 yards and four touchdowns against Sawvel's defense that afternoon on The Blue. For good measure, he tacked on 70 yards and a score on the ground, too, in that eventual 52-38 loss to the Cowboys. When the dust settled, the Golden Flashes tallied 656 yards of total offense.
How did they do that?
Utilizing the weapons at Crum's disposal, Sawvel said. Just like O'Neal is doing now.
Louis Brown, a Colorado State transfer, already has a team-best 21 grabs totaling 349 yards. He's also hauled in a pair of touchdowns. Running back Marquez Cooper, who was also in the backfield for Kent State that day inside Albertsons Stadium, is averaging 4.6 yards per carry and has found the end zone five times. He gashed Wyoming for 125 yards on just 24 attempts.
"They obviously rely on their run game a lot, which takes some, you know, elements off of him," Sawvel said of O'Neil. "Then the second part to it is the fact that he's got a playmaker out on the perimeter that he's utilizing really well."
O'Neil last week was named the Mountain West Freshman of the Week after connecting on 24-of-33 passes for 224 yards and a touchdown in a 27-24 home victory over Hawaii. That win also snapped a three-game skid.
“Being able to protect the ball on Saturdays is my main job,” O’Neil told the San Diego Union-Tribune. “Just being able to put the ball in playmakers’ hands, distribute the ball and not have any turnovers, that’s my goal every week.”
So far, so good.
The Pokes (1-4, 1-0) and Aztecs (2-3, 1-0) are slated to kickoff Saturday at 1:30 p.m. Mountain Time. The game will be televised on CBS Sports Network.
University of Wyoming’s Top 50 Football Players
Gallery Credit: 7220Sports.com
- University of Wyoming’s Top 50 Football Players