Junior quarterback for Wisconsin. 2025: 635 passing yards, 5 TD, 5 INT.
6′0″ · 205 lb · Indianapolis, IN · Cathedral
CFB Index
A single number blending on-field production (an EPA-based value lane) with box-score output for this player's position.
0-100, scaled within each position's own cohort — not directly comparable across positions.
The numbers
passing yards · 2025
Best game: 283 pass yds, 3 TD, 1 INT, vs Middle Tennessee
Swing playSwung San Diego State from 17% to 44% to win.Hawai'i at San Diego State · 27-24
His career numbers, season by seasonThe story
Junior quarterback for Wisconsin. 2025: 635 passing yards, 5 TD, 5 INT.
How he plays
Extends plays with his feet until something opens up.
Success rate: 66th percentile.
The full scouting readAura™ · Him Watch
-17aura tax
27th pctl our passing-value metric (wEPA) QBs · 160 qualified, n=10
— the discourse is fair.Buzz vs Tape
Every angle we can check here reads about where you'd expect this season.
Danny O'Neil
Extends plays with his feet until something opens up. Danny O'Neil has played for two head coaches across two seasons and two programs. 2024 brought the first one: Mountain West Freshman Player of the Week. The receipt: 283 pass yds, 11 rush yds against Middle Tennessee — Week 2, 2025.
Low coverage — composed from the verified record.
His career
He was winning awards before he was old enough to be a story.
Career arc
Trophy case · Confirmed honors
What the selectors said
FRESHMAN HONORS
Freshman recognition (2024)
2 mention(s)
| Season | Team | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Wisconsin | 61 | 90 | 67.8% | 635 | 7.1 | 5 | 5 | 134.3 | 41 | -- | -- |
| 2024 | San Diego State | 209 | 330 | 63.3% | 2,181 | 6.6 | 12 | 6 | 127.2 | 17 | -- | -- |
| Career | 270 | 420 | 64.3% | 2,816 | 6.7 | 17 | 11 | 128.7 | 21 | -- | -- |
| Season | Team | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Wisconsin | 50 | 58 | 1.2 | 1 | -- |
| 2024 | San Diego State | 74 | 89 | 1.2 | 1 | -- |
| Career | 124 | 147 | 1.2 | 2 | -- |
Game log · Week-by-week
2025 season · 6 games
| Wk | Opp | CMP/ATT | YDS | TD | INT | YPA | QBR | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 17-0vs Miami (OH) | 12/19 | 120 | 1 | 1 | 6.3 | 45.0 | |
| Wk 2 | W 42-10vs Middle Tennessee | 23/27 | 283 | 3 | 1 | 10.5 | 57.8 | Season-high 283 yds |
| Wk 3 | L 14-38@ Alabama | 11/17 | 117 | 1 | 2 | 6.9 | 23.3 | |
| Wk 4 | L 10-27vs Maryland | 14/22 | 120 | 0 | 1 | 5.5 | 18.3 | |
| Wk 8 | L 0-34vs Ohio State | 1/3 | -5 | 0 | 0 | -1.7 | 26.4 | |
| Wk 11 | W 13-10vs Washington | 0/2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 33.5 | |
| Total | 61/90 | 635 | 5 | 5 | 4.6 | 34.1 |
SIGNATURE GAME · Week 11 · 2025
W 13–10
vs Washington
30 rush yds (3 car)
A wire-to-wire battle — won by 3 at home.
With S. West — 24 yds · 0 TD · 0 INT · QBR 100.0 · A. Bertrams — 37.5 yards per punt · 2 punts · 2 inside the 20
Signature plays · top plays by |EPA|
The plays that mattered most
Season context · Team result + system
Where this profile ranks vs the QB cohort
Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles
Elite: completion % (89th percentile). Concern: sack rate (0th percentile).
Real play-by-play efficiency
Season trend
Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season. Most bars are box-score rates; EPA / success-rate bars are computed from real play-by-play (offense only — no defensive EPA model exists yet).
Pass Profile · True throw depth (charted plays)
Adjusted ANY/A, sack rate, and where the yards came from
Adjusted ANY/A
3.76188 of 206 QBsSack rate
13.5%205 of 206 QBsSacked on 13.5% of dropbacks (205 of 206) and Adjusted ANY/A trails the field (188 of 206).
Adjusted ANY/A uses full-season box-score totals (attempts, yards, TDs, INTs); sack rate is play-by-play-derived.
Behind LOS · Negative air yds
Deep · 20+ air yds
Overall 68.3% completion on 82 attempts · 50% of attempts thrown negative air yds.
Zeitgeist Passer Rating
2025 · our own passing-efficiency number, shown next to the 1979 formula it does not replace.
Thin sample: 69 dropbacks41Zeitgeist Passer Ratingnot ranked until 125 dropbacks
--NCAA passer ratingno box-score line yet
Positive-play rate weight 24%
46.1%53th pct of FBS QBsshare of dropbacks that gained expected points · -0.3% schedule adj.Yards per attempt weight 56%
6.8442th pct of FBS QBssacks excluded · +0.3 schedule adj.Sack rate weight 21% (penalty)
13.7%0th pct of FBS QBsthe input passer rating cannot see · -0.8% schedule adj.Opponent-adjusted; garbage time excluded (27 of 96 dropbacks dropped). 50 = FBS average; the number is pulled toward 50 when the sample is thin. How ZPR is built.
Splits · Per-game
2025 season · 6 games
Home vs Road
| YDS/g | TD/g | YPA | INT/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home5g | 104 | 0.8 | 4.1 | 0.6 |
| Road1g | 117 | 1.0 | 6.9 | 2.0 |
First half vs Second half
| YDS/g | TD/g | YPA | INT/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-74g | 160 | 1.2 | 7.3 | 1.2 |
| Weeks 8+2g | -2.5 | 0.0 | -0.8 | 0.0 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Luke Fickell
Pass share
48.0%
85 pass / 92 run
Plays / game
59.0
3 games
Scheme: Balanced, slow tempo.
Player standing · 2025
Earning real snaps in the rotation without a starting job.
Play style
Makes plays with feet when the pocket collapses. Efficiency still on the rise.
CFB Index positional classification
Player DNA
Makes plays with feet when the pocket collapses. Efficiency still on the rise.
His 2025 production profile sits closest to Logan Fife’s 2022 season.
Matches Logan on
Differs from Logan on
Through 2 college seasons, his career arc tracks closest to Trenton Bourguet’s path through Arizona State.
Parker McKinney
Matches Trenton on
As a sophomore, his production profile tracks closest to Anthony Colandrea's sophomore season at Virginia (2024).
Differs from Anthony on
Player DNA
Awards and Honors 2024: All-Mountain West honorable mention (College Football Network), 2x Mountain West Freshman of the Week (Oct. 5, Oct. 12) 2025 Season (Sophomore): Played in seven games, making three starts at quarterback … finished the season with 635 yards and five touchdown passes on…