San Diego State will make history one way or another this football season.
Danny O’Neil has been named the starting quarterback for the Aztecs, according to a source. O’Neil, who graduated early from Indiana’s Cathedral High School so he could enroll in the spring and compete for the open job, becomes the first true freshman quarterback to start the season for SDSU during its Division I era (since 1969).
Naming O’Neil now gives him two more weeks of practice reps with the first team before SDSU opens the season Aug. 31 against Texas A&M-Commerce at Snapdragon Stadium.
SDSU players learned of the decision before Sunday morning’s practice. First-year coach Sean Lewis is expected to make it official when he speaks to the media Monday.
The Aztecs have had several redshirt freshman starting QBs over the past four decades, including Todd Santos (1984), Kevin O’Connell (2004), Kevin Craft (2006), Ryan Lindley (2008), Christian Chapman (2015) and Carson Baker (2019).
Spencer Brinton (1997) and Nick Bawden (2014) are the only true freshmen to start at QB during a season, though they were pressed into service after the starter was injured.
O’Neil initially committed to play for Lewis at Colorado, where the Aztecs’ coach spent the 2023 season as offensive coordinator. He committed to the Aztecs shortly after Lewis was hired.
The opportunity to make history comes as no surprise to Bill Peebles, who was O’Neil’s coach at Cathedral High.
“Danny’s a special kid,” Peebles said. “Cathedral did not have a policy about early graduation until Danny O’Neil graduated early. Cathedral has never had a student in 100 years graduate early from school to go to college. Until Danny O’Neil. Never. We’ve got multiple NFL players who played here. He is the first kid that graduated early to go to college.”
Peebles said he imagines that was idea all along for O’Neil, who graduated with a 4.2 GPA.
“He had a plan from the time he was in eighth grade,” said Peebles, adding, “He’s never told me that, but after watching what he did, I knew he did it.”
O’Neil’s passing accuracy and on-field leadership were among the reasons he got the nod over sophomore transfer AJ Duffy and redshirt freshman Javance Tupou’ata-Johnson, who will continue to compete for the backup role.
O’Neil quarterbacked Cathedral to a pair of state championship appearances in three years as a starter, highlighted with a 2021 state title for the Fighting Irish. Although enrollment includes only 1,100 students, Cathedral competes in the state’s highest division.
O’Neil now holds every passing record at the school, including throwing for nearly 8,000 career yards with 99 touchdown passes. He also ran for more than 1,300 yards and 31 more TDs.
All that, and he didn’t start as a freshman at Cathedral.
“His intention at that point was to win the starting job,” Peebles said. “He didn’t get it. And, by the way, he didn’t like that. The kid who played in front of him (Nathan McCahill) was an all-state player for us, but Danny was not happy about being the backup as a freshman in high school.”
A year later, O’Neill took over and took Cathedral to a state championship.
“Danny was a sophomore quarterback and every kid at Cathedral respected him as the leader as a sophomore quarterback,” Peebles said. “I’ve got to think it’s going to be the same way at San Diego State.
“Knowing how different high school and college programs are, I think it is surprising in the general sense (to start as a true freshman), but not surprising for him. He is an incredibly intelligent young man. He has arm talent. He has leg talent. He can run. He can throw. But his greatest skill set is his intelligence.
“I’ve got to think his intelligence and work ethic is what has put him into position to be the starting quarterback.
When training camp began, the 6-foot O’Neil said: “I’m really not too concerned about comparing myself to others. I just really want to come out here and work every day. Just work my butt off. That’s how I’ve been raised.”
While he supports the others in the quarterback room, O’Neil said you have to believe that you’re the guy to start.
“Absolutely,” he said. “You have to have that confidence and self belief that you can go out there and win the job.”
And so he did.
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