Wisconsin Feels More Equipped to Handle an Injury at Quarterback with Danny O'Neil, New Offense

MADISON, Wis. — Luke Fickell has been through this too many times before. Nobody is looking to give the Wisconsin head coach a crutch for his 13-13 overall start to his tenure in Madison, but if they did, Fickell has been plagued by injuries to the quarterback in each of the past two seasons. In 2023, Tanner Mordecai missed a handful of games en route to a 7-6 finish. Last season, Tyler Van Dyke went down in the first quarter of game three as the Badgers wound up missing a bowl game for the first time since 2001.

This past off-season, Fickell was going to come prepared. His backup quarterback would have starting experience and be able to keep things rolling should an injury occur. Fickell probably just didn’t anticipate it going down as early as the second quarter of the season opener.

Enter Danny O’Neil, who got the nod with just over nine minutes to play in the second quarter. Following a handoff, starter and senior signal caller Billy Edwards Jr. left the game with a non-contact injury and would not return. At least for one game, having a backup quarterback who’s spent a season as a starter paid big dividends. While he didn’t need to be special as the Wisconsin defense pitched a shutout, O’Neil led two touchdown drives against Miami (OH) to give the Badgers some breathing room.

“It was a priority to make sure we had a room full of guys we felt like would be competitive,” Fickell told reporters following Thursday’s 17-0 win over Miami (OH). “When Billy came in here, we basically said, ‘You’re our guy.’ But we really wanted somebody who’s going to come in here and think they could take that from him. If you asked me what Danny’s strengths are, it’s that.

“There’s a confidence level that he has.”

Experience Pays off For O’Neil

O’Neil started 11 games for San Diego State as a true freshman and learned through trial by fire. An honorable mention All-Mountain West pick in 2024, O’Neil completed 63.3 percent of his passes for 2,181 yards and 12 touchdowns to six interceptions. Seeing Edwards go down in the second quarter, O’Neil didn’t blink.

“I was in the fire,” O’Neil said of last season. “Being able to step into tonight was nothing new. I was out there playing my game, playing ball.”

Leading up to Thursday’s season opener, Fickell estimated that Edwards was getting 85 percent of the reps in practice.

O’Neil finished 12-of-19 passing for 120 yards. Overcoming an interception on fourth and goal, the true sophomore led the Wisconsin offense to a 7-play, 54-yard drive in under three minutes. O’Neil connected with senior wide receiver Vinny Anthony for a 3-yard score. On his two previous throws, O’Neil hit true freshman wide receiver Eugene Hilton Jr. for 11 yards and redshirt freshman tight end Grant Stec for a 22-yard pickup to set up 1st and goal. O’Neil later scored from one yard out on a quarterback sneak to give the Badgers a 17-0 lead in the fourth quarter.

“The maturity level to be prepared enough to go out and perform, when let’s be honest, you don’t get as many reps – in hindsight, maybe we should have split those things 60-40 or even 50-50,” Fickell explained. “You’ve gotta understand that in this game. You never know when your number is gonna be called. To have a competitive excellence means you’ve gotta be prepared when that time comes.”

All Too Familiar Feeling

Wisconsin fans have felt that pain for six consecutive seasons now. Every year since 2020, the Badgers have had to turn to a backup quarterback due to injury. As previously mentioned, Fickell has been through the drill in each of the last two seasons. Sources don’t believe the Maryland transfer suffered a season-ending or even long-term injury, but in the moment, Fickell wanted to portray confidence.

“I can honestly say that, no, that was by far the furthest thing that I was expecting or hoping,” Fickell said of losing Edwards so early in the game. “More than anything, you just had to kind of keep a straight face and don’t show any emotions of any sort. I thought our guys did a really good job of that. I thought Billy did a really good job. I thought Danny showed a really good job of that.”

In addition to having a quarterback with starting experience, Wisconsin could also lean on its defense. Miami (OH) registered just 117 total yards of offense and went 0-of-9 on third down. The Badgers also generated 3.0 sacks and two interceptions, both courtesy of senior safety Preston Zachman in the fourth quarter.

Unlike the last two seasons, the Wisconsin offense isn’t so quarterback-reliant. The Badgers ran the ball 43 times on 75 total snaps, churning up 165 yards on the ground and over 39 minutes of possession time. Seven different players received a rushing attempt. In the pass game, offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes often got the ball out quickly as eight different players recorded a reception.

“Getting the ball to playmakers all night long. That was really my goal,” said O’Neil. “I didn’t want to hang onto the ball too much. Just be able to let guys go and make plays. That’s the biggest, I think the best part of this offense. We have so many ways to get the ball to so many different playmakers. It really does make my job easy.”

This scenario also played itself out in fall camp. In fact, it’s where O’Neil separated himself from senior Hunter Simmons for the backup job. Edwards banged knees with a Wisconsin defender and left practice. That left O’Neil and Simmons to take the reins of the first-team offense. O’Neil arguably had his best practice of fall camp while Edwards was back in the locker room or watching from the sidelines.

“It’s a little bit of a roller coaster. Billy is the leader of the team. Seeing him go down, it’s not just me worried about it. There’s 10 other guys in the huddle looking to me to set a tone and lead them out. I just had to go out there and lead the guys. I think the guys responded well. I think I bring juice to the huddle and allow guys to play free. I loved the way guys responded in the huddle and allowed me to lead them.”

“Definitely very confident in the offense,” O’Neil added. “Depending on what happens with Billy, I will be taking more reps in practice, probably. I’ll be even more confident moving forward last week.”