O’Neil Isn’t One to Duck Competition for Job : Football: Quarterbacks have come and gone but Mater Dei graduate is still calling the shots for Oregon.
Danny O’Neil is a survivor.
Quarterbacks have come and gone at Oregon the last couple years. Some toted impressive credentials. Some even had close family ties to the program. They kept coming and coming, trying to unseat O’Neil.
But no one could seem to yank the chair from under him.
“That job was mine and I wasn’t going to let anyone take it away from me,” said O’Neil, a Mater Dei graduate who will lead the Ducks in their season opener against Colorado State this afternoon at Ft. Collins, Colo.
No one is left to argue that point, not now. O’Neil, who spent the last two summers fighting off challenges, has the luxury of running the offense unopposed.
Gone is Brett Salisbury, former community college All-American. He came in 1991 and left before the following season, transferring to a Nebraska Kearney, an NAIA school.
Gone is Kyle Crowston, to the other side of the ball. He was an all-state selection out of Vancouver, Wash., but moved to defensive back where intercepting passes was easier than trying to match throws with O’Neil.
And gone is Doug Musgrave, the former high school All-American and brother of Duck legend Bill Musgrave--the only quarterback to take Oregon to two bowl games. But brother Doug finally gave up the ghost this summer, opting for medical school.
So now O’Neil must look for other dragons to slay, maybe even a windmill or two.
He begins his junior season with eyes fixed to the front, instead of sneaking a peek over his shoulder. O’Neil drove the competition away with his performance last season.
He threw for 2,152 yards and 11 touchdowns and led the Ducks to the Independence Bowl. Sure, they blew a 29-10 lead and lost to Wake Forest, 39-35, but that was hardly O’Neil’s fault. He threw for 227 yards and two touchdowns against the Demon Deacons.
O’Neil was only the fourth Oregon quarterback to surpass the 2,000-yard mark in a single season. The others were Bill Musgrave (San Francisco 49ers), Chris Miller (Atlanta Falcons) and Dan Fouts (San Diego Chargers), who was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this summer.
“I’d say that’s some pretty good company,” Coach Rich Brooks said. “Danny is even a little stronger this year, so we’re looking for him to have a better season.”
So is O’Neil, who’s secure in the knowledge that he’s No. 1. Behind him are two redshirt freshmen.
They will watch and learn this season and O’Neil wants to give them a proper lesson. Even a field trip to Pasadena is planned.
“To tell you the truth, people up here don’t expect us to go to the Freedom Bowl or the Independence Bowl anymore,” O’Neil said. “Everyone on this team came here to win the Rose Bowl,” O’Neil said.
Oregon in the Rose Bowl? Come on, these Ducks don’t fly south in the winter. They haven’t been to Pasadena on New Year’s Day since 1958 and the experts don’t give them much of a chance to end that streak. Most pick Oregon to be muddled in the middle of the Pac-10.
But O’Neil is rather insistent on the point.
“I look at this team and I see a lot of guys who have an attitude,” O’Neil said. “It’s not, ‘Yeah, we’d like to win the Rose Bowl.’ It’s more like, ‘Let’s get it done.’ I know I came here for the Rose Bowl.”
Unfortunately, for him, a few other well-honored quarterbacks were drawn to the program as well.
O’Neil went into the 1990 season figuring he would was going to eventually compete with Crowston, another redshirt freshman. It seemed logical.
Bill Musgrave, who led the Ducks to the Independence Bowl in 1989 and would take them to the Freedom Bowl in 1990, was in his senior season. O’Neil and Crowston were the only other quarterbacks on the roster.
That changed.
Doug Musgrave arrived two games into the 1990 season. He had gone to Michigan first, then decided to keep the Duck quarterback job in the family.
Salisbury, the brother of Minnesota Viking quarterback Sean Salisbury, followed soon after. He had gone to BYU out of high school, then transferred to Palomar College.
Spring practice in 1991 became a free-for-all at quarterback.
“It got a little weary,” O’Neil said. “You had four quarterbacks all trying to impress the coaches. It was difficult to get anything accomplished. The team couldn’t get used to any of us. I don’t see how they could have come up with a No. 1 guy.”
They did and it was O’Neil.
“It came down to the fact that Danny made good decisions,” Brooks said.
At times, it looked like Brooks did, as well.
Such as when O’Neil threw for 292 yards and tied Miller’s school record with four touchdown passes in leading the Ducks to a 28-13 victory over Texas Tech in Lubbock.
Other times, it seemed as if it might be a good idea to have three other quarterbacks around. O’Neil followed his Texas Tech performance with a dismal effort at Utah, a game Oregon lost, 24-21.
“The worst thing was that game was shown live in Eugene,” O’Neil said. “I found out how much pressure can be put on a quarterback here. I had opened some eyes against Texas Tech, then Utah killed us. I didn’t look good.”
O’Neil’s season ended in the fifth game of the season when he broke his thumb against New Mexico State. He had to have two pins inserted and was in a cast five weeks.
That could have cost O’Neil his standing, except the Duck depth chart kept getting thinner. Musgrave and Salisbury also were injured during the season.
O’Neil missed 6 1/2 games, yet finished as the team’s leader in passing yardage with 713 and touchdown passes with seven. Still, the job was thrown open during spring practice.
“It was up in the air, but Danny went out and earned it again,” Brooks said.
And kept it this time.
“Every quarterback who came here thought the job was theirs,” O’Neil said. “I was the guy who survived.”
