Danny O'Neil isn’t sure how many times he’s been to Notre Dame at this point, but the 2024 Indiana quarterback was back again this past weekend.
“It was really good,” the Indianapolis native told Irish Sports Daily afterward. “I really enjoyed my time up there. It’s a great spot.”
The 6-foot-1, 185-pounder currently has offers from Purdue, Toledo and Miami-Ohio while Notre Dame has always been a favorite of the Cathedral High School standout and his family.
“My dad and my grandpa both went there and played sports there,” said O’Neil. “My whole family is invested in the Notre Dame Football team. It would be a really great thing to be able to stay close to home and have the family there to watch me play.”
O’Neil’s grandfather played baseball for the Irish while his father wrestled.
He enjoyed returning on Saturday for an unofficial visit.
“I got there and got to go around the Gug a little bit and got to see practice,” he said. “Before practice, I sat through the team meeting and the quarterback meeting. After practice, I got to see the stadium and the locker room and all of that stuff.”
That meeting led by head coach Marcus Freeman was especially eye-opening.
“Super high intensity,” O’Neil said. “You can tell Coach Freeman loves to compete.”
O’Neil said Freeman had players from offense and defense go head to head in a Gatorade-chugging competition to determine which side of the field the team would stretch.
“I thought that was really cool,” he said.
O’Neil also enjoyed sitting in on Tommy Rees’ quarterback meeting.
“I got to see how Coach Rees calls his plays,” he said. “What he likes on 1st & 10, 3rd & short, if they’re on the plus or minus side of the field.”
He described the practice as “really intense.”
“The guys were really competing hard,” he said. “Everything about it was really impressive. There were definitely some guys out there who will be playing at the next level just because of how hard they’re training and working.
“They have one of the better coaching staffs in the country. If they take all of the information they’re given, the sky’s the limit for this team and for the players individually.”
O’Neil plans on camping at Notre Dame again this summer to showcase what he can do for Rees and the rest of the staff.
“I think that will be the next big thing for my recruitment there,” he said.
O’Neil is looking at potential trips to Cal, Texas A&M, Ohio State and Alabama in the coming months.
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