SAN DIEGO –San Diego State’s Trey White (San Diego, Calif./Eastlake High) and Danny O'Neil (Indianapolis, Ind./Cathedral High) each earned Mountain West player of the week honors, the league announced Monday. White was selected as the MW Defensive Player of the Week while O’Neil was named the MW Freshman of the Week. It is the first weekly honors for both in their young careers.
The duo led the Aztecs to a 27-24 conference opening victory over Hawai’i on Saturday night.
White continued his torrid season with four tackles for loss and three sacks for a second straight game. His four TFL totaled 27 yards while the three sacks were good for 26. All three sacks helped the Aztecs stop the Rainbow Warriors from scoring on those respective drives. Historically, his four tackles for loss is the most in Snapdragon Stadium history while his three sacks tied a stadium best. According to Pro Football Focus, he also recorded the second most quarterback pressures (8) and tied for seventh most quarterback hurries (5) in FBS during week six.
For the season, the sophomore captain has accumulated 28 tackles (21 solo), including 12 tackles for loss and nine sacks while adding a pair of pass breakups and a forced fumble. Through his five games, he leads FBS in sacks per game (1.80), tackles for loss per game (2.4) and total tackles for loss (12.0) and is tied for first in total sacks (9.0). His 1.80 sacks per game is just ahead of the NCAA season record pace (Terrell Suggs averaged 1.71 at Arizona State in 2002 and Washington’s Zion Tupuola-Fetui averaged 1.75 during the 2020 COVID-shortened season). According to PFF, White also leads the Mountain West and ranks tied for seventh nationally with 23 quarterback pressures.
O’Neil led the SDSU offense to a fourth quarter comeback victory over the Rainbow Warriors, going 24-of-33 in the air for 224 yards after completing his first 10 passes of the night. The 24 completions were a career high. He also threw a touchdown, his fifth of the season, and did not commit a turnover. Down a score, O’Neil went 4-of-5 for 68 yards on the Aztecs’ game-winning drive in the fourth quarter.
Named the first true freshman starting quarterback in SDSU’s Division I history prior to the season, O’Neil has been a model of consistency for the Aztecs going 71-of-113 on the season with five touchdowns. Through the first four games of his collegiate career, he owns a 136.23 quarterback rating and has yet to throw an interception. In fact, he currently ranks third in the FBS for most pass attempts without an interception (Cole Snyder, EMU, 145 and Byrum Brown, USF, 132).
San Diego State (2-3, 1-0 Mountain West) continues conference play on the road this weekend heading to Laramie, Wyo. for a matchup with the Cowboys (1-4, 1-0 Mountain West). Kickoff will be at 1:30 p.m. MT (12:30 p.m. PT) on CBS Sports Network.