Almost 14 months ago, on June 12, 2023, then-Texas A&M head football coach Jimbo Fisher and his staff landed one of the more underrated signal callers in the 2024 cycle, and in so doing they pulled off another coup in the East Coast region for the NCAA Division 1 SEC (Southeastern Conference) school.
This time, it turned out to be a kid from Marblehead of all places, when quarterback Miles O’Neill chose to commit to the Aggies over his hometown Boston College Eagles in the late stages of the recruiting commitment process.
Without being able to see him in person, Fisher saw enough on tape to witness O’Neill’s potential to eventually play college football. Standing at a whopping 6-5 and 220 pounds, everything is there from a physical standpoint, but the video highlights also showed O’Neill’s incredible arm strength and touch on vertical, corner and seam routes. He was tossing 50-plus yard bombs with ease. But now, he’ll be shoring those skills for new Aggies head coach Mike Elko, who has taken over the job from Fisher after Fisher was fired last November. Fisher is now working for longtime rival Lane Kiffin as his “Offensive Guru and Head Schematic Mastermind” at Ole Miss, as described in the University of Mississippi Rebels press release that detailed the hire.
O’Neill officially signed on to suit up for the Aggies last December. The Marblehead High product played at The Hun School in New Jersey last fall, where he ended up earning the New Jersey Gatorade Player of the Year in football.
Before he took off for New Jersey, O’Neill played a leading role on both the football and basketball teams for the Magicians during his junior campaign. In football, he quarterbacked coach Jim Rudloff’s squad to the Division 3 quarterfinal game against host Milton. Despite losing the close encounter, 24-20, O’Neill’s Magicians finished up with an 8-2 record in 2022, and were the eighth seed in the power rankings.
Just four months later, in a Division 2 Round of 16 basketball game, O’Neill personally catapulted his teammates to the Elite 8 after putting his own rebound back up for two to upset host Pope Francis in the closing seconds, 59-57.
O’Neill is now bringing those athletic instincts to the Aggies. But instead of learning the college game from legendary offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino, he’ll be getting those instructions from Collin Klein, who was hired by Elko. Petrino left after Fisher was summarily let go by the school. Klein is inheriting a freshman quarterback with a strong arm, football intelligence (4.0 GPA) and mistake-free play in his vertical game. O’Neill will also be learning the game from returning starter Conner Weigman. The Aggies will open up against Notre Dame at home on Aug. 31.
Some of the information obtained for this story came from the AggiesWire website.
