James Madison DE Eric O'Neill just entered the portal. He's a guy I highlighted multiple times, but here's what I had to say in the speculative portal target thread...
DE
Eric O'Neill (James Madison)
Listed at 6-3, 250 lbs. RS junior, 1 year of eligibility remaining. Went to HS at Tottenville HS in Staten Island, NY and Paramus Catholic in Paramus, NJ.
O'Neill is a guy I highlighted in past years after two standout seasons at LIU. In 2022 he was a finalist for the Jerry Rice award (freshman of the year in FCS), a freshman All-American, 1st Team All-NEC and NEC Defensive Rookie of the Year. In 2023 he was an FCS All-American, 2023 Northeast Conference Defensive Player of the Year and 1st Team All-NEC. Here's the numbers he put up...
Season PFF Grade Tackles TFLs Sacks FFs PBUs 2022 (LIU) 88.2 (18th/858) 51 21 10 2 1 2023 (LIU) 82.0 (28th/883) 80 23.5 5.5 1 4
He ended up entering the portal and transferring to JMU and he picked up right where he left off...
Season PFF Grade Tackles TFLs Sacks FFs PBUs 2024 (JMU) 9 games 89.8 (12th/893) 26 11 6.5 0 2
No clue why we didn't pursue last off-season, but but if he re-enters the portal we need to be all over this kid
On the season, here's how O'Neill finished with a 90.4 PFF grade, good for 12th out of 856 DEs (86.3 run defense grade [20th/856] and 89.9 pass rush grade [21st/856]).
Statistically speaking he finished with 52 tackles, 19 TFLs, 13 sacks, 1 INT, 3 PBUs and 1 TD. Over his final 6 games of the season, he had 12 TFLs and 10 sacks to close the season.