Danny O'Neil was thrust into the game against Miami (OH) when Billy Edwards Jr. came up injured on a non-contact play. O'Neil, came in with confidence, swagger, and a bit of a flash. He celebrated a big first down with a slime gesture. Immediately fans began to fall in love with him and started calling him "Danny Slime."
Now, if you don't know what a slime gesture is, it comes from a rapper named Young Thug. It's essentially a nose wipe to a thumbs down, or sometimes shortened to just a nose wipe. In the main picture in this article, you can see the end of that celebration. O'Neil did the nose wipe and went straight to a first down gesture.
This is when 'Danny Slime' was born and fans have jumped onto it ever since. You can see him make the slime gesture in this picture when celebrating with his teammates.
This is a Danny O’Neil appreciation post!@_dannyoneil x #OnWisconsin pic.twitter.com/sHMVrgpAUo
— Wisconsin Football (@BadgerFootball) August 29, 2025
Danny O'Neil plays with such confidence and swagger that fans and players rally around him
The origin is most likely from Ryan Eilers of Talking Badgers and BadgerNotes.com. He was the first to post the name on Social Media, and he also takes credit for it in one of their recent podcasts.
Luke Fickell has referred to O'Neil's style as "athletic arrogance." He loves it and says that O'Neil has the confidence that players want to rally around. He was asked if it's something O'Neil does for games or if it's part of who he is as a person.
""Well, I think it's authentic. I think that is probably one thing in a short amount of time that I felt as well. I'm sure the guys have felt there's a difference. I love an athletic arrogance. They're borderlines on some things that then become cocky that can maybe rub some people... I don't mean that you're worried about rubbing people the wrong way, but in the complimentary world we want to be in, I think he straddles that line.""Luke Fickell
We've now also had multiple people refer to him as a young Baker Mayfield. They play with a very similar swagger and confidence. They are also about the same height and have been told they can't play quarterback because of it, most of their lives. O'Neil said in a recent interview that he wants to prove the doubters wrong and himself right.
Now, go shock the world, Danny Slime and bring down Alabama.