Stephen O’Neal has gone from making plays with his arm to chasing down the position he once played in high school.

After playing quarterback at Rich East High School, O’Neal arrived at NIU and was brought on to develop into a pass rusher.

After redshirting last season, O’Neal has found his way into the Huskies’ rotation at defensive end.

Here’s a look at how the redshirt freshman has fared so far this season and how he got to NIU:

-As a senior at Rich East High School, O’Neal made all-conference honors by throwing for 513 yards and 11 touchdowns. 

-That same season, he made an impact on defense with five sacks and three pass breakups as a safety.

-A multi-talented athlete in high school he was twice named to the all-conference team in basketball.

-Opened eyes during spring practices by providing a strong pass rush.

-O’Neal hadn’t played defensive end until he signed on with the Huskies.

-Has an outstanding frame being listed at 6’4”, 235 pounds.

-Made appearances on the NIU PAT/field goal team.

-Through nine games, O’Neal has recorded five tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks.

O’Neal on the biggest factor that helped him make the transition to defensive end: “Well at first I was a quarterback in high school, so the transition from offense to defense was my biggest thing and getting stronger. When I first came in, I was only 205 and I got stronger and bigger by eating more nutritious.”

NIU defensive coordinator Tracy Claeys on whether the team had expectations for him to crack the rotation at defensive end this season: “After the way [he worked] after redshirting last season, he came in a little bigger and he’d probably got a chance to play a year ago but we felt like we needed to redshirt him. With the kids we had, we really didn’t need him. That year allowed him to learn what we were doing and put on a little weight and get some confidence. But after what happened last year, we expected him to play this year.