Oklahoma DE Danny Okoye Aligns College Football Earnings With 9/11 Charity

Oklahoma defensive end Danny Okoye has a giver’s heart.

Already a member of the 2025 SEC Football Community Service Team and a nominee for the 2026 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team, Okoye’s charitable contributions in the community at OU are reaching legend status.

On Tuesday, The Athletic reported that Okoye will be donating a portion of his earnings this season to a 9/11 charity.

Twenty-five years after the heinous terrorist attacks on New York City, Washington DC and in the air over Pennsylvania, the junior from Tulsa — who turns 22 on Sept. 19 — will donate $100 for every tackle he makes, $200 for every quarterback sack, and $500 for every interception to Tunnel to Towers, a charitable foundation that helps U.S. Armed Forces and first responders secure mortgage-free housing and financial assistance.

The foundation was started by Frank Siller, whose brother Stephen Siller was a Brooklyn firefighter who had just finished his shift on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, then turned around and immediately ran back into the World Trade Center after the first airplane hit. Siller found his usual tunnel into lower Manhattan already blocked, so he threw on his 90 pounds of firefighter gear and walked the rest of the way from the tunnel to the towers. He died along with more than 300 other firefighters when the towers collapsed.

Okoye told The Athletic that when he learned of Siller’s selfless sacrifice after already clocking out for the day, it “had me sitting quiet for a little bit.”

“My brother Stephen gave his life running toward danger so that others could live,” Frank Siller, the foundation’s chairman and CEO, said in a statement to The Athletic. “It is people like Danny, who feel that same sense of duty and responsibility, that keep his legacy alive every single day.”

Larry Olson, executive vice president of marketing and communications for the Tunnel to Towers Foundation, said Okoye's idea to turn defensive plays into charitable contributions was “all on him.

“This was never … a situation in which he was just looking to align himself with someone that was going to help him in his personal brand,” Olson said.

Okoye said he’s always been curious to learn more about the historic events that happened more than three years before he was born, and that curiosity peaked this summer, when Tunnel to Towers came through Oklahoma City on a national tour to raise awareness on the 25th anniversary of the attacks. He decided to create a partnership with the foundation after an up-close look at a steel beam from the World Trade Center rubble gave him “this new perspective” of teaching others about the tragedy.

After playing in just two games as a true freshman in 2024, Okoye made six total tackles in 2025, which included two quarterback sacks.

That would have tallied $1,000 — but Okoye is hoping his actual donation this season will be much, much higher as the 6-foot-3, 257-pound edge rusher is now vying for a starting job on the OU defensive line.

He and senior P.J. Adebawore have been competing for snaps ever since last year, when starter R Mason Thomas was injured at Tennessee in November. With Thomas now playing in the NFL with the Kansas City Chiefs, Okoye is hoping for a breakout season on Brent Venables' defense this fall.

Okoye was home schooled in Tulsa and played high school football for the Northeast Oklahoma Homeschool Association (NOAH). He's hoping to become the first home schooled player selected in the NFL Draft since Florida's Tim Tebow in 2010. Majoring in Film and Media Studies with a minor in Business, Okoye’s volunteer works and community outreach during his first two years in college have already created quite an impactful resume.

Whether during spring break, summer or just an open date weekend on the fall schedule, Okoye has been willing to help.

He regularly volunteers at elementary schools in the Oklahoma City and Norman area. During OU’s 2024 open date, he and several teammates handed out school supplies for the Beacon Project. He donated time to the 111 Project, with whom he put together and handed out 200 50-pound care packages for foster families. He also mentored youth at a local group home.

In 2024, Okoye traveled to Cape Town, South Africa, to help with community improvement projects and support Onthatile, a ministry for foster and adoptive children. In 2025, he and teammates volunteered in underserved and poor communities in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Okoye has also helped with cleanup and restoration of The Bridge Impact Center in Oklahoma City on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Since 2021, new NCAA rules have allowed college football players to benefit from money earned via Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) legislation. Starting in 2025, they’ve also received actual revenue sharing income from their schools, in addition to the usual payments from the cost of a full scholarship (tuition, books, room and board, and cost of attendance).

Many players have famously spent their newfound riches on cars, clothes and jewelry. But some have also invested in their communities and given to the needy.

According to The Athletic, Okoye’s father is a chaplain to police and fire stations around Owasso, OK. One uncle is the city’s fire chief, and another is a police officer. Service runs in his family.

“You can say that you care about this, care about that, but what are you actually doing to support it?” Okoye told The Athletic. “Hopefully, I can put my gifts to use in a way that doesn’t just make my name popular or provide accolades — but actually gives back to something I feel is important.”

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