3-Star DB Noah Daniels makes the move to TCU

Over the second half of the football season, Noah Daniels became one of the most sought-after defensive backs in Texas. Following a tight race down the stretch between Oklahoma and TCU, Daniels announced that the Horned Frogs won the battle for his commitment following his official visit this weekend.

Daniels decommitted from Baylor late last month after having been one of just two Bears commitments since the spring. While other programs may have smelled the blood in the water before coming through with their recent offers, Daniels said that his communication with the TCU staff going back to the spring kept the Horned Frogs in the picture throughout his recruitment.

“It’s just the relationship I built with them,” he said. “Even before when they didn’t have a scholarship for me, they still kept in touch with me. It wasn’t about me committing to Baylor or being committed somewhere else, we continued to stay in touch from April through the summertime to now, so I built that relationship with them and I like where I fit within their defense.”

Daniels may have been committed to TCU from the start had it not been for the prior commitment of Josh Thompson, who ended up decommitting just days after Daniels’ initial pledge to Baylor.

“I’ve always been interested in (TCU),” Daniels said. “I went to their camp, but they were only taking one corner, at the time they had one committed. When his recruitment opened up, that’s when they started talking to me again.”

Getting Daniels’ commitment became the homework assignment of other TCU commitments like Wes Harris, Trestan Ebner and Omar Manning, and with good reason. He was so effective from his cornerback position this season that the majority of his senior highlights are of the offensive variety just so he could have something to show for himself.

Daniels fits the mold of other cornerbacks that TCU already has on its roster but he thinks that his physical style of play in press and man-to-man coverage is just what the staff is looking for in its single take at the position in this class.

“They told me that they have a lot of guys that can run, but they still want more size at corner,” he said. “I feel coming in I already have the size some of the guys that they already have do, so that gives me a better opportunity to play earlier, and that’s another reason why I feel they’re the best option for me.”

Even after his recent offer and official visit to Oklahoma, Daniels value of more long-standing relationships proved to be a greater factor in his recruitment. Had things not gone south with Baylor, he likely wouldn’t have reconsidered, but even despite having been half of the program's committed players through the fall, he said the communication was minimal from the staff of newly-hired Bears coach Matt Rhule.

“I really like Baylor and at first I didn’t have the TCU offer, but it was always going to be between TCU and Baylor,” he said. “After what happened this year and the uncertainty with the coaching staff, I realized that coach that recruited me probably isn’t even going to be there. When I committed I figured, they’ll get more, there’s still time, now it’s almost the new year and they still only have one, so I feel this was best for my future.”

That’s all history now anyway, and Daniels can look forward to staying in-state and working closely with the coaches that have stayed on him for TCU in Paul Gonzales and Zarnell Fitch.

“I have a strong relationship with them just because of how long we’ve stayed in touch,” he said. “Even throughout me committing somewhere else we still talked a lot - they’d hit me up every once in awhile just to let me know I’m on their minds and stuff like that, so I really feel like they value me as a player.”