Five-star QB JT Daniels is set on playing in a pro-style offense
MORE: Florida has huge weekend | ACC coaches on the hot seat | Big weekend commits
HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. – JT Daniels knows what he wants. In recruiting, that’s half the battle.
The 2019 five-star quarterback from powerhouse Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei is only looking for a pro-style offense.
A coordinator Daniels can relate to like he has in Mater Dei’s Dave Money (what a name for an offensive coordinator). A winning program. NFL experience on a coaching staff is nice, but not necessary.
More than anything, Daniels, a phenomenal talent who threw for 4,849 yards with 67 touchdowns and six interceptions in his sophomore season, is dead serious about playing in a pro-style system.
The reasoning is understandable.
“It’s a passion thing for him,” said his father, Steve Daniels, at the recent Battle at the Beach 7v7. “He’s going to outprepare everyone. That’s what he does. He’s got a good arm and maybe his accuracy is elite, I’m subjective. He’s not 6-6, he’s not going to run a 4.2. He’s going to outprepare you and chew his finger off to win.
“Those aspects lead it to be that kind of offense. All the pre-snap stuff, where’s the Mic, what’s the pass protection, do I have to change it, are there overloads, am I in the right concepts pass-wise or do I need to change it based on the coverage? All these things are really fun for him so that’s what he wants to do.”
With trends in college football pointing toward spread systems, run-pass options and the like, Daniels is charting a different course. And that means his focus is set on only a select group of schools that run straight pro-style offense.
That’s why USC, Stanford and Michigan – where he will visit for the upcoming recruiting BBQ – have emerged as major contenders.
Notre Dame had been seriously considered but the Irish seem to be slipping. Washington was also a possibility because Daniels loved a recent visit there but the Huskies took four-star QB Dylan Morris in the 2019 class so Daniels might look elsewhere.
Other than those programs, not many are being considered. He’s that serious about the offensive system when choosing a school.
Usually, a quarterback of Daniels’ ability has every team in the country knocking down doors and clamoring for his services. It’s not necessarily the case with the 2019 five-star, though, since he knows what he wants, and is not worried about just racking up offers.
“Sometimes, that’s the best thing,” Rivals.com National Recruiting Director Mike Farrell said. “When guys are hyper-focused in recruiting but not just on one school. I’ve seen guys who knew where they were going to go and it’s over but they play around and take visits and we all know where they’re going to go.
“Then there are guys who have a top 15 list and they cut it to 12 and then they cut it to eight and they end up confusing themselves.
“When you get a kid like Daniels who is laser-focused on what he wants, he specifically wants a pro-style offense, he specifically wants certain academics, he wants a certain culture, he wants to be coached by someone who’s done well with quarterbacks, that speaks volumes to the potential success level he can have.”
The ‘Next Big Thing’ quarterback is always bandied about in recruiting circles especially in Southern California, where it seems one after another comes through the ringer every few years.
Daniels backed that hype up – and more – last season, smoothly running a complicated offense, calling his own plays and checking at the line when needed and blazing passes all over the field with a marksman’s precision.
It was impressive to witness and nearly impossible to stop.
How he’s handling the recruiting process is similar.
“There are only so many schools I can go to that are great universities and run pro-style offense,” Daniels said.
For Steve Daniels, it’s a different process than many quarterback dads have experienced through the years.
“Instead of wham-bam-thank you three-hour visits, it’s two-day visits, it’s a dinner with the coaching staff, it’s board session, it’s watching JT’s film and why is he doing what he’s doing and why did he make those calls?” Daniels said. “Being in the quarterback room during spring practice, all those things are invaluable when making your choice.”
This unique approach to the recruiting process reminds Farrell of how someone else handled things a few years back – former Boston College linebacker Luke Kuechly, who cared little about the offers and the hype and was intently focused on what he wanted out of a school.
To note, Kuechly was a godsend to the Boston College program, a top 10 NFL Draft pick and a four-time Pro Bowl selection already.
“He was a kid who could have had offers from everybody playing at St. X in Ohio but he only wanted to look at academic schools, period,” Farrell said. “Laser-focused on that, chose Boston College for every reason under the sun aside from football and then went on to have an amazing career and be a first-round draft pick.
“The way Daniels is handling his recruitment is that same laser focus. He doesn’t care about gathering offers, he doesn’t waste people’s time. It really speaks to me to a guy who knows what he wants and is going to find the right fit.”
Daniels has not been stopped yet. In pursuit of the perfect school, the 2019 five-star quarterback is full speed ahead.