One View Of JT Daniels

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I spoke to a writer who has covered a lot of JT Daniels’ games the past three seasons.

“He’s very good but he’s going to have some issues,” he said. “He will have to face a pass rush. He had a great line and great receivers at Mater Dei. He didn’t have to worry about getting touched.”

103 thoughts on “One View Of JT Daniels”

  1. Yep, JT Daniels had a great offensive line in High School, one of the lineman committed to Alabama.

  5. The word’s so out about USC and its OL troubles. This is good. Helton and Callaway can’t run away and hide, pretending an 11-3 record can hide USC’s tragically flawed OL play.

    Everyone’s chirping about that fantastic USC OL. Sure hope we land this supposed big-time OG Penei Sewell from Utah. If we don’t, we can always make up for it in 2019.

  7. A freshman Qb. which has to adjust to the college game. Who would ever think? Let’s not sign him. What’s the point with this terrible 2018 O line.

    • It was USC which has earned itself the distinction of having a crappy OL. Nobody else’s fault but the Trojans’. We’ll see how USC does trying to fix it, but there’s no sense buying into the same 2017 false hype that we were ready to go – because that was all hogwash.

      Until USC starts fielding strong, athletic OLs, this USC staff is gonna have to take it in the chops. Maybe in Sept, we’ll see that USC isn’t a paper tiger again. Maybe not.

      • I just see it a little different. I see a lot of guys who received experience playing Time because of injuries. I think another year in the weight room and playing in the same system. Plus hopefully a little luck with injuries and another year of maturity brings good things in 2018.

        • USC didn’t really have many injuries compared to a lot of schools. I don’t really buy that excuse. People like ucla and ALA had far more significant injuries to their teams. Injuries killed ucla and didn’t even slow down ALA.

          And USC’s gonna feel the pain of losing Darnold too and objectively speaking, we don’t look as good on paper as last year, at least that’s how the media (and I) see it.

          Last year, USC was ranked as a top 5 team coming into the year. Lindy’s ranked us #2, behind only ALA. Both the AP and Coaches had us #4. It was like the good old days under Carroll.

          You won’t see any of that this year. USC will be lucky to be ranked in the top 15 this year. Rankings matter, except to those who aren’t ranked high.

          Actually, most people think USC is a very soft team in the weight room. Our S/C program is viewed is as one of the weakest and a lot of people wanted change – which isn’t coming.

          The good thing is that USC won’t have a big target on its back like last season. Maybe that will help us. It’s gonna have to because we play STAN, TEXAS, ARIZ and UTAH away in our first 7 games.

          Hopefully, we’ll at least reach a stage where full-on blow-outs to teams like ALA, ND and OHIO ST are a thing of the past. It would be nice if our OL coach didn’t have to stalk out of interviews because he can’t handle the questions about why USC couldn’t block.

          • I didn’t use injuries as a excuse. I said because of the injuries it will benefit next year. Also Sam was the reason why we were ranked so high. It doesn’t matter where you’re ranked in the beginning of the year. Just ask Georgia. Also I wasn’t taking any claims on National rankings just saying I personally don’t have a doom and gloom out look on our 2018 O line or team.

          • Pre-Season rankings do matter. Just ask ALA, CLEM, OHIO ST and OU, all big-time 2017 pre-season faves. It does matter a lot to those who are ranked, unless of course, you’re not highly ranked, like USC this year.

            Who said anything about “doom-and-gloom”? Not me. Those are your words.

            USC will be a good team, not great, unless you want to buy into a bunch of rah rah mumbo jumbo about how we won’t miss Darnold, losing our best asst coach by far won’t hurt and how our sluggish, unathletic OL will suddenly learn how to block over the summer. Not to mention we didn’t upgrade one single coaching spot, at least according to the objective world.

            We’ll get into a good bowl. We are SC, after all. But for those who think this 2018 team is a play off outfit, good luck with that. I don’t need to pretend in order to root for USC.

          • USC got rated high because all the “experts” thought Sam was the second coming after the Rose Bowl game. He was the Heisman front runner too. All it was was hype, opinions, and a way to sell clicks. I disagree totally about preseason polls and I can guarantee you Saban, Swinny and Meyer don’t care about them either. They let their play determine where they stand and no poll is accurate for the first 5 weeks.

            USC will have an above average offense next year, and coupled with an excellent defense will do well in what will probably be the end of Heltons contract and position at USC.

          • So you’re predicting what? Is USC gonna be a playoff team or not? I’m not saying maybe at all. I’m saying no way will USC be a PO team. We’re not in that league for all the reasons I’ve stated.

            And I don’t believe that USC’s OL will suddenly mature with the old “another year in the weight room” and be world-beaters under Callaway.

            Hopefully, Helton just learns how to stop winning ugly and he doesn’t get fully blown out in any games. That would be a nice start.

          • No I do not expect USC to be in the playoffs, not with the line we keep talking about. I think the offense will do fairly well with the O line we have, not great, but well. I stand behind what I said about the polls, they only sell clicks and generally change radically by week 5.

          • Funny how the polls were all right-on right about ALA. Guess they knew what they were talking about there, along with CLEM, OU and OHIO ST. I know a couple of huge ALA fans. They care a lot about polls, from the beginning to the end. No wonder.

            And I like it when SC’s ranked high – early, middle or late. It’s a nice little bene/prop to be well-regarded and a target. USC being on magazine covers suits me fine too, regardless of whether we deserve it or not. I never met a SI cover with a Trojan on the cover I didn’t like.

            At least we agree with the polls that USC’s 2018 club isn’t a PO team. Hopefully, USC stops getting completely stuffed against the better teams. It would be nice if our OL didn’t bow down like usual in those games, for a change.

          • Alabama is a no brainer. Agree, everyone likes to be highly rated and we all get our hopes up when the polls come out, but they often change a lot through the season. I put very little credence on preseason anything. Look at Wolf’s poll votes, they are all over the place.

          • Nobody said the polls don’t change. But the truth is, the polls all had ALA, CLEM, OU, OHIO ST super high ranked pre-season and both WIS and GA were way up there too. So it’s not just ALA, by far.

            USC could have been a 2017 PO team as all the pre-season polls predicted if our OL hadn’t stunk to high heaven against good teams. The handwriting was on the wall when a mediocre TEXAS team took us to overtime at home and bullied our OLs just like ND and OHIO ST did.

            SW correctly pointed out that USC’s OL is horrible against the good outfits and Daniels will likely be rudely shocked when he finds out what it’s like trying to pass behind the Trojans’ OL, just like Darnold did in 2017.

          • Trojan 6942, I’m with you 100%. You are a smart, clear thinking Trojan blogger. Absolutely no reason to be Doom and Gloom with regard to USC’s 2018 season.

          • Let’s put it this way. In the first month, the OL will show how well it can or cannot play.

            In that J.T. cannot enroll in Spring, he’ll have a huge challenge to win the starting role in those first few games. He looks excellent, but still, to pick up the USC “West-Coast” system so easily that he can start those initial games over the other two guys would be almost unheard of. It might happen, but it’s hard to make him the favorite.

            As the season progresses, it is more likely that he may start, if the offense stalls under both of the other two, or injuries intrude.

          • We’ll know in the first two games if USC’s putrid OL has picked up the ability to finally block. Hope springs eternal of course. That’s what the off-season is all about for everyone, regardless of what or how severe a team’s weaknesses really are.

            In the off-season, literally anything is possible, including another big-time USC recruiting class that actually has a couple of superior OL prospects.

  8. Woodward and Bernstein level research and reporting. Impressive analysis and insight from Eeyore. Pulitzer worthy post after post, day-by-day.

  10. Whereas most all-everything 5-star high school QBs had to run for their lives behind porous offensive lines for most of their careers.

  11. Every level epthe players get bigger and faster – High school to College and then College to the really elite in th NFL. Each level has a a major transition . Darnold will face that too when he goes to the NFL

  12. “J. T. Daniels had a great line at Mater Dei —he never worried about getting touched.”
    #WelcomeToUSCKid

    • It is true. I never saw him under any pressure at Mater Dei in the couple of times I watched him. Hadn’t thought of that. He better tighten up his chin strap, or get another pair of eyes behind the head.

        • That pressure will be bigger, faster, and stronger than anything he ever saw in school. A huge adjustment to make and adapt to.

          • Will he have that 6th sense than Sam had to move away from the pressure as the pocket collapsed around him?

          • Answer: I sure hope so. He definitely had it in high school —but the speed of college defensive ends can mess with sixth senses.

  14. Seen both Sears and JT play 4 – 5 games each–live in OC. IMHO, Fink and Sears are slotted ahead of JT when the season starts. Both are more of a Darnold QB prototye–elusive, very quick, and poised–which is what we need with our OL. Never really saw JT scramble much or move around in the pocket, e.g., side-step rushers. There’s no question about his FB IQ, accuracy (without pressure), or arm strength, however. It’s going to be fun to watch.

    • jt was never under any pressure, do to the fact, that he releases his ball on time. he does not second guess himself. most of his throws the last two years were thrown on avg of 2.8 seconds I don’t know of any edge rushers that can get to a qb that quick, he is also a better runner and scrambler than sam, jack, and matt. though he may not start over matt at first he better keep an eye on JT cause the kid is a baller. news coming out is that sears will be a back up or scout QB next year. spring gonna be fun to watch.

      • Yes, JT has a quick release and a hose for an arm. I’m not saying he isn’t mobile either. Just didn’t see him move around the pocket and elude defenders much, or run the ball in the few games I watched him. On the others hand, mobility was a big part of jack’s game, especially in the CIF playoffs. We’ve seen what Fink can do with his legs. Glad all 3 are ours.

        • Fink has the upper hand on sears. But I know if fink does not land starting job im spring he will have a bigger up hill battle with Daniels. Odd horse out is sears.

          • The fact he has a lot of eligibility left and can read the writing on the wall I can’t see him hanging around to do scout teams. He could start at many schools. Of course he could win out and then who knows what will happen. Would Daniels stay?

          • Maybe. It’s just that Sears appears to be very mobile and has good pocket presence, which is vital with our OL. Try to get some tape on him during the playoffs (YouTube?). He’s impressive. That was HS though. Not sure how he did this past year. Keep in mind JT will enter school less experienced that most Frosh. Guess I need to see more of JT. Again glad we have em both.

          • I have watched both sears and Daniels in hs. My thought are Daniels pre reads defense sets up defender to where he wants them with his eyes and throw fast after snaps hardly ever gets to 3rd progression. Sears is much different does not pre read. Does not really look off defenders. He also pocket dances and misses wide open receivers because he does not pre read. I think USC will go with fink if not Daniels.

          • A lot of difference btwn hs and college fb. It’s much faster and Ds are more complex. Darnold played at the same hs that Sears did with greater statistical and team success. His coach called Helton after his jr yr and told him as much.

            He’s a Darnold clone for physically but I don’t know if he has the mental aspect like SD did. JT is young and does not have a year in the SC system. But so what. He may emerge as the better of the two. I want the best guy to win. Logically JS has the edge IMO.

          • I don’t know if Jack has the edge I saw a lot of practices last year spring thur fall camp, what I saw was Jack had big issues reading defense and defenders. Fink on the otherhand did not have those issues. I honestly thought that fink beat out sam in fall camp which sounds crazy. Not to mention from what I see in person and social media the players at usc like fink more than Jack. I do think Jack is a much better passer. When he makes the correct reads. I have watched Jack alot at practice during the fall and me personally don’t see Jack ever starting at usc.

          • With a yr in the system, JS will start ahead of JT regardless is his skills. He may overtake JS but he’s got to earn it. We don’t know how good he is at the C level because he hasn’t done anything. I’m making no predictions. Only saying JS combines SD’s skill set better JD.

          • I think spring ball will tell us who will be the next qb. I still think they will not name a starter in the spring.

          • Agree, SC Fan. Great exchange. Good to know there are people with some FB knowledge and depth.

  16. Why does everyone think this kid will start this fall? He is missing spring ball. He will not be ready with only 1 month prep. It’s going to be Fink or Sears. I think Sears has the most talent out of the two. Sears is Darnold 1.5. I’m saying it here first.

    The bigger news should be what is Helton going to do about his coaching staff? Is he interviewing replacements? Callaway is exposed. Helton cannot avoid this any longer. He has to make changes if he wants to stay past 2018. Come on Wolf! We need good investigative journalism here.

    • Swann and Helton are the only ones who don’t have a problem with Neil Callaway being clueless when it comes to coaching.

  19. Scooter, do you actually get paid to write for the DN? I am suprised your editor allows you to write so negatively towards a team that sells your company a ton of newspapers.

  20. O Line coach Neil Callaway is going to turn whoever starts at QB for the Trojans into a tackling dummy.

    LOL!

  21. ESPN has JT Daniels rated as a 4 Star. After Clay Helton is done with him he’ll be rated as a 3 Star.

  22. So Wolf asked one of his OC Register buddies…way to go undercover Wolfie…Most of the top HS QB’s are on good teams, which means they have a good OL, so they will ALL need to make an adjustment to the speed of the game. If you are going to try to get a scoop from somebody you work with, at least get an interesting one…

  23. Pat Haden could have seen who Helton was going to hire and said, “not good enough”. Lynn Swann could have come in immediately and told Helton, “you make a change in the O-line coach. This is below expectations and you are going to get our star QB hurt”. But they didn’t did they? The ADs have let Helton turn our offensive line into an underachieving mess that it is. And every time USC plays a good physical defensive team, Helton is going to come out a loser.

    • You are under the assumption Haden cared a whole lot at that particular time. I think Swann came in and took the road that said “Lets get things settled down around here first”.

      • Settled down from what…the mess Pat Haden made? What was Swann supposed to settle down?

        The only thing Swann settled was his arse into a chair in some athletic dept. office and he hasn’t done squat since…except collect a check for having done nothing.

        Swann is worthless, he doesn’t even have the balls to talk to Helton about Callaway.

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