JT Daniels the Next Breakout QB for the Georgia Bulldogs?

The collegiate career of JT Daniels hasn’t gone as storybook as it seemed it would when he arrived on campus at USC in 2018. The heir-apparent to Sam Darnold out of Mater Dei HS and the No. 2 pro-style QB in his class, Daniels was supposed to help USC break into the CFP field and put back into the championship conversation.

Instead, Daniels struggled at USC. He started 11 games for the Trojans in 2018, tossing just 14 touchdowns and 10 interceptions while completing less than 60 percent of his passes. In 2019, he tore his ACL in the opener. His replacement, Kedon Slovis, was lighting the college football world on fire as a freshman. It seemed like Daniels’ chance at USC had passed him by. Where would he go next?

Daniels chose Georgia and transferred to Athens prior to the 2020 season. After sitting on the sidelines watching for six weeks while dealing with the nagging effects of that 2019 ACL tear, he finally got his shot to start after the second bye week, the Bulldogs fresh off a blowout loss to rival Florida. He didn’t miss.

Daniels was everything Smart could’ve hoped for off inconsistent play and injury. The junior tore it up over the final four games, completing 67.2 percent of his passes for ten touchdowns and just two interceptions. He averaged over ten yards an attempt. The Bulldogs had their two highest point totals (49 vs Missouri, 45 vs South Carolina) of the season. The biggest thing? He looked healthy.

He didn’t shy away from the big game either. You can point out the poor competition in Daniels’ first three starts (Mississippi State, South Carolina, Missouri), but against eighth-ranked Cincinnati? He only threw for one touchdown against one interception, but a near-season-high 392 yards completing 68 percent of his passes against one of the top defenses in the country while getting no support from his run game (45 yards).

We are obviously going to need a larger sample size, especially against top SEC opponents, before we can really buy into Daniels. Georgia’s 2021 schedule will be tough: Clemson in the opener, and Florida and Auburn in the SEC slate.

The SEC has seen a breakout senior QB each of the last two years (Joe Burrow, Mac Jones). There’s no reason to think that Daniels can’t take that role in the 2021 season.

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-By: TJ Mathewson