PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Even before West Virginia Head Coach Neal Brown announced it in almost simultaneous news conferences on Monday, Pitt Head Coach Pat Narduzzi said he knew JT Daniels would be the Mountaineers starting quarterback.
“We've watched a lot of tape throughout the last four months, five months, whatever it's been,” Narduzzi said. “A ton of USC tape, a ton of Georgia tape, their spring game. I watched every throw.”
“I watched I think 238 throws he's made in the last couple years there. Again, he's very, very capable. I can see why he's the starter. He can make every throw. He's really, really talented.
We'll have our hands (full) on that end.”
“We know he can spin the ball,” said Pitt Defensive Coordinator Randy Bates. “He can get it to where it needs to go. Sometimes those guys can’t throw the ball to the flat the way this young man can. You have to be even better at breaking on the ball when the ball is thrown. You have to get there when the ball gets there. If you don’t, they are going to throw it and catch it. We have to challenge every ball that’s thrown.”
The last full season the 6’3”, 210-pound Daniels was with current West Virginia Offensive Coordinator Graham Harrell at USC he threw for 2,672 yards with 14 touchdowns and 10 interceptions as a freshman then blowing out his ACL as a sophomore and transferring to Georgia.
“For JT it will be his first game here, the positive is it’s his 17th or 18th start,” Brown said. “He’s played in big games so I don’t think the atmosphere is going to rattle him. He’s played in these games before.”
“He’s really accurate with the football. He’s thrown the ball downfield at a high completion percentage during camp. Any decision he has to make run-pass has been really good.”
“Lots of people can throw a deep ball, but his is very catchable,” Harrell said. “He does a good job of putting the right amount of air on it, putting it in a position where his guys can catch it.”
“He’s been pretty consistent lately. I think we’ve talked a lot about how intelligent he is. He’s done a good job and gotten better and better working with our personnel. That’s been good to see and hopefully he plays at a high level.”
Brown said as their quarterback competition went on it became clear Harrell was the best option. He believes, now at his third school, Daniels arrived at WVU more mature, and hungry. That he prepares with a chip on his shoulder but doesn’t ride that emotion.
“He had a turnover early on in a scrimmage, recovered and played really good football,” Brown said. “He didn’t allow one mistake, or one bit of bad luck, to really influence how he went about the next play. I thought that showed maturity. He’s been through it more than some of those other guys.”
“You know what, you don't see him scramble very much,” Narduzzi said of one distinction with Daniels. “He can make every throw. He's very cerebral, I think. He makes the right decisions.”
Narduzzi said watching the tape he had to wait until well into the footage until he threw an incompletion.
“He's just very accurate,” Narduzzi said. “He's smart. He can throw a really good deep ball. Our corner has to be really good in coverage.”
Daniels and Pitt starting quarterback Kedon Slovis were teammates at USC and both had Harrell as their offensive coordinator. Narduzzi played coy when asked if he was able to get information from Slovis about Daniels and Harrell.
The new Mountaineers OC isn’t taking any chances. Harrell said he changed all of his signals in case they mirrored what he did at USC last year when Slovis was there.
It’s an interesting triangle and more of a sign of the times where players transfer, sometimes multiple times, and coaches move. Harrell said he’s talked to the Mountaineers defense about Slovis, but there isn’t much he can give that you can’t see on tape.
The two teammates now on opposite sides of one of the best rivalries in college sports. The Backyard Brawl kicks off Thursday at 7p on 93.7 The Fan.