MORGANTOWN — Coming from the bright lights of Los Angeles at USC to winning a national championship on the biggest stage at Georgia, it wouldn’t be surprising if JT Daniels suffered from a bit of culture shock when he arrived at WVU about a month ago.
While it’s a quintessential college town, Morgantown is far from the glitz and glamor of LA, where Daniels spent his first two college seasons from 2018-19. Daniels is also coming from a Bulldogs squad that went 14-1 to a Mountaineers team on the heels of a 6-7 campaign.
For Daniels, who announced he was transferring to WVU in April, the past is the past, and he’s looking for a fresh start, which made WVU an enticing destination.
“It’s dope,” Daniels said about Morgantown. “It doesn’t seem like a big adjustment to me. I was in Georgia the last two years so it’s not a major change.”
Even with a fresh start, one of the biggest reasons Daniels chose the Mountaineers was a not-so-fresh face. Offensive coordinator Graham Harrell was Daniels’ OC at USC in 2019, and when he transferred to Georgia in 2020, it was at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, so all visits were through Zoom or over the phone.
This time around, Harrell was able to visit Daniels at his home, which helped seal the deal.
“I know him, I trust him and I know he’s a great coach,” Daniels said. “He’s a great schemer and I think he’s really underrated as a schemer. I love the offense and I love what he does with it, so that was definitely a big part of it.
One of the most important things for Daniels, admittedly, is staying healthy. The reason he transferred twice is mainly due to his health — he suffered a torn ACL at USC in 2019, ultimately losing his starting job; then an oblique issue last season at Georgia allowed Stetson Bennett to start, and Georgia went on to win the national title.
“I don’t know if it’s my biggest goal, but it kind of is,” Daniels said. “The saying is, ‘Availability is your best ability,’ and I’ve missed 20-30 games over the last three years. If I stay healthy … it’s very important to me.”
When he was healthy, Daniels amassed 4,840 yards passing and 32 touchdowns in 21 games.
During spring practice, it was a three-horse race between Garrett Greene, Goose Crowder and Nicco Marchiol, but Daniels’ transfer likely shifts those three into a backup role, as well as gives them more time to develop.
Marchiol, a heralded true freshman from Arizona, enrolled early and participated in spring practice, but he said Daniels’ arrival hasn’t deterred him.
Instead, Marchiol will lean on Daniels, who has two years of eligibility remaining, to learn as much as he can.
“I just always thought of it as more competition and just another reason to work,” Marchiol said. “My mindset has still always been the same. I’m just going to show up and be the best teammate I can be and the best leader I can be in every situation I can be in.
“On the other side of that, there’s always things that I can learn from him. He’s a very experienced quarterback at all of these different programs.”
Daniels and many other football players participated in a football camp for elementary- and middle school-aged kids, held at Mylan Park on Monday. The camp was put on by Country Roads Trust and Diversified Energy, one of the first prominent Name, Image and Likeness events for WVU football players.
Getting a chance to work with kids in Morgantown was a big step for Daniels to get acclimated with the community.
“It was a lot of fun to get out here and work with the kids, especially with some of my new teammates,” Daniels said.
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