I mentioned JT Daniels’ arm strength in yesterday’s report card. During the bye week, his arm was rested because he was tired.
Did he look like his arm was strong after the rest against Colorado?
Like I said, Daniels did a good job after the interceptions. But if he walked down the street, you would not think he was a football player. I’m not sure how he can live up to the high school hype. Like I said before the season. He never faced pressure at Mater Dei. It shows.
InsideUSC with Scott Wolf 
Using that logic, then Tom Brady must suck too because he doesn’t look like a football player.
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Yep!
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Brady doesn’t have small hands and doesn’t throw wobbly passes on bell curve trajectories.
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I think is done a damned good job – not sure you can’t point to any other true freshman in the country who has the skill-set he has. Sure, he’ll never live up to your strawman. But I’m fired up to see where this guy goes over the next 2 years.
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I’ve never been a big fan of starting off games with complicated pass plays.
Good OC’s let the QB get some rhythm with pass plays that have a high completion rate. This also gives the QB confidence. A freshman QB especially needs this. I don’t get what Tee Martin is trying to accomplish.
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Daniels is Cody Kessler all over again and we know how that turned out. In addition, he looks really dirty and unkempt. He needs to shave and cut his hair. Looks too much like a guy from the trailer park in Wildomar. With Porter Austin gone, and Cameron Smith hobbling around, doesn’t look like much of a season the rest of the way. And, attendance is way down. That should send a message to the administration that fans are unhappy with the team and Helton. But then again, there is no university President, and the school is bombarded with scandals right now. What happened to my school ?
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With all due respect Mr. Trojan, bozo u met Peter Principle
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Stop MOwning, lady.
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I have some thoughts on JT’s arm and physical attributes, but not every great player is great physically. All the things that are measured at camps and combines never get to the thing that truly separates great players from everyone else. Broadly, it’s vision. Specifically; it’s seeing, what you recognize in what you see, your ability to react to what you recognize and the speed with which you do it. This is the idea encapsulated by my use of the word “vision”.The great ones have better vision than everyone else and it’s true for all positions, but especially the skill positions. As a QB, if my arm isn’t that strong, it means that I have to have or develop better vision. If my receiver is going to be 3 to 5 yards behind the defense, I should see that before it happens, recognize it’s coming and react before does. I should be able to see and recognize that the DB’s relative speed, ability and/or pursuit angle will not allow him to stay with my guy. Once I see that pattern developing, I’m putting the ball in the air and not waiting until he’s 3 to 5 yards clear. The ball should arrive as separation is occurring and not after. If you have a canon, you have more time to play with, but if not: see it, recognize it, react quickly and put the ball out there with some air under it.
It’s really hard to fully explain great vision in this format, but I’m going to try to use an analogy. Picture yourself standing on an African plain watching a big herd of antelope running by. It’s an amazing, captivating, moving scene and your senses are filled to overload. It would be difficult to take it all in. Now, picture a female lion sitting next to you watching the same scene. If you could see through her eyes, you would see that she is seeing that scene on a level of detail that you couldn’t even imagine. She’s seeing minute things that absolutely matter and are crucial in determining success or failure in the hunt. She has the vision of a skilled predator and she’s seeing things you never could. This sort of heightened vision exists on the football field as well and the great ones have it. Coaches and scouts call it instinct, but it’s really what I’ve tried to describe here. JT needs to develop his vision if his arm isn’t that strong.
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I’m not sure what a FB player (QB in this case) should look like, especially an 18-year old FB player. I do know this much, at 6′-0″ both BMayfield and DBrees aren’t pro QB archetypes, yet one walked-on at OU, won the Heisman Trophy, and was a first round draft pick; and, the other is a cinch to make the Hall of Fame. That being said, even and 18-year QB that stands 6′-3″ and weighs 220 lbs. should be able to sling a football 65 – 70 yards without breaking a sweat unless he’s injured or out of shape.
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His arm strength is every bit of Sam’s. He throw deep outs just as well if not better. Underthrows on deep balls are usually done for two reasons, poor timing or on purpose. I think JT does not have great timing yet, I don’t think it is a arm strength issue. I have yet to hear any analyst say he has poor arm strength, other than Scott. He does throw off back foot a lot, that doesn’t help.
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Scooter,
If you are comparing bodies to play, then you would be the greatest player of all time since you have not hit any weights, you don’t throw, and you look like a pencil neck geek. Tell that to Haden, the player who won a national championship. He did not look like a player when he was at USC.
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In order for J.T. Daniels and the rest of the team of highly recruited 4 & 5 star Trojan players to live up to their hype…USC is going to have to hire a real head football coach and get rid of the second rate interim head coach they have right now. It’s not that the players are mediocre, it’s the incompetent coaching and play calling that’s been holding the Trojans back from being considered legit CFP title contenders.
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Oh, it’s far worse than that. Helton is in the process of “destroying” JT. QBs don’t improve in his system, which demands pro-level play (a.k.a. Darnold) behind a poorly coached O-line. The reason Darnold left early was exactly that – he wasn’t learning anything more and wasn’t going to get any better. Enter JT, where the playcalling philosophy will only work if Sam Darnold can pick up the pieces after the play breaks down, scramble, and transition from QB to point guard. This is unsustainable. JT will just get more mentally broken as the playbook and coaching remains unchanged.
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