Rivals recruiting analyst Mike Farrell made a pitch below for USC quarterback JT Daniels.
“I think he can (win the job),” Farrell said. “We’ll see how he bounces back from injury. I really don’t want to forget about JT Daniels and just say, `Oh well, he’s done.’ This kid has so much talent and throws one of the best deep balls you’ll see. I just don’t think the USC quarterback situation is anything but open.”
This almost feels like an evaluation of Daniels coming out of Mater Dei instead of his season as the starter at USC. Especially the part about the deep balls, which I don’t recall seeing much at USC.
Later, Farrell said even if Kedon Slovis wins the job, he might get hurt, which is extremely plausible and that could open a path for Daniels.
“JT Daniels is probably the best backup quarterback in college football,” Farrell said.
Here’s one part where I agree more with Farrell, where he says USC can have a good record.
“There’s so much talent on that football team, they have a chance to be really good, I’m talking like 10-2 really good,” Farrell said.
I attribute it more the Pac-12 than USC, but either way the Trojans have the potential to win despite Clay Helton.
Which five players coming back from injury will impact the next college football season? @rivalsmike has his eye on USC’s J.T. Daniels, among others.
— Rivals (@Rivals) April 8, 2020
Watch the full Three-Point Stance video edition here: https://t.co/tjMXEuyjYn pic.twitter.com/pw86wNwoIe
“There’s so much talent on that football team, they have a chance to be really good”
Bingo. The talent is there. What coach wouldn’t want to have the Trojan skill players, including newcomers like McCoy and Kyle Ford, and Thunder and Lightning 2.0 with Stepp and Christon?
‘Bama is the game that the team should have been preparing for the last 3 years. Can’t have another debacle like ’16.
#NoExcuses
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I think Stepp is similar to LenDale for sure, not convinced at this point that Christon has the potential to be like RB though. I know he’s super fast once he gets going, but Reggie was world class at change of direction at speed, stop and start ability, getting to top speed within 3 steps, general elusiveness, and just the sense of where to go to get in the clear.
From seeing him in person I’d say that Christon is super fast once he hits peak speed, but it takes him a little while to get there. Reggie = 4.25 40; Christon ?
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Is Mike Farrell JT Daniels uncle or something, because he’s describing something that I didn’t witness when Daniels started for the Trojans ? And the last I checked, football games are won at the line of scrimmage, which happens to be USC’s offensive, glaring weakness. So why the 10-2 predictions, is it because SC, Yahoos don’t understand the game of football? You open holes so the runners can run, and block for the passers to pass, and if you can’t do that, then nothing else will click.
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J. T. is a really talented thrower (in spite of the form he’s showing in Scott’s favorite photo of him)—but there’s something about the way Daniels is put together that makes him unable to withstand a big hit….. he’s always going to be one play from being “out for the season”….
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Hope JT takes the opportunity to build some muscle mass.
At his age, putting on muscle bulk is usually successful and rapid.
But ya’ gotta be diligent in the weight room.
I would suspect that he is now permitted upper body weight lifting without restriction.
Building up his lower extremities is likely still a slow process after the ACL repair.
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Agree. JT has a great arm and makes some really good throws, but as a frosh was immobile, did not read the field well and did not seem like a strong leader. And he shorted the majority of his downfield (35+ yards) throws, Many lost chunk plays as a result.
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There is no question we have skilled position talent. The question is about the offensive line
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Exactly. And there will be two new starting tackles, one to replace Austin Jackson…
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It’s Harrell’s job to figure out ways of keeping Slovis and J. T. safe in spite of a Drevno-coached o-line. We need to face the fact that —as great as USC is at QB, TB and receiving corps —- nobody really special wanted to be coached by Drevno. So here we are — let’s figure out ways of making the best of it …
#…GetBallOutEarly&Often
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Fingers crossed about the O-line. I really worry about how they will perform with Austin Jackson gone. Perhaps one of those guys on the line will get fired up and demonstrate the leadership they need in order to perform as well as they should.
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I think this line will actually do enough to keep USC in the hunt for the Rose Bowl, pardner. But I worry about what Alabama could do to them. I can guarantee you Saban sees them as the chink in USC’s armor [through which he intends to drive the spear].
#It’sToHelton’sEverlastingDiscreditWe’reInThisSituation
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P. S.
The heat is really gonna be on Drevno if the line under performs in a spectacular way. Helton will say “I love him more than ever!” —but he’ll be thinking “If I can just survive another season I’ll fire his fat ass and put out a statement about him always being part of the family.”
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Year 2 of Drevno’s O-line (this time around).
Compared to the debacle of Calloway’s O-line, the 2019 line was improved.
No excuses, moving forward.
I remain optimistic that the O-line will “dominate” 8 teams, get punished by 2 teams
(‘Bama, Oregon), and perform equivocally versus 2 teams (ND, Utah).
…if there is a season.
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I can’t understand how JT is considered anything beyond mediocre at best. I just don’t see it. Slovis is clearly the superior qb.
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Yep.
#YouCan’tArgueWithResults…
#CompareFroshJ.T’sUCLAResultWithFroshSlovis’Result
#[DittoStanford]
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P. S.
Ditto Cal..
#J.T.CostUSCHelton’sMythical”CaliforniaChampionship”
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This photo of JT heaving the duck could take the place of the Baxter gut photo.
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Or the Wilcox “choke” photo…..
#..ButNothingWillEverSurpassTheHelton”Clueless”Photo….
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Wow, Scott! Nice related sections above! Lol lol lmao!
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USC would’ve had a much better record last year, if Helton would’ve started Jack Sears.
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I agree with everything that Farrell said except I really don’t think Daniels has much of a chance to win this job. I think Harrell has always liked Slovan and has always wanted him to be the starter over Daniels. I’m not convinced that Harrell is a big fan of Daniels. But I do believe that Daniels is a great QB. I don’t think that Slovis would have ever gotten his chance if Daniels had not gotten hurt. I think Daniels would have had just as good a year as Slovis did. Both of them are great QB’s.
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HCCH would’ve happily rode with JT come hell or high water for the entirety of last season sans injury. The fact Slovis was ranked 2nd on depth chart had more to do with substandard recruiting in years prior that left the only other options as a qb clay didn’t see eye to eye with (Sears) and a qb who they never intended to let on the field (Fink). The “we knew he was special all along” spin about Slovis after JT went down contradicts HCCHs lukewarm recruitment of KS and the fact he couldn’t beat out a so-so JT for QB1 despite the fact KS & JT were both were equals in terms of getting to know the offense (no familiarity advantage for JT as a soph). If JT stayed healthy and Clay didn’t drop the soap recruiting B. Young, KS woulda been known as the white dude holding a clipboard standing next to coach during timeouts, not as a Heisman hopeful or Rd 1 draft pick. Slovis was an accident plain and simple. Clay isn’t a qb whisperer, and his “coaching up every young man as a starter” philosophy is pure bullshit on face given the ncaa limits on practice time. Rolling into 2020 it’s Slovis by default… and that’s downright scary. Why? Cause next man up doesn’t work when the depth chart reads: Daniels, Fink, and TBD walk on.
Sure KS throws a nice 50/50 ball when he’s got a clean pocket. He also throws a nice one-two-out quick hitter. So would a boatload of others with Pitt, Amon, Vaughn, Ford, etc going against some very mediocre Pac12 db’s. Nothing against KS, but the stuff he did well last year wasn’t something that only he, and he alone, could’ve done if you were to consider theoretical qb’s not on the Trojan roster, or qb’s not in the Trojan doghouse. IMVHO Slovis is a good qb when the competition is not as talented and when shit goes according to schedule. Is he the Second Coming as some would have us believe? No. Not even close. 2nd coming types will their team to win when it has no business doing so. 2nd comers excel when the play breaks down and suddenly nothing about it is routine pitch n’ catch. 2nd comers playing behind a suspect o-line, knowing there’s no depth chart to speak of, and that maintenance of their health is of paramount concern don’t tunnel vision it and end up pancaked from a 300lb defender who was directly in KS’s field of view. As Dan Weber would say: just sayin’. 2nd comers possess an athleticism that KS doesn’t. As they say in boxing, he gets caught with some shots. Unless:
1. Clay comes up with a doozy of a pregame speech that somehow overcomes years of poor o-line recruiting and training, or 2. Wunderkind Harrell figures out how to legitimately call a complimentary run game to keep opposing defenses from going Iowa on KS, or
3. the kid miraculously turns into an athlete with a rare spatial awareness in the pocket gonna take some shots this year,
ending the year with a 10 – 2 mark is gonna be pretty hard to do.
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