Former Trojan QB JT Daniels, Who Transferred 3 Times Before Medically Retiring From Football, Lands Coaching Job

The Top Recruit in the County

JT Daniels, who is now 24 years old, was rated the No. 1 recruit in the country coming out of high school powerhouse, Mater Dei, in Santa Ana, CA. He received offers from Michigan, Alabama, Stanford, Notre Dame, and Washington. However, he chose USC.

Making Trojan History as a Freshman

In 2018, Daniels became the second player in the history of the storied USC football program to be named starting quarterback as a freshman. Matt Barkley was the first. However, the Trojans had a disappointing season in 2018, finishing with a 5-7 record. Daniels threw for 2,672 yards, 14 touchdowns and 10 interceptions in 11 starts; in a harbinger of things to come, he missed one game with a concussion.

In the season-opening game of the 2019 campaign, Daniels suffered a torn ACL and missed the remainder of the season. Kedon Slovis replaced Daniels, and went on to lead the Trojans to an 8-4 regular season record, including a win over arch-rival UCLA.

Into and Out of the Transfer Portal — 4 Different Universities

Based on Kedon Slovis’ ascension, Daniels opted to enter the transfer portal, marking the beginning of a college football odyssey.

Daniels transferred to Georgia.  In the 2020 season, he took over the starting QB role after Stetson Bennett was sidelined with a shoulder injury. Daniels was impressive in that role:

[I]n Georgia’s final four [regular season games[,] …  he completed 67.2 percent of his 119 throws for 1,231 yards with 10 TDs against 2 picks. A strong performance in UGA’s Peach Bowl win over Cincinnati set[] the expectation Daniels [would] start for Georgia in 2021.

However, it was not to be. Although Daniels started in Georgia’s season opener in the 2021 season, he was injured in that game. Bennett took over the starting role thereafter. Daniels did return to action in the 2021 season, albeit briefly. And Bennett ultimately led Georgia to the national championship.

With Bennett’s grip on the QB1 role secured for the 2022 season, Daniels entered the transfer portal again. In April 2022, he transferred to West Virginia.

Although Daniels started out the season as QB1 for West Virginia, Garrett Greene beat him out for the role in the middle of the 2022 season. Thus, following the 2022 season, Daniels decided to enter the transfer portal yet again.

Daniels transferred to Rice for his final year of college football eligibility. He started for Rice and had a solid season, passing for 2,443 yards and 21 touchdowns before suffering a concussion in a game against SMU. As a result of that concussion and his history, doctors advised Daniels not to play again.

Concussions and Medical Retirement

During his college career, Daniels suffered four concussions, two of which were deemed severe.

As a result of the concussion sustained in the game against SMU, he lost binocular disparity. What is binocular disparity? Relying on a research paper published by the Columbia University Center for Neurobiology and Behavior, Wikipedia provides the following definition of binocular disparity:

Binocular disparity refers to the difference in image location of an object seen by the left and right eyes, resulting from the eyes’ horizontal separation (parallax). The brain uses binocular disparity to extract depth information from the two-dimensional retinal images in stereopsis.

Thus, because of the loss of depth perception Daniels experienced after the concussion he suffered in the game against SMU in 2023, he was unable to drive a car for a month.

Following medical advice, Daniels medically retired from football in December 2023.

Coach Daniels

Shortly after medically retiring, Daniels expressed his desire to get into coaching. He did not have to wait too long for that desire to be fulfilled.

Announcing Daniels’ new coaching gig, The Spun’s Daniel Bates reports:

“Daniels finished his career with the Owls after bouncing around the country with the Trojans, Bulldogs and Mountaineers. In his final college football season in 2023, Daniels … retir[ed] due to head injury concerns.

“While not every stop went as planned, Daniels was always said to have a positive impact in the locker room with his attitude and coachability. He’s also been referred to by [West Virginia sports journalist Mike] Asti as ‘one of the smartest athletes I’ve ever covered…'”

Daniels told ESPN.com:

“I’m definitely excited to get into coaching, that’s for sure. I loved playing. I always knew one day I’d coach. I didn’t think it would come this soon. But one day, I knew that’s what I was going to be doing.”

What a long, strange trip it’s been already for 24-year-old JT Daniels.

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