JT Daniels had the best performance for a UGA QB since 2013. Why wait to start him?
As the final seconds ticked off of the clock, Georgia quarterback JT Daniels placed his knee on the turf in victory formation. He dreamed of this moment over the past year-plus while recovering from a torn ACL. He remembers the date he last played, and his next live-action snap resulted in a career game.
He looked up to congratulate his teammates. Suddenly, chants began to echo from the student section and throughout the limited attendance at Sanford Stadium. The Bulldog faithful found their quarterback.
“J-T! J-T! J-T!” the crowd chanted for quite some time.
Daniels brought his California Love to Athens and finally got to display it in the red-and-black. He carried Georgia (5-2) to a 31-24 win over Mississippi State in ways that few would have fathomed. The night-and-day difference from Daniels’ performance and quarterback play over recent weeks became palpable throughout the stadium.
He threw for a career-high 401 passing yards as 98% of Georgia’s yards were through the air. (Yes, that’s with the Bulldogs who are accustomed to the ground-and-pound game.) Daniels threw four touchdowns and put on an air show with numerous passes of 40-plus yards to Jermaine Burton, George Pickens and Kearis Jackson. Daniels carved his spot in program lore already by being the first Georgia quarterback to throw for 400 yards since Aaron Murray in 2013.
“It started to sink in a bit,” said Daniels, who spoke to reporters for the first time Saturday night. “It still hasn’t fully set in that I got to play football again. I’ve felt a lot of gratitude.”
Daniels’ return to the playing field wraps up a 15-month journey while recovering through injury. He suffered a torn ACL as a Southern Cal Trojan during the 2019 opener at Fresno State. Daniels had a more minor procedure on his knee this past December, which delayed progress. He then transferred to Georgia, received immediate eligibility to play and found himself on the bench after being cleared for contact.
In the seventh game of Georgia’s shortened season, the new, moustached QB set the Bulldogs’ offense on fire. So, why did the Bulldogs’ offensive staff wait and start a former walk-on in Stetson Bennett over him?
The quarterback room inside Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall has taken the narrative of a complex relationship. It’s rather complicated.
Daniels split the first-team reps with D’Wan Mathis in fall camp after Jamie Newman opted out and delivered a hit to a position that had an embarrassment of riches. Daniels hadn’t yet shed the knee brace, however, and struggled in practice. Offensive guard Jamaree Salyer called the third-down defense “hell on wheels,” and Smart indicated that Daniels’ mobility and decision-making lacked.
Georgia had the issue of finding its starting quarterback while the cloud of awaiting clearance hung over Daniels. Mathis became the No. 1 option to open the season, because Smart and offensive coordinator Todd Monken felt like “having a running quarterback would help you.” It became the Mathis-turned-Bennett quarterback show and Smart thought his answer rested in Bennett, the feel-good story from small-town Blackshear.
“I was not cleared for the Arkansas game,” Daniels said Saturday. “Other than that, it was coach decision-based. I did not look into it as ‘something happened to me.’ It was all coach Smart’s decision.”
Over that period of time, Smart dodged questions about Daniels and the health of his knee. The perception of the injury changed after getting a first-hand account of the recovery from Daniels on Saturday night. He was healthy. He could have played. But was Daniels at full ability with his repaired knee? Maybe not.
The argument could be made that a version of Daniels at 85% or so is equal to or better than a Mathis or Bennett at full strength. Georgia didn’t see it that way. Smart doubled down on his remark that Bennett “gave us the best chance to win” over that period. Daniels, meanwhile, pleaded to work on the scout team in practice to get more live reps and gain trust in his knee.
“I was ready to go out and play football as soon as I was cleared,” Daniels said. “It absolutely should be said that I have progressed a good amount since then. We’re still progressing every week to try and get full strength back there.”
Daniels finds himself in a spot where it doesn’t “feel like I could hurt it again,” he said. It took some time to get there. He will take control of Georgia’s offense for the season’s final three games — against South Carolina, Vanderbilt and Missouri. Up to this point, however, Smart doesn’t regret how he and his staff chose to manage the quarterback position.
Georgia leaned toward making the change after Bennett struggled in the second half at Alabama. Daniels got more reps during the bye week before the Kentucky game, and Smart noticed progression in his ability to lead Georgia’s offense. But yet again, the Bulldogs opted to go with Bennett until he suffered an AC sprain at Florida.
At that point, health became less of an issue and the coach’s decisions stepped to the forefront.
“I also think people should take into consideration that I have been coaching football for 20 or 25 years,” Smart said when asked if he understands the fan base’s complaint. “Maybe the question should be, ‘Man, aren’t they glad they got JT here when nobody thought they needed him?’ Would I have loved for him to go out there and do the same thing against other teams? Absolutely. Our decisions were made based on giving us the best opportunity to win. A lot of that had to do with mobility and Stetson’s play.”
Once Georgia returned from Jacksonville, its season looked vastly different. A Smart-led team hadn’t controlled its own destiny for the College Football Playoff for the first time since 2016. The desires for success with the quarterback situation quickly faded. Georgia needed an answer, to compete for a prominent bowl berth and look at what’s available at the QB spot for the 2021 season.
Daniels became a legitimate choice at that point. Georgia had No. 18 stashed away and knew it was time to turn to the former five-star prospect. Smart spoke to him about the possibility, and Daniels said it was finalized this past Monday prior to Mississippi State. Daniels prepared to start at Missouri too, Smart said, before the original Nov. 14 date got postponed.
“He was very adamant that he was confident in his knee and ready to go,” Smart said. “He said he could make the throws, make the decisions and do things that weren’t getting done in terms of accuracy. He has extreme confidence in himself and that’s important.”
Once Daniels got his shot, he took Georgia’s offense to a new level. Smart remained persistent throughout the season on the unit meeting its potential and scoring points in bunches. It found the right signal caller to execute it. Daniels gave the Bulldogs abilities that a Bennett-led offense lacked.
He found a vertical passing game. He spotted and accurately hit receivers at a 28-for-38 clip that could’ve been higher without a few drops.
He reinvigorated a unit that had been stagnant and lacked identity.
Daniels surpassed expectations.
To be fair, Daniels won’t have opportunities each week to throw 38 passes and throw for 400 yards. Those results were largely based on how Mississippi State chose to defend Georgia.
Nonetheless, those echoing chants of “J-T, J-T, J-T” brought a dreamlike scenario to Sanford Stadium for Daniels.
And the same for Georgia, too, as it means an answer at quarterback has been found. Now we know why it happened a bit late.
“I don’t want to demean how he played. He played unbelievable,” Smart said. “I am proud as hell of the way he played.”