USA Today: Daniels goes from understudy to starter for South Florida

[USFishin]

Daniels goes from understudy to starter for South Florida

By **** Patrick, USA TODAY

The quarterback plan at South Florida was for B.J. Daniels to be the understudy to Matt Grothe, a fifth-year senior who this year became the Big East Conference's career leader in total offense. The coaching staff created some packages for Daniels, who also figured to play in blowouts.

"I was trying to keep as many hits off Matt as possible," said USF offensive coordinator Mike Canales. "Get (Daniels) on the field some way, some how."

The No. 21 Bulls (5-0, 1-0 Big East) are on plan B now, heading into tonight's Big East showdown against visiting No. 9 Cincinnati (5-0, 1-0). Daniels, a redshirt freshman, became the starter after Grothe tore a ligament in his left knee during the third game of the season.

In his first start, Daniels returned to his hometown of Tallahassee and led the Bulls to a 17-7 win against Florida State — USF's first win against a Florida power — by accounting for 341 of the team's 368 yards and throwing two TD passes.

It might be too early to say a star was born, but that is what is expected of Daniels, a two-sport star in high school who is also a reserve point guard for the USF basketball team.

"He's athletic; he's very mobile," said offensive coordinator Mike Canales of the 6-1, 210-pound Daniels. "Some kids get labeled: 'He's an athlete.' He's a quarterback. The kid spends as much time as anyone I've been around in the film room for preparation, trying to get better and do all the right things."

Daniels is getting plenty of tutoring from Grothe, responsible for 10,875 yards in total offense and 75 TDs rushing and passing in his career, and Canales. Daniels has long specialized in the big play. Last year the Bulls' longest play was 47 yards. This year they have seven plays of 50-plus yards, four of them Daniels passes.

"His arm is extremely strong," Canales said. "He can make a lot of the throws maybe Matt couldn't make down the field. He creates the big-play possibility, passing the ball down the field. He's elusive much like Matt was but is probably a little quicker. Those are the things you saw when we were recruiting him and when he played."

Asked the best part of becoming the starter, Daniels, who played in two games last year before a wrist injury ended his season, replied, "Knowing I'm the guy now, I guess. Knowing I'm going to play. It's pretty exciting when you get to face all these teams I used to watch on TV."

Growing up in Tallahassee, Daniels enjoyed watching FSU quarterback/point guard Charlie Ward, though he wasn't particularly a Seminoles fan. He doesn't mind comparisons to Michael Vick.

"As far as my style, if we have 10 plays called, I at least want to throw on seven of the 10," Daniels said. "I can run, but running's not the favorite thing I do. I love to sit back there and pass all day.

"I love to get the ball into athletes' and receivers' hands. I'd rather watch them make plays. As a quarterback, it's my job to spread the ball around and manage the game."

For the season, Daniels has completed 32 of 56 passing attempts (57.1%) for 602 yards with six touchdowns and two interceptions. In the two weeks since the team last played, going 4-for-12 on third-down conversions against Syracuse, Canales has been drilling Daniels on recognizing defenses.

"We need to work hard on staying with the scheme," Canales said. "A couple times he got out of the scheme and tried to make something big happen. We had guys open and he came off his keys, reads. I'm having him identify his key and read pre-snap on seven-on-seven (drills) so he can focus on what his key is and the progression of reads. We broke down film so he could see it. He'd doing a much better job of it."

When he recruited Daniels, Canales noticed something beyond big-play ability: "It was how he handled himself and the players around him. You saw the intangibles you want in a leader. All the vibes were, 'I can help. I want to make us better. I'm a team guy because that's the most important part if we're going to continue to win.' "

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[BullMedic]

Great story, and great to see from a national paper

[SRQ]

ifhe can handle this hype, he'll be great