JT Daniels to Tech rumors abound; how the former USC passer can help our QB room

Last season was a rough one for our quarterback room: Alan Bowman decided to redshirt after sustaining a shoulder injury against Arizona, the one drive Jackson Tyner experiment went up in flames, Maverick McIvor had foot surgey and was also out for the year, #ColtGarrettSzn never started and he later skipped town for Angelo State and finally, while Jett Duffey did seem like the light at the end of the tunnel it wasn’t enough to close out tight games and ultimately led to Duffey’s transfer in December.

Now as transfer season starts to ramp up, rumors of JT Daniels, who spent two seasons at USC, one of which with Texas Tech great Graham Harrell and threw for 15 total touchdowns and over 2,800 total passing yards heading to Texas Tech have started to surface. Daniels, who was sidelined for the rest of the 2019 after sustaining a torn meniscus and an injury to his ACL decided to entire the transfer portal after Kedon Slovis took the starting job at USC. All that being said, let’s take a look at how JT Daniels coming to Lubbock helps our team.

On the offensive side of the ball, I’m willing to say Daniels comes in and becomes the de facto starter for three reasons. The first one being that JT Daniels play-making ability is better than Bowman’s. Daniels possesses an incredible ability to move in the pocket and throw receivers open when stuck in tight spots. Secondly. Daniels fits the Yost-Wells offense better where Bowman struggled in the Yost-Wells offense last season. Yes, it was their first year together but it never seemed like Bowman was the guy even going into 2019. The final reason is that Daniels was mentored by possibly the best quarterback in Texas Tech history in Graham Harrell. Daniels transition in style of play from 2018 to 2019, was night and day. He looked more comfortable in the pocket and Daniels was able to get the ball out quicker which seems to be what this new Tech offense thrives on.

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I’m a firm believer that bringing in Daniels will boost offensive production exponentially. Wells and Yost seem to be transitioning into a variation of a run-and-shoot offense with lots of screens, running on early downs, looking to later on open the field to receivers and not a lot of deep routes but plenty of medium crossing routes with an emphasis on the tight end position, and JT Daniels to me absolutely can be the solution that Wells and Yost are looking for in the quarterback room in 2020.