USC's JT Daniels Enters Transfer Portal

JT Daniels was anointed a star before he even stepped onto USC's campus. Now his name is in the transfer portal after two years with the Trojans.

After lighting up the competition as the starting quarterback at California high school football powerhouse Mater Dei, Daniels left a year early to enroll at USC. A five-star prospect, Daniels immediately won the starting job as a freshman. While his results were up and down, that was expected considering his youth, the competition level, and USC's major offensive struggles as a whole.

Entering his sophomore season, Daniels was hyped like crazy. With offensive coordinator Graham Harrell bringing the Air Raid offense with him to USC, much was expected from Daniels. Unfortunately he only played one half of football. In USC's 2019 opener against Fresno State, Daniels tore his ACL and meniscus, missing the rest of the season. While he sat on the sidelines, true freshman Kedon Slovis lit up the Pac-12, throwing for 3,500 yards and 30 touchdowns.

Entering the 2020 season, USC's starting quarterback job belonged to Slovis. He clearly won that right in 2020 and the sky is the limit for what he can do at the position. That leaves Daniels without a spot.

As a freshman in 2018, Daniels completed 59.5 percent of his passes for 2,672 yards with 14 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. During his lone half of football in 2019, he went 25-of-34 (73.5 percent) for 215 yards, with a touchdown and an interception. None of those numbers mean much, but it's safe to say Daniels has a ton of ability and will be highly sought-after as a transfer.

He'll likely have to sit out a year wherever he goes (should he choose to leave after testing the waters) but that would give him time to continue the recovery from his knee injury.