Greg McElroy: Graham Harrell and JT Daniels can spark WVU offense vs. Pitt in Backyard Brawl

Count Greg McElroy as one of the people who can’t wait to see if JT Daniels can finally realize his potential at West Virginia.

It all begins on Thursday in the “Backyard Brawl” against Pittsburgh, and McElroy believes Daniels’ has one secret weapon that he’ll use to his advantage — Mountaineers offensive coordinator Graham Harrell.

“Graham Harrell was at USC. Previously at North Texas. Previously at Washington State with Mike Leach. He’s an air raid guy. Look at the numbers statistically speaking from USC the last couple of years,” began McElroy. “Now you look at 2019, it was kind of a funky year because JT Daniels got hurt in the first game, Kedon Slovis had a great year but the numbers, really in the last couple years, tell you all you need to know. Last year, USC led the Pac 12 and was 17th nationally in passing offense, but one issue with the air raid system — because they don’t run the football — that red zone offense is usually not quite as good as some of the open field offense. But that wasn’t the case for Graham Harrell.

“Their red zone offense scored at a 92% clip. Which was pretty dang good. They were 20th in 3rd down conversions. They were 24th in total offense, and Drake London — the outstanding wide receiver who became a first round pick — was named the Pac 12 offensive player of the year. Go back to 2020. Passing offense ranked 11th nationally. First in the Pac 12 at 320 yards a game and Kedon Slovis made the All Pac-12 First-Team, while ranking in the top 20 in completions, passing yards, total offense and completion percentage. So if you look at what Graham Harrell has done traditionally over the last couple of years, he knows how to get the most out of his quarterback spot.”

Greg McElory on JT Daniels, West Virginia offense: ‘I think this offense is going to make some noise’

Continuing, McElroy believes the duo will be a perfect fit for the Mountaineers, as he added some praise for Daniels throughout his statement.

“The quarterback that’s taking the reps this year for West Virginia is JT Daniels,” stated McElroy. “He’s no stranger in college football, but his best football might’ve been on display the last four games — we’re going to use that four game cut at Georgia of the 2020 season. He had 80 completions in the four starts, and threw for over 400 yards and four scores against a quality Mississippi State defense. He also went on to play well against Cincinnati, who we all know was a really good team as well that year, they’re in the bowl game. But JT Daniels has had his fair share of issues staying healthy. He’s going to have to be smart this week too, going against a really good Pitt pass rush.

“However, Graham Harrell I don’t think is going to put him in difficult situations. The air raid offense is designed to get the ball out of the quarterback’s hands quickly, and to receivers in space. They’re going to spread the field horizontally, but they’re also going to spread the field vertically, and I think this sets up perfectly for what JT Daniels wants to be. I think this offense is going to make some noise. I really believe it. And they’ll have a great difficult test there in the Backyard Brawl in Week 1.”

As you can see, Greg McElroy believes JT Daniels is in the perfect spot to succeed under Graham Harrell at West Virginia, and he believes the star quarterback can finally realize some of the immense hype he once had.