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Former Georgia QB JT Daniels shows out for West Virginia in Backyard Brawl

Palmber-Thombsby:Palmer Thombs•09/01/22•

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J.T. Daniels. (Photo by Justin Berl/Getty Images)

Week One of College Football season is officially underway after Thursday night. And despite the disappointing outcome for West Virginia in a 38-31 Backyard Brawl loss to Pittsburgh, former Georgia quarterback JT Daniels‘ talent was on full display.

Daniels, who started seven games in his Bulldog career before entering the transfer portal in January, threw for 214 yards and two touchdowns on 23-of-39 passing while adding another score on the ground with a quarterback sneak. The rushing score was the first of his collegiate career and gave West Virginia the lead. However, after Pitt tied the game up and gave the ball back to Daniels and the West Virginia offense with under 4:00 to play, he was intercepted on a pass intended for his leading receiver on the night, Bryce Ford-Wheaton, as the wide open West Virginia pass catcher saw the ball go off of his hands, into those of the defender and returned 56 yards for the game-winning score.

Daniels got the night going in style for the Mountaineers. On the first drive, he bobbled the shotgun snap but was able to regain possession and make a play. Here’s a look at the 22-yard completion to Ford-Wheaton that got West Virginia into Pittsburgh territory for the first time. A false start penalty later in the drive and another poor snap that Daniels had to fall on cost the Mountaineers a chance to go get on the board first.

West Virginia was able to score the game’s first touchdown though. Trailing 3-0 early in the second quarter, offensive coordinator Graham Harrell, who was Daniel’s OC for one game at USC before he got hurt and eventually transferred, decided it was time to go up tempo. After CJ Donaldson got the Mountaineers to the Pitt 10, Daniels completed his first touchdown pass in a West Virginia uniform with a nice ball to Ford-Wheaton.

Those two connected for another touchdown later in the game, this time on the first play of the fourth quarter. Coming out of the break, Daniels took a shot to the end zone where Ford-Wheaton made another great play on the ball. That score tied things up at 24. On the next drive, Daniels found the end zone once again, this time pushing himself in on the QB sneak.

Daniels and company made things interesting moving deep into Pitt territory but a pair of sacks where Daniels was left with much to do pushed the Mountaineers back and left them with a 4th and 16 to convert to keep the game alive. Daniels’ pass attempt on fourth down to Reese Smith was initially called complete and inside the 5-yard-line but was eventually overturned, turning the ball over on downs.

This was Daniels’ first start since September 25th of last season against Vanderbilt. The Irvine, Calif. native started four games at Georgia in 2020, taking over for an injured Stetson Bennett late in that season and leading the Bulldogs to a 4-0 finish including a Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl victory over a top-10 Cincinnati team. He kept the starting job into 2021, guided Georgia to a win over Clemson in the opener but missed the second game due to injury, returned for two before being sidelined once again, opening the door for Bennett to take control of the starting spot and run with it. Daniels made appearances against Missouri, Charleston Southern and Georgia Tech after returning from injury, going a combined 14-of-23 for 155 yards, two touchdowns and one interception in the three outings. Overall on his UGA career, Daniels totaled 1,953 yards and 17 touchdowns on 148 completions.

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