Dane Stevens & JT Daniels Reunite at West Georgia

On January 18 head football coach Joel Taylor announced the hiring of Dane Stevens as the University of West Georgia football program’s offensive coordinator.

“Dane is one of the bright young minds in this profession and I’m excited to have him run our offense, and I know it will be fun to watch,” said Taylor. “His passion and enthusiasm will show up in how our kids play. The Wolves will run fast on offense!”
 
Stevens returns to his home state after stops a USC and Ole Miss.
 
“I’m so excited to be a part of the West Georgia family and to join Coach Taylor’s staff,” said Stevens. “I believe this is a special place with unlimited potential and we’re going to bring an exciting brand of offense with a simple philosophy. All gas, no brakes.”

Although he started his coaching career working with the tight ends as a GA in 2017, Stevens worked with the USC quarterbacks from 2018-2021 helping develop the likes of JT Daniels, Kedon Slovis and Miller Moss.

Slovis will get selected in this year’s NFL Draft and Dart is a projected high end NFL Prospect for 2025. Moss will likely be playing in the NFL at some point in the next two years as well.

“He’s a bright dude who definitely understands offense,” said Moss about Stevens.

Dane & Daniels reunite at West Georgia

JT Daniels graduated from Mater Dei a year early and was thought of as a potential three and out player, but after six seasons that culminated at Rice in Houston (TX), Daniels was forced to medically retire after suffering multiple concussions.

The timing of Daniels’ retirement from football and Stevens hiring as the University of West Georgia offensive coordinator, was perfect in reuniting the two. Daniels has joined the West Georgia staff in an off-field role. He will work with the quarterbacks.

Despite Daniels playing for several collegiate offensive coordinators and head coaches, we doubt there have been bigger influences on him as a football player/quarterback than former Mater Dei OC Dave Money. Money was thought of as one of the most impressive offensive coordinators in the game, regardless of the level.

We also know former Monarch head coach Bruce Rollinson was a huge influence on Daniels, but so was longtime QB coach Jordan Palmer.

On a personal level, this is very exciting for me to see how these two impressive young coaches do in Carrollton (GA). By the way, they’re down the street from Julian “JuJu” Lewis and Carrollton HS. I’m a huge fan of both…as coaches and people.

Fun Fact: JT Daniels most productive season as a collegiate quarterback was as a USC Trojan true freshman in 2018. While appearing in and starting 11 games (all but Arizona State, which he missed after suffering a concussion at Utah), Daniels hit 216-of-363 passes (59.5%) for 2,672 yards with 14 TDs and 10 interceptions.

More on Stevens

For the past two seasons, Stevens worked for Lane Kiffin at Ole Miss, serving as a senior analyst and assistant quarterbacks coach for the Rebels. In his two seasons in Oxford, the Rebels went a combined 19-7 including this season’s 11-2 mark that featured a Peach Bowl victory.
 
Stevens was instrumental in the development of Ole Miss QB Jaxson Dart who threw for over 3,300 yards in 2023 with 23 touchdowns and just five interceptions. He also worked extensively with Dart at USC during the 2021 season when Graham Harrell was the offensive coordinator.
 
At USC, Stevens began as a student assistant under Steve Sarkisian and then became a graduate assistant at his alma mater under Clay Helton. He eventually became an analyst for his final two seasons with the Trojans.

Stevens the recruiter

Everyone who’s really good at recruiting and sustains a level of success with recruiting at all coaching stops, is very good at developing relationships. Stevens definitely possesses that skill. In 2022, USC had a large number of elite prospects from Georgia visit. In fact, USC had a great shot with several of them, even gaining a commitment from DL Mykel Williams from Columbus.

In June of 2021 USC hosted Williams, DL Christian Miller, OL Addison Nichols, OL Elijah Pritchett and WR Kojo Antwi. None of them ended up Trojans, yet, but Stevens was a primary reason they visited and had serious interest in USC. Obviously USC had a disastrous 2021 season the prompted the firing of Helton…..and the hiring of Lincoln Riley.

Stevens departed after the February signing period in 2022. He was one of the last members of Helton’s staff to leave.

USC alum Dane Stevens

Stevens spent one season as a player at USC before medically retiring and beginning his coaching career. He earned his bachelor’s degree from USC in social sciences in 2016 and then earned a master’s in communication management, also from USC.

He was named a USC offensive quality control analyst in 2020 after spending the previous 3 seasons (2017-19) as a graduate assistant at USC. Stevens worked with the quarterbacks in 2018 and 2019 after a season with the tight ends.