Western Kentucky a dark horse candidate for JT Daniels
USC quarterback JT Daniels entered the transfer portal on Thursday and while many expect him to end up at another power five program, there is one dark horse group-of-five school that is being mentioned among sports media members - Western Kentucky.
The connections are there.
Western Kentucky head coach Tyson Helton served as quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator under his brother, USC head coach Clay Helton, from 2016-17.
While Tyson never coached Daniels in college, leaving USC to become Tennessee's offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in 2018. Helton was involved in the recruiting process of the former five-star prospect and obviously knows Daniels and his family.
Current Western Kentucky quarterbacks coach and co-offensive coordinator Bryan Ellis is even more familiar with Daniels, serving as his position coach during his freshman season at USC.
While numerous power five programs will be clamoring to get Daniels, the question regarding Western Kentucky will be if Daniels is willing to accept transferring to a "lower profile" program and not being in the weekly spotlight of a national television schedule.
Another scenario to keep an eye on will be the May 20th vote on the proposed new NCAA transfer rule. If passed, it would allow student-athletes to transfer once without sitting out for a season. That could essentially allow Daniels to be immediately eligible to play in the 2020 season.
AS A RECRUIT:
Daniels had his list of offers coast-to-coast and committed to USC over Michigan, Stanford, and Washington. Daniels was the No. 1 overall player in the Class of 2019, only to reclassify following his junior season, mainly because of the Trojans need for a quarterback.He again won the starting job last August and completed 25 of 34 passes for 215 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT in the opener last season against Fresno State before sustaining a season-ending torn ACL and meniscus in his knee.
AT USC:
Daniels won the starting job as a freshman and stepped right into the lineup, having an up-and-down freshman year finishing with 2,672 yards, 14 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. With a new offense in place for the 2019 season, Daniels was expected to have a breakout year, but was injured Week 1 and missed the rest of the season. He was replaced by Kedon Slovis, who had a terrific season. After initially looking he would return and compete with Slovis for the starting job, USC announced Daniels would be entering the portal and he officially did on Thursday.
**Mike Farrell and Woody Wommack contributed to this article**