Quarterback JT Daniels transferring from USC to Georgia
Marc Weiszer, Athens Banner-Herald
May 28, 2020

Georgia has seen former five-star quarterbacks transfer out of the program in recent years.

Now, another is on his way to Athens.

JT Daniels, 247Sports Composite’s No. 3 rated quarterback nationally in 2018, announced Thursday that he’s transferring from USC to Georgia.

Daniels was behind only Trevor Lawrence and Justin Fields in the quarterback pecking order in the rankings in 2018. Lawrence won a national title at Clemson in 2018 and Fields was a backup at Georgia behind Jake Fromm before transferring after his freshman season and becoming a Heisman finalist at Ohio State in 2019.

The 6-foot-3, 210-pound Daniels passed for 2,672 yards with 14 touchdowns and 10 interceptions in 2018 while completing 59.5% of his passes as a true freshman.

He didn’t arrive until the summer after reclassifying but became just the second true freshman quarterback in program history to start a season opener. Daniels picked the Trojans over Michigan and Stanford out of Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, California.

Daniels sustained a season-ending right knee injury late in the first half of the opener of the 2019 season against Fresno State, a game in which he went 25 of 34 for 215 yards with a touchdown and interception.

His replacement, Kedon Slovis, passed for 30 touchdowns with 9 interceptions while completing 71.9% of his passes en route to Freshman All-American honors.

Daniels put his name in the transfer portal in mid-April.

“We’d love to have JT on our team, but he’s got a personal decision that he’s going to make and make the best decision for himself,” Trojans coach Clay Helton said on the Rich Eisen show last week, according to USCFootball.com. “He’s been a great teammate, a great student, a great family member to our organization. He’s always going to be granted that opportunity.”

He’s the second quarterback transfer this year for Georgia after the Bulldogs landed graduate transfer Jamie Newman, a possible 2021 NFL first round draft pick who is considered the favorite to start for the Bulldogs this season.

It is unclear if Daniels will be eligible to play this season. He would need a waiver from the NCAA but would have three years of eligibility after his injury.

If nothing else, Daniels brings intrigue for the starting quarterback job beyond this year.

Georgia has a commitment from five-star Brock Vandagriff from Prince Avenue Christian and the Bulldogs current quarterback room also includes redshirt junior Stetson Bennett, redshirt freshman D’Wan Mathis and true freshman Carson Beck.