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JT Daniels on fastest track to number one pick ever?

By Sayre Bedinger

LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 04: Workers put the finishing touch of paint the field at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for the game between the USC Trojans and the Arizona Wildcats on November 4, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - NOVEMBER 04: Workers put the finishing touch of paint the field at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for the game between the USC Trojans and the Arizona Wildcats on November 4, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Getty Images) /
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Could USC Trojans freshman quarterback JT Daniels be on the fastest track possible to number one pick ever in the NFL Draft?

With the departure of Sam Darnold, a top pick of the New York Jets, it’s a new era for USC football and time for another quarterback to take his place on the long list of successful players to play that position.

It’s not unlikely that the player who ends up seizing that role will be 18-year old JT Daniels, who graduated high school a year early to enroll at USC and get started on the next chapter of his football career.

Graduating high school early at Mater Dei in California was an incredible accomplishment for Daniels, who doubled his class schedule and doubled his required community service work in order to qualify for early graduation.

The hard work he put in paid off and Daniels is ready to rock a number 18 jersey with the Trojans this year after throwing 152 touchdowns compared to just 14 interceptions in high school.

After re-classifying and joining the recruiting class of 2018, Daniels vaulted up to the number four overall prospect on Rivals.com, and the number two quarterback prospect in the entire country.

This is a special talent whose impact should be felt sooner rather than later.

He’s on the fast track to football success, having dominated at one of high school football’s highest levels of competition at Mater Dei and now joining the Pac 12, which is always loaded with NFL caliber talent.

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Daniels could win USC’s starting job and hold that role for the next three seasons or more unless he would eventually decide to leave early for the NFL.

This is three years down the road, but it’s not out of the question to think Daniels could be one of the top quarterbacks in the country in 2020, and if that’s the case, he will have the chance to set a new trend for players getting on a fast track to the NFL.

If Daniels would choose to declare for the NFL Draft after his junior season, he would be 20 years old at the time of that decision. That’s not an incredibly uncommon age for players to be drafted, though being 20 years old in the NFL would certainly make him one of the youngest players in the league if that were to be the case.

Sam Darnold was just 20 when he was drafted third overall by the Jets until he turned 21 earlier in the month of June.

Though Daniels wouldn’t necessarily be the youngest player ever drafted, he would certainly have taken the fastest track, graduating high school in three years and leaving college three years later.

This is a situation that has yet to play out, but if things go according to plan for Daniels, he might be a trendsetter for young football players across the country who are willing to put in the extra work.

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