ATHENS – JT Daniels has rid himself of that pencil-thin mustache. That was big news in the SEC, or at least it was to Marty Smith and Ryan McGee of the SEC Network’s show, “Marty & McGee.”
They’re the only media to have interviewed Daniels since his scintillating season debut as Georgia’s quarterback against Mississippi State on Nov. 21. Daniels played another game since then, the next week against South Carolina. But that was a relatively quiet performance for Daniels, as the Bulldogs mostly kept the ball on the ground to the tune of 332 yards rushing in a 45-16 victory.
Somewhere between that first game and the one the No. 9 Bulldogs will play at noon Saturday against No. 25 Missouri, Daniels lost the mustache. McGee made a point of getting the bottom of that development as Daniels was interviewed remotely from Georgia’s football complex.
“I knew that’d come back to haunt me,” the clean-shaven Daniels said with a laugh. “So, it’s funny, every year with my roster picture since I’ve been in college, I always played a little joke with it. My freshman year I looked like Johnny Depp from ‘Pirates of the Caribbean.’ You can go back and see it. I’ve got a headband on, got the goatee, got my hair a little longer. This year, I went for more of Uncle Rico from ‘Napoleon Dynamite.’ I think we hit it pretty well.”
McGee and Smith argued that his previous look was more Doc Holliday from the movie “Tombstone,” which Daniels said he hasn’t seen.
The truth is, beyond having a sense of humor and being a bit of a prankster, we still know very little about Daniels. We believe that the 6-foot-3, 210-pound sophomore is a better passer and overall quarterback than the ones taking snaps for the Bulldogs previously. But we can’t be entirely sure based on the sample-size and competition to date.
We ought to know much more about Daniels after Saturday’s confrontation in Missouri. The Tigers (5-3) should provide a more representative test for both Daniels and Georgia’s offense under his guidance – a Top 25 team that has won five of its past six games and will be highly motivated to knock off a top-10 opponent and move ahead of the Bulldogs (6-2) into second place in the SEC’s Eastern Division.
Also, Missouri’s defense will be the best overall group Georgia has faced since playing No. 6 Florida in Jacksonville on Nov. 7. The Tigers rank 49th nationally in total defense, or fourth among SEC teams. That the Bulldogs will be facing them on the road in extremely cold conditions that may include precipitation will only add to the challenge.
Everyone definitely should know more about Daniels after this one.
“I’ve told people all week, this is probably the game we see the most balance we’ve seen out of Georgia,” said SEC Network analyst DJ Shockley, who called Missouri’s last game and will be in the booth for Saturday’s game as well. “It has to be, because this is a Missouri defense that’s good against the rush and the pass. They play a lot of man coverage, they like to get in the face of the receivers, they change up their looks. There are going to be a lot of things JT has to worry about from pre-snap to post-snap, and he’s going to have to be good.”
Daniels has been very good so far. Right out of the box he gave the Bulldogs their first performance of 400-plus yards passing since 2013, with 401 yards and four touchdowns in a 31-24 win over Mississippi State on Nov. 21. He followed that with 139 yards and two touchdowns against South Carolina. Daniels threw his first interception as Georgia’s quarterback in that game.
Daniels headed to Missouri completing 70.4 percent of his passes. He has been particularly effective on third downs, when he’s 11-of-12 passing for 150 yards and four scores.
But those numbers were produced against defenses that ranked 111th and 95th against the pass. Missouri comes in ranked 65th (233 ypg). Meanwhile, the Tigers also are exceptionally aggressive on defense. Defensive coordinator Ryan Walters is a holdover from Barry Odom’s staff, and he ascribes to the school’s tradition of forcing the action through pressuring the quarterback and mixing up fronts and coverages.
Missouri also features one of the better linebackers in the SEC. Junior Nick Bolton leads the team with 80 tackles and has two sacks.
If there’s an area in which Daniels needs to show improvement, it’s in avoiding the sack. He has been dropped five times in two games.
“Pocket presence is the No. 1 thing that I’ll be looking for in this ballgame,” Shockley said of Daniels. “How he moves, how he sees stuff inside the pocket. Because they’re going to force the issue a little bit. This is an aggressive style that Missouri plays, so we’ll see if he can make the same kind of plays he made the first couple of weeks.”
Missouri’s aggression will bring with it one-on-one coverage situations of which Georgia’s wideouts will be looking to take advantage. The Tigers also are down two starters on defense. Cornerback Jarvis Ware is out this week because of injury – leaving Missouri with freshmen starters at each corner position – and senior outside linebacker Tre Williams opted out earlier this week.
Provided Georgia’s line can provide protection, and Daniels can keep his eyes downfield, receivers Jermaine Burton, Kearis Jackson and George Pickens should have plenty of deep-ball chances awaiting them.
“The receivers are going to have to win,” Shockley said. “It’s not going to be as easy as it was against Mississippi State when they were playing zero coverage on third-and-20, and you could just throw it over the top. It’s going to be different with Missouri.”
We know this: Georgia is different with Daniels at the controls. The Bulldogs’ receivers were getting open deep before Daniels took over, but often weren’t getting the ball delivered on time or on target. So far, at least, Daniels has been on time and on target more often than not.
Daniels is 7-of-13 on passes attempted 20 or more yards downfield. The Bulldogs were 8-of-32 in that category before Daniels took over.
The Tigers have taken notice.
“Now they’ve got a triggerman,” Missouri’s Walters said this week.
Or a Doc Holliday, some might say.
About the Author
