Freshman JT Daniels named USC’s starting quarterback

The wait is finally over.

After weeks of deliberation about who would be USC’s starting quarterback on Week 1 vs. UNLV, coach Clay Helton finally cleared up what we all thought all along.

True freshman JT Daniels, who should be preparing to face La Mirada High instead of UNLV right now, has won the starting quarterback job for the Trojans football team.

“We had a very healthy quarterback competition this year with four incredible young men. All are tremendous people, teammates and football players,” Helton said in a statement, per Reign of Troy.

“In the end, JT Daniels has earned the starting position and will be the starter against UNLV. As you can imagine JT was excited when we let him know, but his uncanny maturity kept him focused on what is next.”

Since the start of Fall Camp, Daniels was competing with redshirt sophomore Matt Fink and redshirt freshman Jack Sears for one of the most coveted positions in college football. But it’s been made evident all throughout that Daniels’ poise and confidence, added to his skillset, ultimately overshadowed the potential Fink and Sears displayed.

Daniels himself made it clear that he was gunning for the starting job when he announced he was forgoing his senior year of high school to enroll early at USC.

He threw for 4,123 yards and 52 touchdowns en route to leading the Monarchs to an CIF Southern Section and State championship.

The announcement of Daniels being named the starter also highlights the fact that Daniels is the latest Mater Dei product to start for the Trojans as a true freshman. Matt Barkley did so in 2009 and went on to have a stellar career for the Trojans.

Trojans fans are hoping that Daniels can lead the team to college football’s Mount Everest the way one former Monarch, Matt Leinart, did back in 2003 and ‘04.