USC Football: JT Daniels named to Davey O’Brien Award Watch list

USC quarterback JT Daniels continue to receive pre-season recognition. The sophomore quarterback was names to the Davey O’Brien award watch list Tuesday afternoon. The award is handed to the most outstanding quarterback in the nation.

This is the second watch list that Daniels appears on. He was named to the Maxwell Award watch list Monday morning. Although the true sophomore hasn’t officially won the starting quarterback job for the Trojans, he is still receiving some hype coming into the 2019 season.

Daniels freshman season at USC didn’t go quite as planned, passing for 14 touchdowns and 10 interceptions on an offense that struggled to really take off and with little to no identity. Some USC fans felt that it was time for a quarterback change midway through the season. With offensive coordinator Graham Harrell bringing the air raid scheme to USC added with Daniels being a former five star quarterback, many award voters will have their eye on how he can improve next season. However, he must reclaim the starting quarterback job over Matt Fink, Jack Sears, and Kedon Slovis during Fall camp.

Daniels was on of 30 quarterbacks to be named to the list. He was also one of five quarterbacks in the Pac-12 to make the list which includes Stanford’s K.J. Costello, Oregon’s Justin Herbert, Arizona’s Khalil Tate, and Colorado’s Steven Montez. All of which USC will face this season.

The O’Brien award has been handed to the most outstanding quarterback in the nation since 1981. Through that time, no USC quarterback has ever won the award. Todd Marinovic, Rodney Pete, Carson Palmer, and Matt Leinart were finalist for the O’Brien award.