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Pete ThamelESPN
Well-traveled quarterback JT Daniels has committed to transfer to Rice, multiple sources told ESPN.
Daniels, a former national high school player of the year, will move to his fourth college home. He has played at USC, Georgia and West Virginia, where he has combined to go 17-12 as a starter.
The appeal of playing in a pro-style system at Rice under head coach Mike Bloomgren and offensive coordinator Marques Tuiasosopo proved appealing to Daniels, according to sources.
There’s a familiarity with Daniels and Bloomgren, who began recruiting Daniels when he was a high school freshman in 2015. Back then, Bloomgren served as Stanford’s offensive coordinator. Bloomgren also attempted to recruit Daniels to Rice the previous two times he transferred. Tuiasosopo also recruited Daniels while Tuiasosopo was an assistant at multiple schools in the Pac-12.
Daniels started 10 games for West Virginia last year, as he threw for 2,107 yards and 13 touchdowns. At Georgia, where he won a national title, Daniels went 3-0 as a starter during the Bulldogs national title season in 2021, including the season-opening win over Clemson.
Daniels has been a generally productive player in college, as he’s thrown for 6,947 total yards and 45 touchdowns. After a breakout true freshman season at USC in 2018 throwin for 2,672 yards, injuries derailed each of his next three seasons.
The move should prove a boon to Rice, as Daniels is the highest-rated recruit to play there since ESPN began recruiting rankings in 2006, according to ESPN Stats & Information. Daniels was ESPN’s No. 64 overall recruit in 2018.
Rice has also struggled to find consistency at the quarterback position, as Rice has started five different quarterbacks the past two years. None posted a QBR higher than 47 and had a combined completion percentage of 59-percent, per ESPN Stats & Info. For his career, Daniels has a total QBR of 70 and has completed 63-percent of his passes.
Rice projects to return starters at every position other than quarterback and center. That includes star receiver Luke McCaffery, who projects as the program’s top offensive target after 723 yards receiving this year. He’s the younger brother of former Stanford star Christian McCaffery.
Daniels will arrive with a 2023 recruiting class that is considered the best in school history, with talent uptick indicative of the increased competition that comes with Rice jumping from Conference USA to the American Athletic Conference in 2023.
Rice is coming off the school’s first bowl game since 2014 and just the 13th bowl game in more than a century of football.