USC QB JT Daniels out for the season
The knee injury that spoiled sophomore quarterback JT Daniels' 2019 debut will now cost him the rest of his season.
USC coach Clay Helton announced the news Sunday night during his weekly media conference call, confirming what everybody feared when Daniels' right knee twisted awkwardly as he was sacked and fumbled late in the second quarter Saturday against Fresno State.
"I regret to say that after the MRI that JT Daniels did suffer an ACL injury as well as a meniscus tear. That surgery will happen in the upcoming weeks after some rehab and we will lose him for the season," Helton said. "I want to thank JT for the amount of work that he has put in.… It was really so nice to be able to see what he was doing in the first half and the work that he was doing. I thought was playing extremely well in that first half, moving the ball up and down the field."
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Daniels completed 25 of 34 passes for 215 yards, 1 touchdown, 1 interception and that fumble. Both of his turnovers came in the red zone. He also helped lead USC to back-to-back touchdown drives to start the game, and had a TD pass to Michael Pittman waved off by a penalty and a 44-yard connection to Amon-Ra St. Brown also negated by an offensive penalty.
Freshman Kedon Slovis, who beat out veteran QBs Matt Fink and Jack Sears for the backup job in August, took over in the second half and completed 6 of 8 passes for 57 yards and an interception. His 41-yard completion to Tyler Vaughns late in the third quarter set up Vavae Malepeai's 2-yard touchdown run for a 31-13 lead at the time.
The Trojans went conservative following Slovis' subsequent interception on another deep shot and relied on the running game and defense to close out the victory.
Slovis will now have the chance to stake some claim to the job if he performs well -- and stays healthy -- the rest of the way.
"Got all the confidence in the world in his ability, his ability to help our offense move the ball and score and compete against Stanford," Helton said. "... Adversity hits all teams and we look forward to this challenge and watching a really talented kid play on Saturday."
This sets up a tough situation for Daniels upon his recovery, as this was to be a prove-it year for the highly-regarded 5-star prospect after his up-and-down freshman season. Depending on what happens at the position the rest of the way for USC, he won't enter camp as the incumbent next year and will likely also have 4-star 2020 Mater Dei HS commit Bryce Young competing for his spot on the depth chart as well.
This diagnosis was the fear in the moment last night as Daniels immediately grabbed his right knee in obvious pain and remained down for several minutes before being helped off the field, unable to put any weight on that right leg. He returned to the sideline on crutches to support his teammates.
"I talked to him [and his family] late into the evening last night as well as late in the morning hours as he was getting his MRI," Helton said. "… It is a major surgery, it usually is a 9-12 month recovery time to be able to go through. The one silver linining in this is it did happen early in the season. He has not been redshirted, so he can count this as a redshirt year and have three years left.
"He's always been an extremely mentally tough kid and that's what this injury is -- it's more mental than physical. … He's in high spirits. He's just ready to get back on campus and help Kedon get ready for this next game as well as starting his preparation for surgery. … He will be missed, but we will have to move forward. We wish nothing but the best [with his] surgery. We know he's going to be back."