Leavitt: Future Is Bright for Daniels

[Brad]

This should rile up the glare patch crowd: 

Bulls' young qb gaining experience

Leavitt: Future Is Bright for Daniels

By Tom Zebold

THE LEDGER

Published: Wednesday, November 18, 2009 at 3:04 a.m.

Last Modified: Wednesday, November 18, 2009 at 3:10 a.m.

TAMPA | South Florida quarterback B.J. Daniels might be taking his lumps now, but head coach Jim Leavitt thinks the future will be much brighter for the redshirt freshman.

While Daniels started off with road wins over Florida State and Syracuse, he has settled into a 3-3 record in starts since taking over for former Lake Gibson star Matt Grothe, whose senior season ended in USF's third game because of a knee injury.

"He has done an extraordinary job of coming in and leading this offense, in my opinion," Leavitt said Tuesday.

When the Bulls (6-3) win, it's apparent that Daniels has the tools to get it done, and his numbers back it up. In the victories, the dual-threat has averaged 218.3 passing yards, 87 rushing yards and has a 7-to-2 touchdowns-to-interceptions ratio.

"If you put a highlight tape together right now of B.J. Daniels, it would be pretty impressive," Leavitt said.

But when the Bulls have lost, Daniels' numbers have tapered off. The Tallahassee native averages 88 fewer passing yards than when he wins, and his rushing average is 45 yards per game. He's also thrown six interceptions and one touchdown in the losses.

"Overall, I think he's done some really good things," Leavitt said. "We're trying to get a good feel on the whole thing, and that's still moving forward."

What has been helping through Daniels' struggles is his positive and intelligent approach. Win or lose, he's not reading into it much at all.

"I don't go out there and play football and try to please people and get their approval and opinions," he said. "It's something I love to do, and I'm happy and satisfied with this year so far. Hopefully, we can finish out the season strong."

Leavitt pointed out the areas in which Daniels must improve, including making better decisions with the ball and throwing it away when it's necessary. But that will come in time, as it did with Grothe, who took over the starting job as a redshirt freshman in 2006 and went on to become the Big East's career offensive yards leader.

"He's hardheaded like Matt," Leavitt said. "They think they can make every play in the book. Matt was that way, and why? Because sometimes you'd see Matt do some extraordinary things, just like B.J."

Switching over to Daniels is an ongoing process for the Bulls, but Leavitt likes the upside of Daniels, who is gaining more experience with each snap.

"He's just such an explosive player and he's got so much talent," Leavitt said. "I'm really excited about his future. I think it's going to be extraordinary."

Link

[Minotaur]

I'm happy and satisfied with this year so far.

I do think that Daniels will be a big star someday.

[BULLfreak]

[Brad]

Is that Vladdy Putin being blinded by the brightness that is Daniels' future?

[BleedGoldAndGreen]

Is that Vladdy Putin being blinded by the brightness that is Daniels' future?

In (former) Soviet Russia the future blinds YOU!

Or something.

[NormalBull]

It appears to me that Vladdy is surveying the Chernobyl area in that photo.  In fact, that photo will start melting in the next few days....  >

Normal