Is There Beef Between Georgia QB JT Daniels and USC?

Clay Helton reveals his initial reaction to JT Daniels entering the NCAA transfer portal and joining the Georgia Bulldogs.

Claudette Montana Pattison | Jun 3, 2021

USC head coach Clay Helton gets honest about former quarterback JT Daniels' departure to Georgia, and how the transaction went down.

In a recent interview with Dawg Nation, Helton revealed that he was supportive of Daniels' decision to transfer out of USC, after he lost the starting job to Kedon Slovis.

Back in 2018, Daniels stunned USC fans becoming the second quarterback in USC history to start in his first game of his freshman season. The Mater Dei alum finished his freshman campaign throwing 216 completions on 363 attempts [59.5%], 2,672 yards, 14 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. Daniels was poised for a big sophomore year and returned as QB1 in USC's opener against Fresno State. Daniels went 25-of-34 on 215 yards before suffering a season-ending knee injury in the second quarter.

Cue Kedon Slovis, the Arizona native and young freshman rushed onto the field to pick up the pieces after Daniels went down.

If you follow USC football, then you know the rest of the story, Slovis had a stellar 2019 campaign and Daniels chances of returning as QB1 looked slim. Daniels proceeded to enter the NCAA transfer portal and joined the Georgia Bulldogs squad for the following season.

“It was a special situation with Kedon Slovis coming off a season, where he had a dynamic season,” Helton said in an interview with DawgNation. “Obviously those two kids would have competed in the fall for the job, but I didn’t hold it against JT or his family that he wanted to explore."

“So we were right there with the Daniels Family all the way through. They would bounce ideas off me, ‘Coach what do you think of this system, or this opportunity?’

“They found a place that they felt with the timing and the need at Georgia, and the system at Georgia, that the fit for JT was a good one.”[Helton]

“The only recommendation I had, because we had left the door open at USC and wanted him on our football team, we always want good people and good players on the team,” Helton explained, “but when he said, ‘Coach I think I’m going to make this move,’ I said, ‘One of the things JT, make sure when you make that decision you have no regrets, hit it full speed, and don’t look back.’ And I knew he was going to do that. And, wow, what a great job he’s done not only competing at Georgia and winning the job, but now really producing for his team.” [Helton]

Helton has nothing but glowing remarks for Daniels even though he left USC. There is 'no beef' between the two, in-fact Helton emphasized his joy over Daniels' success.

The move to Athens turned out to be a positive one for Daniels, last season the SoCal native threw for 1,231 yards, had 80 completions on 119 attempts, ten touchdowns and two interceptions, and he is already making 2022 Heisman noise.

2022 Heisman Trophy Winner odds (BetOnline):

Spencer Rattler - Oklahoma +500
D.J. Uiagalelei - Clemson +700
Bryce Young - Alabama +700
JT Daniels - Georgia +1200
CJ Stroud - Ohio State +1200
Sam Howell - UNC +1400
D'Eriq King - Miami +1400
Kedon Slovis - USC +1600
— Odds Shark (@OddsShark) June 1, 2021