Neal Brown Explains Decision to Name JT Daniels QB1

West Virginia has its starting quarterback.

Monday afternoon, WVU head coach Neal Brown finally revealed the worst kept secret in college football that JT Daniels will be the team's starting quarterback when they take the field against Pitt at Acrisure Stadium on Thursday.

"JT earned the right to start. He'll be our starting quarterback," said Brown. "Really decision-making is kind of what won that job for him. He's [got] full trust [from] players, staff. I have a lot of confidence in him in how he'll perform in the opener."

Although it seemed inevitable that Daniels would win the job, Brown wanted to let the competition play out and give all four guys an opportunity to win it.

"The quarterback competition, it went on for the first two weeks for camp and it came down to looking at all scoring drives, completion percentage, decision-making. All four of the guys had equal opportunity and over the course of the little over two weeks and two scrimmages, it was clear that JT had earned the right. And the battle for the backup is ongoing."

As Brown has stated before, Daniels is in a much better situation than most transfer quarterbacks solely based on his prior relationship with offensive coordinator Graham Harrell. The familiarity of his system, verbiage, etc. will allow for a much smoother transition. 

"For JT, it's going to be his first game here. The positive is it's his 17th or 18th start at the Power Five level, so this isn't something that's new for him. He's played in big games so I don't think the atmosphere is going to rattle him. As far as things he does well, he's really accurate with the football. He's thrown the ball downfield at a high completion percentage throughout camp. The one thing about JT is, he's really even-keel. He doesn't get too high or too low."

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