Bellevue High Back Goes from Ball Boy to Budda Baker Believer
Ishaan Daniels was a fixture on the Bellevue High sideline long before he donned the ever-present maize and blue helmet.
As a ball boy, he was there when the Wolverines won 67 consecutive games before finally losing in the 2014 state championship game.
Daniels saw a lot of the great ones up close, especially the greatest one.
"I used to be the ball boy when Budda Baker was there," he said. "I used to hang around him a lot."
Daniels is a sophomore two-way back, similar in use to Baker, off to a good start in his football career as Bellevue tries to return to greatness in Seattle suburbs.
"We have a long way to go," he said. "But we're definitely headed in the right direction."
While Daniels envisions his future as a defensive back, the 5-foot-11 and 155-pounder is also an offensive threat. In Bellevue's 58-15 victory over Skyline, Daniels provided 110 yards rushing and 2 rushing touchdowns, including a 44-yard scoring run. On the other side of the ball, he had 4 tackles and 3 pass breakups.
Daniels had the opportunity to play elsewhere, at Seattle Prep, but he chose to stay home.
"Bellevue is the right fit for me," he said. "I've been here my whole life. All of my friends are here."
He's not against someday playing at the University of Washington, such as Baker did. His family has had season tickets.
Nobody wears Baker's No. 32 jersey at Bellevue these days.
In unique arrangement, Daniels wears No. 3 in the blue jersey for home games and No. 1 in white on the road. It's because Seahawks QB Russell Wilson signed the white jersey for the school, making it untouchable for now.
While the Daniels is a big Wilson fan, it's his time spent with Budda Baker that gets him out of bed in the morning.
"It was cool to just watch him ball out," Daniels said. "It inspires me to keep grinding like him and maybe I can follow in his footsteps."
As he and his teammates push to restore Bellevue as a state power, Daniels is guided by Baker's work ethic and words. He liked how humble the defensive back was in going from Bellevue to the University of Washington to the Arizona Cardinals, where he is considered the NFL's top safety.
Baker always had time to answer questions from Daniels and tell him how to better himself.
"Keep working," Baker told him. "If you put effort into the sport, you can become great at it."
From ball boy to big-play Wolverine, Daniels hears him every step of the way.