Three Reasons Why West Virginia is Receiving No Love Despite Addition of JT Daniels
Once West Virginia landed former Georgia quarterback JT Daniels via the transfer portal, expectations for this Mountaineer team went to a whole new level. Well, that's from the fan base at least. For a variety of reasons, there is still little to no trust in the Mountaineers heading into the 2022 season despite the arrival of Daniels.
Why so? Here are a few reasons that might be scaring folks off of jumping on the WVU bandwagon.
Uncertainty with Daniels's health
Injuries have held JT Daniels back from being the player everyone expected him to be when he came out of Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, California. He won the starting job as a true freshman at USC, becoming the first player to do so since Matt Barkley did it back in 2009. He put together a solid season throwing for 2,672 yards, 14 touchdowns, and 10 interceptions. Heading into his sophomore year, many pegged him as a candidate for the Heisman Trophy award believing that he would take that next step in his development. Unfortunately, he suffered a season-ending knee injury in a non-conference game against Fresno State.
Freshman Kedon Slovis took over the job and put up unreal numbers and at that point, Daniels felt like it was best for him to move on which led him to Georgia. There, the injuries followed him as he dealt with oblique and lat injuries in addition to battling mental health issues. Daniels's last start would come against South Carolina in mid-September, a game in which he threw for 303 yards and three touchdowns. Former walk-on Stetson Bennett took over while Daniels recovered from injuries and led the team to a national championship.
There has never been a question about JT Daniels as far as talent is concerned. It's always been about his health. As they always say, your best ability is your availability. Given the history of his injuries, it could be a big reason why the national media isn't buying high on West Virginia in 2022.
Lack of trust in Neal Brown from national media
Much of the local media understands all of the difficulties that Neal Brown has had to deal with since coming to Morgantown, but the perception from the outside appears to be much different. With a 17-18 record in three seasons at West Virginia, Brown hasn't exactly turned the program around and to be honest, doesn't have any signature wins yet. Because of that, folks on the outside don't believe he can lead this team to the top of the Big 12 or at least compete for a spot at the top of the conference.
I would argue that the overall talent and depth of his roster hasn't afforded him the chance to be truly successful in his first three years on the job. This year is a little bit different. Sure, they are still low on numbers at a few spots but when you take a 50,000-foot view of the roster, it's the best he's had thus far.
Talent aside, what I think will turn out to be the biggest addition for him is the hiring of new offensive coordinator Graham Harrell. After three years, the offense lacked firepower and more importantly, an identity. A new voice was needed and by going out and getting Harrell, it should allow Neal to oversee the entire operation rather than have his hands all over the offense plus a million other things.
Challenging schedule
Once again, the Mountaineers will be playing 11 of its 12 games against Power Five opponents. This has become a reoccurring theme for WVU which most fans don't mind because it gives them the opportunity to see rivalries such as the Backyard Brawl and the battle for the Black Diamond Trophy reignited.
As entertaining as those games will be, it won't make it any easier to get to bowl eligibility. The only sure wins on the schedule are Towson and Kansas which just so happen to be in between the games against Pitt and Virginia Tech. From October on, it's a gauntlet.
Some may view that challenging start to the year as something that could have WVU struggling to find confidence early on. Their first two games they play when they start the meat of their conference schedule will be on the road at Texas and home against Baylor. If they lose those two, it could put them in a hole early on.
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