Former USC, Georgia and West Virginia QB JT Daniels transfers to Rice

JT Daniels has picked his fourth college football team.

Daniels was announced Wednesday as part of the signing class at Rice. Daniels comes to Rice from West Virginia after spending one season in Morgantown.

Daniels’ move means he’s in line to be the Owls’ starting quarterback as they begin their first season in the AAC. Rice is one of six teams moving from Conference USA to the AAC as Cincinnati, Houston and UCF head to the Big 12.

The Owls finished 2022 at 5-8 after losing to Southern Miss in the LendingTree Bowl. Rice got into a bowl game at 5-7, thanks to having the best Academic Progress Rate of any team with five wins.

The 2023 season will be Daniels’ sixth college football season. He began the 2022 season as West Virginia’s starting QB but was replaced for the final two games of the season by Garrett Greene. Daniels was 200-of-327 passing for 2,107 yards, with 13 TDs and nine interceptions.

Daniels came to West Virginia after two seasons at Georgia. After he sat out the beginning of the 2020 season as he continued his recovery from a knee injury, Daniels became Georgia’s starter down the stretch. He threw for 404 yards in a Peach Bowl win over Cincinnati and 299 yards in a blowout win over Missouri in Georgia’s final game of the regular season.

Daniels opened the 2021 season as Georgia’s starter but suffered an oblique injury and then lost the starting job to Stetson Bennett. He played in just two games after September as Georgia went on to win the national title.

In nine games at Georgia, Daniels was 148-of-213 passing for 1,953 yards, with 17 TDs and five interceptions.

Before playing at Georgia, Daniels spent two seasons at USC. He signed with the Trojans out of high school and played in 11 games as a freshman. He started the first game of the 2019 season but suffered a season-ending knee injury in that game. He was replaced by Kedon Slovis and transferred at the end of the season, after Slovis established himself as the starter.

In transferring to Rice, Daniels moves outside of the Power 5 football conferences. Given the new era of transfers in college football, Daniels likely could've been the first player to start at quarterback for four different teams in power conferences.