Here’s some of what Athlon has to say about JT Daniels:
Daniels made his first start for Georgia against Mississippi State and his 12th in college, and set career highs with 401 passing yards and four touchdowns. Across four starts, Daniels averaged 10.3 yards per pass attempt, which would have tied North Carolina standout Sam Howell for sixth on the FBS leaderboard (and less than one yard behind leader and Heisman Trophy finalist Mac Jones) had he played enough to qualify. Most importantly, the Dawgs won all four games, and averaged 37.3 points per contest. Georgia scored 29.0 points on average with Mathis and Bennett starting. The Bulldogs averaged 209.3 passing yards and 382.8 yards of total offense across the first six games and improved to 310.8 and 486.0, respectively, with Daniels in the lineup. They also improved their average yards per play from 5.42 to 7.51.
All that, and yet there are some legit questions about his mechanics. Check out this Twitter thread (h/t):
It’s the lack of consistency that sticks out. McDaniel says the issue with his lower body mechanics precedes his injury, but I wonder if that still isn’t a factor. The big question from here is whether he can show more consistency throwing the deep ball. He had a great year, but even with that, he left a few yards on the table with some of those throws.
Get The Picture 
He puts entirely too much air under his deep passes. I think he has the arm strength to drive through, but that’s a massive muscle memory reprogram. We’ll see I suppose.
The good news is that’s is really obvious and Kirby doesn’t seem to be in the ignoring the obvious mood anymore.
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There’s never too much air under a deep ball. The only question is whether it is accurate or not. Or under thrown or not.
The more air under a deep ball the more the receiver can adjust to the flight of the ball and track it down.
Nothing annoys me me more than a strong armed qb throwing a flat deep ball to a receiver who is wide open. When that happens its either perfect or its incomplete.
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Pretty sure that’s a matter of semantics, but ok.
I don’t care what you attribute it to, but Daniels’ deep passes aren’t hitting as hard as they could, given how open the receivers were.
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yep…..there is a lot that goes into all of that. But in a word or two, “adjustments” and who really cares as long as he is “accurate”.
still think the issue on his feet/legs is that he is still favoring the knee…..whether it is mental or physical, only he and his coach knows. And I am sure both he and his coach have noticed this LONG before this Brad fellow.
But, it’s the offseason….I guess they have to write about something.
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Nah he did it at usc and in high school too. He’s trying to throw like aaron Rodgers.
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Yep. Too much air. It looks like a combination of mechanics and lack of arm strength IMO. Contrary to what some others have said here, putting too much air under the ball is not good. If it were, the pros would it, and they don’t. A big air ball allows the receiver to adjust sure, but so does the corner, and safety as well.
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Lobbing moon balls isn’t good. We all did that with nerf balls as kids. Yes, you can put to much air under it, allowing defenses to track it down. But its situational. Eason threw the best 20-30 yard flat passes with high release. Sunshine did it as a freshman in the NC. Velocity and arc and distance have many combos.
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Lol. Yup.
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Some folks will find fault anywhere…
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Good grief. He has exceptional other tools that allow him to succeed anyway at this level, yet he’ll never be a good pro QB if he doesn’t fix that. You think just maybe some of this is about personal individual player development even more than wins & losses? Have you never been coached or taught in your whole life?
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I think it’s about his knee healing myself, opinions vary.
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Huh. Some folks, like you as well, will find fault anywhere, I guess.
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While I didn’t diagnose the actual mechanics of it, I could definitely tell a difference in Daniels’ long ball vs Mac Jones, Fields and some of the big bowl QBs. I did notice the torso tilted back. But too many of his passes were like the air biscuits Steve Grogan on Super TechmoBowl used to put up.
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Jones is damn good…no doubt..
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Great points, but suspect that all JT and staff’s energy was focused on rehab and gaining comfort throwing the ball with a new knee. Year 2 of rehab can focus on mechanics. Also, while the comment “JT Daniels turned so many easy TDs into 40-yard gains in 2020” wasn’t intended to be a compliment, I welcomed the long ball threat that has been missing for some time…
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In Monken I trust
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Surely he can see it.
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There were 2 of these against Cincinnati. Wide open guys behind the defense.
Pickens had to lay out for one catch. If he catches it in stride, he walks in. No points on that drive (turnover couple of plays later).
Jackson had to slow down for another. If he catches it in stride, it’s 7. Settled for a FG.
14 points turned into 3.
Difference between a comfortable win and a nail biter.
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So, in a post about underthrown balls, you’re complaining about one that was overthrown by inches?
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Bad mechanics do not produce consistent results. That’s kind of the root problem with bad mechanics.
Play design gets an elite playmaker wide open behind everyone, and said playmaker has to make a circus catch to avoid an incompletion. Just a straight deep shot.
One pass too long, one too short. Common theme: bad mechanics
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While he probably had less than ideal mechanics at USCw, from what I see, I see a guy who is still worried about his left knee. This is a guy who didn’t see action because he wasn’t physically ready. If you look at the throws from his first game vs MSU, look at how gingerly he comes down on the left knee. Fast forward to the Cincy game and you don’t see the gingerness on the knee. I think he healed more and I am willing to bet, if he is willing to accept the coaching, that he could improve his footwork this off season. (Now that he has an off season uninjured)
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It was his right knee not the left.
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Well one of them.
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Don’t need him to be a Pro QB, just a damn good college QB. Coach ‘em up, let the Pros worry about the polishing.
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Amen.
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Like I said, him and Brock can work on feets together
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Thinking back, I remember thinking there was something funny about his throwing motion when going deep. I’m no expert on this, but damn. That first clip when no one was around him, he “threw it like a girl”. No offense to the fairer sex, but y’all know what I mean.
On the bright side, averaging almost 400 yards a game passing and having a fixable problem is a pretty good place to be. I hope he’s working on those mechanics about 8 hours a day all winter.
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About half the time JTD is displaying proper mechanics so you know he’s had proper instruction. The problem is he sees that wide open, streaking receiver and he gets happy feet. Buck fever. The man will be 21 on Tuesday which leaves him precious little time to develop proper mechanics into muscle memory. It’s the job of Kirby’s staff to stay on his ass and fix that shit.
As one of my students whined, “You’re riding me like a mule, Russ.”
That’s right. Because you’re acting like mule. Do it again until you get it right and then do it some more.
I’m confident that Kirby’s on the mutha.
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Of all the things to worry about a qb, this one is last.
Not that it’s unimportant, but if you’re on mechanics you’ve checked off a whole bunch of other more important boxes to get there.
Hopefully, he’ll ck this one off too.
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No argument. Hopefully, they’ll get a full offseason to work on that.
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So you’re saying BVG is our guy?
I’ll take 40 yard gains. Some of those will be TDs as well.
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Nope. I’m saying eventually Georgia is going to play some explosive offenses that can convert their deep throws into TDs. Dawgs have to be able to keep up.
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Off the subject, but a thought about yesterday’s discussion on why the 16 percent increase in points per game (in 2020) but only a 4 percent gain in ypp. With many games now shoot-outs, teams are gambling on fourth down more than ever. They usually make it. In other words, less punting and for the same reason, less FGs. You’ve gotta get that seven on every drive. One or two stops puts you behind the eight ball.
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Yes. In ’21 the Dawgs should have at least four WRs fast and skilled enough to get behind any D. J.T. has to convert those scoring opportunities into TDs. Not predicting the Dawgs’ O will be as good as ’19 LSU’s or ’20 Bama’s, but it could be the best O in ’21 if J.T. throws deep-ball strikes instead of floaters.
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Don’t let me tell you happens when a perfectly open receiver catches a football in stride…..
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Yeah, after his first game I noticed that some “analyst” on YouTube were commenting on his footwork mechanics.
I chalk it up to still playing gingerly on a knee he recently had surgery on and limited practice reps because of it. He has the entire offseason to work on thatnow . If he can’t get his mechanics figured out and it ends up being an issue at least we have BVG pushing for the job too.
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I’m in the group that thinks his knee is nowhere near 100% so he’s struggling to use his lower body. Hopefully his knee is getting better. I’m worried whatever happened with that first surgery is permanent.
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Brooks Austin had a good film breakdown video on Youtube discussing JT’s deep ball mechanics. Dial video up to around 9:40.
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Brooks knows his stuff. This is who JT is and changing it will be hard.
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You beat me to it, Neil. Brooks’ film study is worth watching, particularly for those who reasonably assume that J.T.’s bad lower-body mechanics result from his knee injury.
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Well, OK. I watched the clip. So JT thinks he is the next Aaron Rodgers and is trying to copy Aaron’s lower body technique? A technique which is extremely difficult to perfect and would probably take many years to perfect? If true then he doesn’t really want to change what he is doing, he just wants to get better at it. I’m not sure that’s what’s going on, but if it is things might not get a lot better.
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Haha, made me think of Jim Furyk.
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Mentioning Furyk in a funky mechanics brings up an old memory. Bear with me: I sucked at golf for years until I decided I didn’t want to suck anymore. I played as much as I could, read Ben Hogan’s book, practiced, and spent a shitload of money on lessons. I still sucked. Until I found the right coach.
Said coach (Shout out to “Pro”) took some pity after watching me butcher a couple of tee shots one afternoon. I need to qualify that he was not my coach at the time, but actually owned the course and happened to be working on the green next to the tee box I was on. It went something like “Jesus Fucking Christ Cowdog, I can’t stand it anymore. Watch this…”
It was a simple fix. Two, actually. I went from not being eligible for a handicap to low 90’s, and a couple more lessons and some competitive play? I was winning money in the club matches.
My point is, don’t get too hung up on JT’s mechanics. The talent is there and the right coach with a little time will fix it.
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Fuckn hack.
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Bring your pocketbook, Chief…
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Hehehehehehe. I only know to say that from watching movies. I’m not a golfer.
Was driving by Kenny Rogers place South of Colbert about 20 years or so ago. There was none other than Michael Jordan about to take a cut at it. I screamed that. He flipped me off.
Priceless.
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🙂
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I got embarrassed by some contemporaries at a vendor sponsored event once. I fucking hate to lose…
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Hating to lose is a virtue my good man. You show me a good loser and I’ll show you a loser.
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I fixed my tendency of being over the top by taking a junk club, a swinging in front of a curb. Instant feedback of flying sparks
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Inside-out, player.
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Looks like solid analysis from whoever that is on Twitter.
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Any film comparisons on his mechanics his first year at USC and then after his knee was hurt. That would be a big indicator on if it is a knee problem or mechanics totally need fixing or a mixture of both. I do not remember any big red flags on mechanics from his freshman year.
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I was thinking film from his HS senior year.
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I think is purely due to a lack of reps under good college instruction. We’ve seen what he can do under those circumstances. The fact that he probably has a higher ceiling with better mechanics is a good sign to me.
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No expert here, but I’m guessing that time working with receivers will yield greater gains than mechanics tweaks.
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The fact it’s happened under different OCs/QB coaches has got to be a concern. Not to mention he’s also gotten private QB coaching on his own time/dime.
He’s just heading into his junior year. Even with some bad habits he’s a darn good QB.
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Hell, if he had been perfect he would have left us and went pro. Maybe he knows he has some work to do and decided to let Monken work on him another year.
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Ding Ding Ding….I believe you are correct sir.
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This is the kind of optimism I support whole-heartedly. Triple B, I like the cut of your jib.
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this is why i quit golf.
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To me it’s simple: If JT can get to where he can hit more guys in stride at any place on the field, the offense will be lit. If he can’t, it’ll be up and down. There will be big scoring games when the balls fall into receivers hands, and there will be whacky games with INTs, 3 and outs, and other screw ups that result in lost scoring opportunities.
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