Notre Dame’s wide receiving corps for the 2014 season received a major boost on Wednesday when news broke that suspended wide receiver Davaris Daniels was officially readmitted by Notre Dame after missing the spring semester for academic reasons.
Much like Everett Golson in the fall, Daniels lost an entire semester for academic reasons although unlike Golson, the timing of Daniels academic shortcomings did not cost him any regular season action. It did cost Notre Dame’s leading returning wide receiver all 15 spring practices and a semester’s worth of classes however.
Ever since news broke that Daniels would not be with the Irish for the spring, it was widely speculated that a return was in the cards for Daniels so today’s news should not come as a shock. Now officially back, Daniels will have plenty of work to do on the field and in the classroom after missing the spring. The football aspect should actually be pretty easy for Daniels since he has been in the Irish offense for three full seasons. It’s in the classroom where Daniels will need to rededicate himself and prove to his coaches that he is serious about his studies before he works his way into the wide receiver rotation in the fall.
Assuming Daniels takes care of business in the classroom, Daniels is a lock to start at receiver as Notre Dame’s go to receiver. With that in mind, Daniels has a golden opportunity in front of him to have a monster senior season. With TJ Jones in the NFL, Daniels is Notre Dame’s only returning wide receiver with more than 20 career receptions and more than 1 career touchdown amongst a group of receivers that could power a high flying Notre Dame aerial attack this fall.
It looked like Daniels was on pace for a monster season in 2013 with four touchdowns in the first three games of the season before his production tapered off. It was later discovered that nagging injuries impacted Daniels effectiveness down the stretch. Now fully healthy and reunited with Everett Golson that breakout season could be in the cards this fall.
Golson and Daniels began to develop a strong rapport towards the end of the 2012 season. Now that they are reunited and Daniels has added being a deep threat to his arsenal in 2013, big numbers are likely for Daniels in 2014. With Everett Golson’s ability to get the ball downfield more frequently than Tommy Rees given his much stronger arm, Daniels could easily be the next Notre Dame wide receiver to surpass the 1,000 yard mark.
Daniels will be part of a deep wide receiving corps for the Irish this fall with no shortage of playmakers looking to carve out their roles in the Irish offense. Chris Brown, Will Fuller, and Corey Robinson will battle it out for the opportunity to start opposite Daniels with competition also coming from freshmen Justin Brent and Corey Holmes. In the slot, CJ Prosise, Amir Carlisle, and Torii Hunter will wage their own battle in camp for playing time.
Its time for Daniels to step up.
Great news. Will really help the QB’s.
DD is a BEAST. First round pick next spring.
Guys, we are going to score a lot of points!!!!
Cheers,
Woodrow
Welcome back, DD (and Jerian).
Anyone who takes a mistake and learns from it
and continues to persevere to pursue his goal
gains my respect and support. I’m happy to see admissions decided to give DD (and Everett
and Jerian) the chance to maximize this regained opportunity.
I look forward to the first of many future TD connections with their return.
Good to see. ND is poised to put up some big points this year.
Also, Jerian Grant was readmitted which should help the basketball team. His loss last year was a big blow to the bb team and they never seemed to recover.
With him back on the team hopefully, the bb team should have better success. Last year was just atrocious (the only good thing I can say is it forced Brey to go to deeper on the bench–something he was loathe to do in the past–maybe something he’ll consider continuing).