USC Football: 3 bold predictions vs. Fresno State in Week 1

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LOS ANGELES, CA – OCTOBER 13: JT Daniels #18 of the USC Trojans talks to Clay Helton the head coach of the USC Trojans in the second quarter against the Colorado Buffaloes at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on October 13, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by John McCoy/Getty Images) /

2. JT Daniels will flourish in the Air-Raid

JT Daniels was the first true freshman to start for the Trojans since Matt Barkley in 2009. Last season, he played like, well, he played like a true freshman. There were moments of brilliance, and moments of bone-headedness (yes, that’s a word) in what was very much a learning season.

For example, he was really good against Washington State and Notre Dame, but not so good against Utah and Stanford; he was a bit of both against California and UCLA. Such is life with a freshman quarterback, who reclassified to graduate early. He should have been a high school senior last year, not a college freshman.

However, when you put Daniels’ tape on, there’s no doubt that young man has loads of talent. His five-star No. 2 ranking in the 2019 class wasn’t an accident. He can do some amazing things with a football.

So what’s the best way to exploit that talent? Bring in an offensive system that allows Daniels to play pitch and catch with arguably the deepest receiving corps in the country. Juxtapose that with a Bulldog secondary that returns half its starters and a defense that replaces five starters, and you should see a lot of yards by Daniels and the passing game.

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