How CJ Daniels' veteran presence is impacting the Hurricanes' receiver room

Miami Herald

2 days ago

CJ Daniels never considered himself much of a vocal guy.
He knew that was going to change shortly after he joined the Miami Hurricanes.
When he transferred to UM for his sixth and final season of college football, Daniels immediately became the elder statesman in a Hurricanes wide receiver room filled with young talent. He knew there would be an onus placed upon him to be the needed veteran presence from inside the room.
It was a challenge wide receivers coach Kevin Beard gave to Daniels almost immediately.
And Daniels was ready for that opportunity.
'Coming in, coach Beard told me, 'You've got a young group, man. It's a lot of characters and it's a lot of things to manage,'' Daniels said. 'And for me, I wanted to challenge myself this year and put that on my plate because I think I'm more than capable of doing that. Just leading these young guys and holding them accountable, and them holding me accountable as well too, I think it goes hand in hand, man. I'm a guy that they can come and ask questions. They can just come and kick it with me. I think that's the main thing. I definitely think that I have done a great job so far at the leadership role, and I want to continue to do that. I just want to continue to build a great bond with these guys.'
His teammates will certainly attest to that.
Sophomore Ny Carr said during spring practices that Daniels made it a point to meet with every receiver on the first day the whole team was together. After that, it was Daniels taking charge of meetings on practice days even before Beard got into the room.
'He's to the point where he wants the whole room to be on the same level,' Carr said. 'He wants us to be leaders. He's put in the time with us. It's kind of like an assistant receivers coach right now.'
Added fellow sophomore Joshisa 'JoJo' Trader: 'He's the older guy. We all look up to him.'
Indeed, Daniels has been around the proverbial college football block a few times. He spent the four seasons of his career at Liberty before playing at LSU last season. He enters his lone season at Miami with 148 career catches for 2,434 yards and 21 touchdowns. His best season came in 2023 at Liberty, when he caught 55 passes for 1,067 yards and 10 touchdowns to help the Flames go 13-1 and earn a berth in the Fiesta Bowl.
'He's a worker,' Beard said. 'You don't have to tell him to catch balls on the JUGS machine. He's the one initiating it. He's kind of been through it, and he knows he has a lot of young guys behind him, so he's trying to show them the way. ... That's really what I've respected from his approach. And we're gonna need it to keep continuing to get better.'
Miami is replacing its top four receivers from last season's top-ranked offense. The quartet of Xavier Restrepo, Jacolby George, Sam Brown and Isaiah Horton combined for 3,004 receiving yards — 66.4 percent of Miami's production — and 26 touchdowns.
Expect Daniels to be one of the players Miami leans on to offset that loss in production. He'll be part of the Hurricanes' contingent to get significant reps on the outside, along with Trader, BYU transfer Keelan Marion and true freshman Josh Moore. The trio of Cincinnati transfer Tony Johnson, true freshman Malachi Toney and junior Ray Ray Joseph are competing to be UM's primary slot receiver but Johnson and Toney could also get reps on the outside.
Daniels in particular is also excited about the additions of Marion and Johnson, who transferred to Miami after spring practices concluded, to give the group a more veteran look.
'I think they've already added value because of the mindset that they had coming in,' Daniels said. 'It was just like they were in here in the building a lot, and they really wanted to learn the offense so that when we get on the field, there was no thinking. There was no kinks, no anything that they had to figure out. They took that on themselves. And I really appreciate them guys for doing that because it means a lot, not just for me, but as a team. It's gonna go a long way for sure.'