Originally Posted by
booger ego trip
Chase Daniel's story is supposed to be a tale of the underdog.
The problem is, Daniel doesn't play the role very well.
This cool, strong, self-assured kid with the Howitzer arm and Hollywood smile? The guy who attracts admirers everywhere he goes, and unabashedly claims to be the best quarterback in the Big 12, and even refers to himself in the third person?
This is not exactly the stuff of David and his slingshot. And this is not how the Little Engine That Could is expected to sound.
“If you look at the legend of Chase Daniel when it comes back (in) three or four years,” the senior Missouri quarterback said, “it's not going to be based on my yards, it's not going to be based on my touchdowns or interceptions. It's going to be based on wins.”
It's not every day that a college player talks about his own “legend,” particularly when he still has a year left to play and he hasn't won a championship yet. But Daniel isn't an everyday kind of player.
He set all kinds of high-school passing records at Southlake Carroll, but he wasn't deemed an elite college prospect. Some thought he was simply a product of Carroll's wide-open system, and others deemed him too short (he's listed at 6 feet) to be an effective Division I passer. The recruiting gurus at Rivals.com left him off their list of the nation's best prospects, and in-state powers like Texas and Texas A&M only gave him cursory attention.
So he ended up accepting a scholarship to Missouri, a program that had been lingering in mediocrity for decades. At the time, most figured a couple of decent seasons and a minor bowl victory or two would be about as much as Daniel and Co. could realistically expect.
But there they were in December in the Alamodome, playing in the Big 12 championship game with national title hopes still intact. The Tigers lost to Oklahoma in that game, but Daniel wound up as a Heisman Trophy finalist, and he enters his senior season as the glamour player on what is being hailed as a Top 5 team.
“We're the hunted now,” Daniel said.
Like in his high school days, Daniel is part of an innovative offense that racks up yards and points by spreading the ball all over the field. And like in his high school days, defenses are learning that underrating Daniel — who set school single-season records for total offense (4,559 yards), passing yards (4,306) and touchdown passes (33) last year — can be costly.
“It's an offense that's very creative in terms of there's a lot of things you can do with it,” Tigers coach Gary Pinkel said. “But you still build it on personnel and still build it on Chase distributing the ball to other people.”
On Oct. 18, Daniel will get a chance to distribute the ball against Texas, but he insists he hasn't circled that date on his calendar.
Daniel said he holds no grudges against the Longhorns for choosing Colt McCoy over him and even said he considers McCoy to be the second-best quarterback in the conference.
“I wasn't their guy,” he said. “It was a business decision.”
As for his newfound bravado, which the Tigers say is spreading throughout their team?
“It's not a cockiness,” Daniel said. “It's a confidence.”