kept him out of the final two contests
of the regular season. Daniels returned
at full strength for the national championship game against Alabama. He
was one of the few bright spots for
Notre Dame during the 42-14 waxing. He caught six passes for 115 yards
against the nation's top-ranked defense.
"Having the game that he did
against one of the top defenses in the
nation on the biggest stage that you
can have in collegiate football, it definitely helped his confidence," Jones
said. "It gave him that push leading
into the offseason to work that much
harder."
The clear chemistry growing between Daniels and quarterback Everett Golson had to be shelved at
least temporarily this fall. So, this
summer Daniels helped to organize
summer workouts in Chicago with
Rees to develop a similar level of
trust. The coaches paired Rees and
Daniels as roommates during training camp. When they weren't reliving
high school rivalries, Daniels picked
the veteran quarterback's head about
where he should be on certain routes
and how to beat defenses and remain
in step with the rest of the offense.
The approach started to change
for Daniels this offseason. While he
wouldn't say it in front of a microphone, he started to think about where
he could land among other memorable
pass catchers to play at Notre Dame.
"He's determined to be one of the
greatest receivers to come here," sophomore cornerback KeiVarae Russell
said. "He told me that last year, 'I'm
