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Mandatory Credit: Dale Zanine-USA TODAY Sports

Former NFL All-Pro praises former UGA QB JT Daniels as the best high school football player of all time

Originally posted on A to Z Sports | By Crissy Froyd | Last updated 5/10/24

Former Georgia quarterback JT Daniels announced his medical retirement from football at the tail-end of 2023, going on to enter the coaching realm in 2024 with West Georgia.

But before he did that, he put together a storied high school and college career that will continue to be remembered despite some of the ups and downs that came with him becoming the first four-conference starter.

Former NFL All-Pro Lavar Arrington, ex-NFL quarterback Brady Quinn and Jonah Knox recently reflected back on Daniels' career on the '2 Pros and a Cup of Joe' podcast, indicating that some believe Daniels is the best high school football player of all time.

"He's (who some say) is the greatest high school football player of all time," Arrington said.

"Oh, yeah, he was a monster," Knox replied. "They talk about him as he's kind of the transfer portal king, because he was kind of doing it back when it was really, really new. Really early on."

Quinn didn't share the same level of hype.

"You guys are really over-exaggerating this whole thing," Quinn said. "He was a highly rated quarterback. I don't know about best of all time. He played at Mater Dei, with his own coach at Mater Dei... said Bryce (Young) was the best he's ever had."

Daniels was the No. 2 pro-style quarterback in his class behind just Trevor Lawrence, breaking multiple records at Mater Dei. He graduated a full year early, becoming just the second true freshman quarterback in USC history to start for the Trojans (Matt Barkley, 2009) in a season opener.

He won a multitude of awards and was on the cover of Sports Illustrated, named 2017 Gatorade National Player of the Year, Max Preps National Player of the Year, National High School Coaches Association Player of the Year, USA Today All-USA First Team, PrepStar Dream Team, Orange County Register Fab 15 First Team, Tacoma News Tribune Western 100, Gatorade California Player of the Year, USA Today All-California Player of the Year, Cal-Hi Sports State Player of the Year, Cal-Hi Sports All-State first team, Max Preps Junior All-American first team, All-CIF Division 1 Offensive Player Of The Year, Los Angeles Times All-Area Player of the Year and Orange County Register All-Orange County Offensive Player of the Year in his final year of high school as a junior.

In 2017, Mater Dei finished out the season with an undefeated overall record of 15-0, winning the California CIF Division 1 title and the California State Open Division crown.

Over three seasons with the Monarchs, he connected on 751 of his 1,101 passes (68.2%) for 12,014 yards and 152 touchdowns.

There are several opinions surrounding who is the truly the best high school football player of all time, including Peyton Manning (Isidore Newman) and Kyler Murray (Allen) but there's no question Daniels has a solid case as one of the best quarterbacks from a mental processing perspective over recent history.

This article first appeared on A to Z Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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