After postponing his signing ceremony by a day, Robert McDaniel has made his final decision.
On Thursday afternoon, the four-star quarterback pump-faked a packed Reeder Hall on the campus of Hughson High School, grabbing a red Arizona hat and then hovering over a navy Cal hat before ultimately reaching into a bag under his seat to pull out a baby blue UCLA cap. He placed it on his head while he and family members zipped down their sweaters to unveil fresh Bruins gear.
“It feels amazing to be a Bruin,” McDaniel said. “It's pretty crazy. It's really surreal to have all these college coaches show interest.”
McDaniel verbally committed to Arizona on May 26 after initially agreeing to join the University of California, Berkeley two months prior. He seemed set on becoming a Wildcat when he woke up Wednesday, but cancelled his signing ceremony roughly an hour before its scheduled 2:30 p.m. start. Thursday night, he explained his reasoning, citing staff changes at both UCLA and Arizona.
At 11:07 Thursday morning, Justin Spears of the Tucson Star was first to report that Arizona would not be retaining offensive coordinator Dino Babers after the Wildcats went 4-8 overall and finished in 14th-place in the revamped, 16-team Big 12 Conference. McDaniel had praised Babers’ offensive scheming and revealed that he was a major influence behind his verbal commitment.
At literally the exact minute, Zach Osterman of the Indianapolis Star reported that UCLA was hiring Indiana’s quarterback coach, Tino Sunseri, as offensive coordinator. That hiring came just two hours after Yahoo’s Ross Dellenger broke the news that the Bruins had fired Eric Bienenmey from the position after they went 5-7 and finished in 12th place in their inaugural Big Ten campaign under first-year head coach Deshaun Foster.
McDaniel had standing offers from 20 schools before Wednesday, including from Indiana. He was contacted by UCLA and a handful of other programs late into Wednesday, and the Bruins were the only new program to offer. He officially made up his mind Thursday morning.
“Coach Tino Sunseri just got the job, and (I) had really a lot of confidence in him,” McDaniel said. “And the confidence he instilled in me and showed in me. (It) just really makes me confident with the guys that he's brought into the NFL. I'm just ready to get out to Westwood.”
“I've had a great relationship with Coach Tino ever since he was at Indiana, and things kind of sparked late… I really have great trust in him.”
As McDaniel alluded to, Sunseri, 35, has worked with a handful of active NFL quarterbacks, mainly Tua Tagovailoa, Mac Jones and Bryce Young from his two years as an offensive graduate assistant under Nick Saban at the University of Alabama in 2019 and 2020.
The 6-foot-2, 195-pounder will wrap up his academics at the end of the semester and graduate early from Hughson High. Then, he will go straight to Southern California to begin his studies, build chemistry with teammates and coaches, begin a new dietary and strength program, and get a headstart at learning the playbook.
“I'm ready to just be like a sponge, just soak everything up,” McDaniel said. “Just make sure I get in that weight room and get to a college body, and just be able to just get to that college playbook.”
McDaniel is the most decorated gunslinger to ever don the black, yellow and white. He owns every school record for a quarterback, including career passing yards (7,767), passing touchdowns (95), competitions (499) and completion percentage (.605 min. 200 attempts). He has started under center for the last three years and has so far led the Huskies to a 35-6 record en route to a Trans-Valley League title earlier this year, three straight Sac-Joaquin Section blue banners, the 2022 Division 5-AA Northern California championship and the division’s state crown that same year.
Entering Friday’s CIF Division 4-AA Northern California Regional Bowl Game against St. Vincent de Paul, the star senior has completed 170 of 274 attempts for 2796 yards and 33 touchdowns as the Huskies have compiled a 13-0 record for the year.
He gained further national notoriety after being a finalist in the prestigious Elite 11 quarterback competition in June. Quarterbacks undergo evaluation from a team of coaches and experts at Elite 11, participating in a series of drills and tests designed to evaluate throwing ability, accuracy, footwork, decision-making and athleticism. More than a third of all draft-eligible finalists (82 of 225) were selected by NFL teams, with a third of those (27) taken in the first round. Eight were Heisman Trophy winners and another 12 were Heisman finalists.
