Daniels banking on a spot in NFL
INDIANAPOLIS - Former Vernon Hills High School star DaVaris Daniels was poised for a breakout season at Notre Dame in 2014, but it never happened.
The 6-foot-3, 202-pound wide receiver had caught 49 passes for 745 yards and 7 touchdowns for the Irish in 2013, and he had two years of eligibility remaining to hone a game that already was impressive.
But that's when Daniels' college career derailed. Academic improprieties, including allegations that he and several teammates turned in work that wasn't their own, resulted in his suspension.
There would be no encore performance.
The hardest part?
"Just knowing what kind of season I was going to have and knowing how ready I was to put my name up there with the top guys, and then having it all taken way from me," Daniels said Thursday at the NFL Scouting Combine. "That was pretty hard to deal with."
Daniels said it may have been tougher on his father, Phillip, who played 15 seasons in the NFL as a 6-3, 290 defensive end. That included four seasons with the Bears (2000-03), when he started 59 games and had 23 sacks.
Phillip Daniels was critical of Notre Dame's handling of the case but stood by his son, who insisted he had done his own work.
"He's been real supportive," DaVaris said. "It's not easy having that come down on your son, but we've got to move forward together.
"We're a family. We have to do something positive. It's time to do something positive for the Daniels family, and I'm trying to do that."
Daniels will have the opportunity for an NFL career, projected as a midround pick by most draft analysts. Another productive season at Notre Dame would have elevated his draft stock, but Daniels still is attracting a lot of attention at the NFL's annual meat market/job fair.
After Daniels was suspended, he had the option of transferring, which he says he never considered, or applying for readmission to Notre Dame. Instead, he decided to enter the draft with a year of eligibility remaining.
"I know I'm ready for the NFL," he said. "There are obviously some technique things that I'm going to learn on the next level that are going to get me even better. (But) physically and mentally, I'm ready."
Lacking any current game tape, Daniels may have more to prove at the combine than any of the 323 invited players. It's his first opportunity in more than a year to show the NFL what he's got.
"I know what I can do, (but) people haven't seen me in awhile," he said. "Even getting the (suspension) story out there - getting them the details of what actually went down - everything.
"The whole combine is big for me."
That includes an opportunity to explain his suspension to NFL teams, although he won't discuss it publicly.
"I give them the details," he said. "I grew a lot. It really changed my outlook on life and my focus on what's important to me.
"But it's over now, and I'm moving forward. I'm excited and I'm focused on what's next for me. I just want to take full advantage of every opportunity that God gives me."
Daniels said his father's career remains an inspiration, as it has for a long time.
"Being around the game for so long puts that fire in me to make it and do something for myself," he said. "That's pretty big motivation, just seeing that and being around it every day."
Daniels said it wasn't until his sophomore season at Vernon Hills that he really became serious about an NFL career.
"I was real big on basketball (too)," he said. "(But) football just came more natural to me. I developed a love for it, being closer to my dad and learning the ropes."
The combination of Daniels and wide receiver Evan Spencer (Ohio State), the son of former NFL running back and ex-Bears running backs coach Tim Spencer, helped make Vernon Hills a perennial playoff team. Vernon Hills made it to the quarterfinals in 2010.
"Me and Evan, man, we had all the tools," Daniels said. "We just couldn't get over the hump. We didn't have a quarterback, so I had to play quarterback. That was not a good deal."
Now it's a new deal and a new start that have Daniels' undivided attention.
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