Chase Daniel Needs to Start Practicing His Heisman Pose.

October 15th, 2005, Missouri vs Iowa State:

With less than 9:00 minutes to go in the game down 24-14, the quarterback of the Missouri Tigers Brad Smith gets knocked out of the game.

A small backup freshman quarterback from Southlake, Texas enters the game on third and 10 and throws a 12-yard pass for a first down to keep the drive alive.

He leads the Tigers on a five minute drive and cuts the score to 24-17. After a defensive stop, he gets the ball back with 2:32 seconds left.

Although this backup quarterback had never been in this position before, he shows no fear and embraces the challenge.

With 20 seconds left in the game, this quarterback shows everyone that he is the future of Missouri football as he ties the game up with his first career touchdown pass. In overtime he leads the Tigers to a 27-24 victory.

Now who was that quarterback?

That player was true freshman Chase Daniel.

From the moment I first saw him play in that game, I knew that not only would Missouri football be in good hands after Brad Smith graduated but that Daniel had that “it” that would lead him to greatness.

For all those critics who want to claim that Chase Daniel is simply a product of his system need to realize that Chase is incredibly talented player who just knows how to win. Yes he is small in height, but height can be overrated.

Just look at a Pro Bowl quarterback Drew Brees who critics used to doubt because of his size. My point isn’t that Daniels is as good as Brees, because Daniel still has a lot to prove before he’s even mentioned in the same breath.

But my point is that people shouldn't assume a small quarterback can’t actually be as talented as his numbers show. People have been telling Daniel his entire life that he’s not an elite quarterback even after proving himself over and over again.

At Carrol High School in Southlake, Texas, Daniel was a two-year starter at QB, leading his team to a 31-1 record in those years. Daniel completed 65.2 percent of his passes for 8,298 yards and 91 touchdowns and added 2,954 rushing yards and 39 scores.

Daniel won the 5A state Player of the Year and Ea Sports National Player of the Year as Carrol High School earned a No. 1 national ranking in 2004 after winning the 5A state championship.

You would think that because of Daniel’s accomplishments, his preferred school, Texas, would have heavily recruited him. However, Texas believed he was too small and was just a system quarterback and chose not to.

Number three ranked Missouri is currently averaging the second most points in the nation and the offense hasn’t had a three and out all year led by Chase Daniel’s 76.3 percent completion percentage and his 15 touchdowns and one interception.

But yet I can still find articles written about how overrated he is. I can still find College Football fans who still won’t admit he’s an elite quarterback.  

I hope all those people who still doubt him keep it up and continue to motivate him, because at the end of this year when Daniel is doing his Heisman pose, they’re all going to eat their words.