MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Pat Narduzzi announced it during his Monday afternoon news conference and Neal Brown confirmed it during his – JT Daniels will be West Virginia's starting quarterback for Thursday night's season opening game against Pitt at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh.
 
"If they haven't made that announcement, I'll make it for them," Narduzzi, who waited until last week before announcing USC transfer Kedon Slovis as his starting quarterback, offered during the beginning of his weekly news conference earlier today.
 
"JT earned the right to start," Brown added. "Really, decision making is what won the job for him. He has the full trust of the players and staff, and we have a lot of confidence in him in how he's going to perform in the opener."
 
Daniels was 7-0 as Georgia's starting quarterback before suffering an oblique injury. He completed 68 of his 94 pass attempts for 722 yards and seven touchdowns before his injury, including a 303-yard, three-touchdown effort against South Carolina.
 
Georgia's wins were against No. 3 Clemson, UAB, South Carolina, Vanderbilt, No. 8 Arkansas, No. 18 Auburn and No. 11 Kentucky with the Irvine, California, resident behind center.
 
"I've watched, I think, the 238 throws he's made in the last couple of years, and he's very, very capable," Narduzzi said. "I can see why he's the starter."
 
Brown said there was a quarterback competition for the first two weeks of camp and the coaching staff evaluated a number of different areas before making their decision.
 
"It came down to scoring drives, completion percentage, decision making, and really, all four of the guys had equal opportunity and over the course of those two weeks and two scrimmages it was clear JT earned the right (to start)," Brown said.
 
"The battle for the backup is on-going, and I'll say this, I feel really positive about the future of that position," he added. "I like the young guys we have, and we're doing some things to really key in on their development."
 
Brown admits there will be a lot of unknowns heading into the first game. For Daniels, it will be his first game wearing a West Virginia uniform playing in one of college football's great rivalry games.
 
Daniels has 21 game's worth of college experience, including 11 as a true freshman at USC in 2018 and one game with current offensive coordinator Graham Harrell before an injury ended his sophomore campaign.
 
"The positive is it's either his 17^th or 18^th start at the Power 5 level, so this isn't something that's new for him," Brown explained. "He's played in big games, so I don't think the atmosphere is going to rattle him. He's played in these types of games before.
 
"He's really accurate with the football. He's thrown the ball down the field with a high completion percentage during camp. He does a really good job from a run-pass decision he's got to make," Brown continued.
 
Harrell, who had Daniels for about half of the Fresno State game, said he's really improved since they were last together.
 
"I think a lot of it is he's getting more and more comfortable with what we're doing with our guys," Harrell said. "He's been more consistent lately, and we've talked a lot about how intelligent he is, so that helps.
 
"He has a background knowledge of what we do, so it's not like he's learning a completely new offense or a new language, but if you look at offensive football, everyone has similar concepts," Harrell added.
 
Graham admits Daniels' year at Georgia exposed him to some elite athletes on both sides of the football.
 
"Getting to experience some other things was obviously good for him. He saw some very high-end talent, had to go against some great competition and played with some great guys, too," Harrell said. "That goes both ways, but I think going against the competition at Georgia helped him more than anything. In practice, they had like (five) first rounders on that defense."
 
Players and coaches alike say Daniels can throw a catchable deep ball and downfield passing has been fairly erratic for West Virginia, really, since Will Grier last played for the Mountaineers in 2018.
 
Having a more consistent downfield passing attack is something Brown has been seeking from his offense from the moment he arrived in 2019.
 
"He puts it in a place where we have a chance to make a play on it every time," senior wide receiver Bryce Ford-Wheaton said.
 
Defensive back Charles Woods agrees.
 
"He's very accurate. He can squeeze a ball in 50-60 yards down the field between two opponents, so that's something I see instantly from him," he said.
 
Since Narduzzi offered the first word on Daniels, he also gets the last word on him as well.
 
"He can make every throw, and he's really, really talented, so we'll have our hands cut out for us on that end," Pitt's coach concluded.
 
Today is really Wednesday for the two teams in terms of game prep for Thursday night's game. The season debut of the Neal Brown Radio Show from Kegler's Sports Bar & Grille will take place Tuesday night at 7 p.m. on Mountaineer Sports Network from Learfield stations throughout the state.
 
The team is scheduled to travel to Pittsburgh on Wednesday night in advance of Thursday's game, announced a sellout earlier this month.