Roquan Smith had a cool Mitch Trubisky memory. He was on hand for the first ever college start of his college career at North Carolina. Well, new Chicago Bears center James Daniels has him beat. He’s known about Trubisky for far longer. One must suffice to say one thing about it. Those memories are far less pleasant.
It turns out that Daniels and Trubisky were opponents one time in the Ohio State High School playoffs. That year Trubisky was the senior quarterback for Mentor High. They were 12-2 that year and their opening opponent of the postseason was Warren Harding, led by a great offensive line spearheaded by Daniels.
The game was a thrilling shootout but Harding just couldn’t keep up with Trubisky. They fell behind 32-14 at halftime and couldn’t make up the ground in a 45-35 defeat. Daniels, upon learning Trubisky would be his new quarterback, admitted how outmatched his team was that day.
New Bears C James Daniels says he played against Mitch Trubisky in high school playoffs in Ohio and that Trubisky "Tore us apart." Went on to say, "If you would have asked me 6 years ago if I'd be blocking for him I'd say you're lying, that's the craziest thing I've ever heard."
— Mark Grote (@markgrotesports) April 28, 2018
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Mitch Trubisky owned the day but Daniels did his job
Mentor collected 557 yards of offense that day. Trubisky was unstoppable. On just 25 passes he racked up 356 yards passing with five touchdowns. He also ran for a touchdown. It was a bad day for the Warren Harding defense. However, Daniels and his linemates made sure they weren’t going out like that. For the rest of the afternoon, they took it out on the Mentor defensive front.
Harding pounded the football all game long. Their lead back ended up rushing for 216 yards and two touchdowns. Daniels provided such dominant performances that he landed a ride to Iowa. Once he became established there, the same benefits came to the Hawkeyes. In 2016 they had nine games where they posted at least 160 yards rushing. Last year they did it five more times. He is a strong young man who knows how to create lanes.
Trubisky may be happy to have him, but probably not as much as Jordan Howard will be. Either way, Daniels doesn’t have to go against his new quarterback on Sundays. He’ll finally get to know what it’s like to snap the ball to him instead. If things work out as hoped, they could be together for the next decade.
