Daniels Size and Now his One-Game Experience Makes Him a Defensive Weapon

STILLWATER – Inside the Oklahoma State dressing room and the first defensive player I made my way to for an interview on the postgame show was red-shirt freshman Kendal Daniels. My partner on the broadcast boldly predicted that Daniels would have a pick six before the end of the season because in practice we’ve seen the 6-4, 205-pound safety do that multiple times. A four-star prospect that was listed as the top prospect in Oklahoma in the 2021 recruiting class, Daniels originally signed with Texas A&M, but later asked for his release and came to Oklahoma State. He played some as a true freshman, but with all the experience the Cowboys had they easily saved his year. Now, he is counted upon. In his very first game he had 11 tackles, many of those strong physical hits. He also had an interception. Daniels admitted he didn’t envision 11 tackles for his debut, but a pick?

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Daniels celebrates with Jabbar Muhammad.

“I did see myself having an interception because I had an interception in my first high school game,” Daniels added.

And as mentioned, he’d shown that ability a lot in practice. It wasn’t a surprise that he had those tackles either and a tackle for loss.

“You know I think on this defense there are guys we have that have the ability to be a Swiss army knife,” defensive coordinator Derek Mason explained. “Kendal is one of them. I thought he had a great camp and he is still young. I’m so excited about what I’m seeing out of those guys, the whole group. There is a play here and a play there that you don’t like, but wholistically I like what I see. We have a ways to go but I’m excited about the talent that we have on this defense.”

Daniels likes that term, Swiss army knife.

“I feel like I can do a lot of things on the field, a lot of things to help my team win,” Daniels said. “Coach can put me in a lot of different positions, and I will see a lot of different positions and have my teammates feel comfortable with me.”

What Daniels didn’t like was something he whispered to me when I came up and asked for the postgame interview. He told me that he had made as many mistakes and had plays where he needed to make corrections as he did tackles.   

"In the second half, we kind of lost focus. As a defensive team, we made mistakes. We busted on a lot of coverages,” Daniels said and pointing the finger at himself. “We just have to be better if we want to be that championship team. We just have to be better all-around. I feel like everything is correctable. The effort's there. They're going to tell us what we can get better on. Then we just go in and listen to them and get better and get ready for Arizona State." 

Daniels makes it sound simple and for him it likely is. He has all those tools, so it makes sense that he has as many solutions. Kendal Daniels is going to be a star. I feel comfortable predicting that will happen. He has the ability and the right attitude.