Joseph Daniels spent the last two seasons at Georgia Military College to improve his game. He is now attempting to walk on the Georgia Southern squad.

Daniels played football in the small city of Montezuma, Georgia. It took until his Junior year to realize that football was what he wanted to do past high school and really started to anchor down and focus. It paid off, as he ended his Senior year with a total of 107 tackles and was nominated Defensive Player of the Year in the 2-AA Region.

This helped him earn a scholarship to play JUCO ball at Georgia Military College in Milledgeville, Georgia. “They liked the way I came downhill and bullied people with my aggressiveness,” said Daniels. His time there was riddled with injuries. He came into GMC with a major ankle injury which ultimately caused him to redshirt. Even though he red shirted, he still practiced every day, focused on his academics, and prepared for his second season. He ended up playing in six games out of ten, missing the last four due to another injury, this time a knee infection. “I would say that if I was healthy throughout my JUCO years, I would be playing for a team in a FBS conference right now, but everything happens for a reason,” he said.

Enrolled in Georgia Southern already, Daniels is planning to walk on the team for this upcoming fall season. If that does not work out in time, he will try again during Spring ball. “I’m ready, I’m excited, I’m back 100% healthy,” said Daniels. He has been preparing for this opportunity by conditioning, lifting, and defensive drills back in his home town in Georgia. What he does well on the field is being aggressive and coming downhill hitting people with an attitude.

Walking on a team is not an easy task because of limited spots and very few ultimately make it. However, Daniels is is ready. “It will take hard work and dedication. It’s a mind thing, the main thing is never get comfortable, you always want to be uncomfortable,” Daniels said. He feels he can make it because of the struggles he went through playing football at a Military Junior College that other people couldn’t make it out of. “Being in a Military environment was kind of difficult, but when I got used to that environment, I knew how to deal with every situation that came across me,” he said. At the end of the day, he never gave up, so it made him a tough person, a person who will take his shot at making the Georgia Southern football team.