Daniel doing his best as a recruiter

There may not be a busier high school football player in the country than Chase Daniel. The Missouri verbal commitment has his Southlake Carroll Dragons still unbeaten and still ranked No. 1 in the nation according to USA Today. Through three rounds of the playoffs, Daniel has thrown for more than 1,000 yards and 12 touchdowns. The Dragons are playing so well that when they won by only five points against Abilene last weekend, observers reacted with concern.

“People want to say 'What happened?' We played an excellent team. They were number four in the state and they should have been number two,” Daniel said. “It says something about our coaches that we can come out with a win in a game like that.”

Up next is a rematch with Denton Ryan in the regional finals. Daniel went wild as Carroll pounded Ryan 52-27 on national television earlier this season.

“They're a tough team, they have my whole attention. They're a well coached team with Joey Florence and they're going to be gunning for us,” Daniel said. “They had to have been pretty mad on national TV, I wouldn't say we embarassed them, but we handed it to them pretty well.”

Despite all this, despite running his record as a starting quarterback to 28-and-1 while accounting for 4,954 yards of total offense and 61 touchdowns, Daniel is taking on other duties as well. He's turned into one of Missouri's most ardent recruiters.

“Coach (David) Yost has been calling me, I talked to him today,” Daniel said. “I asked him to give me some numbers of some big time recruits, any of the recruits that come up and have any questions about Missouri, I want them to call and ask me. And Coach Yost said there have been some recruits that have been asking questions and asking about me.”

“I hope that they know if they come here on the offensive side of the ball, when it's my turn, I'm going to lead this team to a Big 12 championship and then hopefully get a shot at a BCS bowl and maybe a national championship,” he continued. “That's what a quarterback should do—lead. And it all starts before you even step on the field, getting some numbers and getting the best recruiting class we possibly can and having a shot at a Big 12 North championship and a BCS bowl and all those things.”

Daniel has his eyes on one recruit in particular he'd like the Tigers to get. The quarterback has been friends with Mansfield Summit running back Kestahn Moore for 12 years since their days of playing Bantam League football on the same team.

"Oh my God,” Daniel said when asked what kind of a back Moore was. “He's seriously one of the best backs I've ever seen play and that says a lot. I think he is a rare, rare combination of power and strength and speed. You don't really find that in most backs. He's fast enough to juke you, tough enough to run you over. He is a rare combination that I haven't seen much in a long time.”

Tiger linebacker coach Dave Steckel will be in Daniel's home for a visit on Wednesday night. He's headed to Moore's house the next night.

“With (Damien) Nash leaving and stuff like that, it becomes a prerogative that we get him,” Daniel said. “He's probably going to come up with me (for an official visit) in early January. How great would it be to have a guy that I know and who is a back like that?”

Moore ran for 1,389 yards and 19 touchdowns this season and added 389 yards and four touchdowns receiving. Daniel and Carroll kick off at 1:00 p.m. Saturday at Texas Stadium against Denton Ryan.

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