Wikipedia says, “A late bloomer is a person whose talents or capabilities are not visible to others until later than usual.” Need a photo to go with that? Just look at class of 2018 Camarillo’s Jonathan Daniels.
Imagine busting your leg the summer going into your senior year of high school, straining your ACL to be exact. Not being able to play AAU ball, even able to help out, or show out for the Cali Elite AAU squad.
I’d cry like a baby, but not J-Daniels. That just made him hungry.
Imagine going to Taft, where your older brother Deandre Daniels was a star and went off to UCONN and helped power them to a National NCAA Chip in 2013 and being drafted into the NBA. Pressure? What do you think?
How would you feel not being successful at the forward position playing for Taft, wishing to play guard, knowing that you’d never get that shot because your school’s PG was flowing and eventually signed with Virginia?
J-Daniels, he’s just a cool kid to know. Respectful, calm, and focused. He wished everyone good luck as he left Taft, and just slid over to Camarillo. The Result?
Daniels is now in that rare club of prospects I’ve ever seen: he COMPLETELY turned his game ALL THE WAY UP, playing in position as a 6-4, strong 200 lb combo guard.
I mention Jonathan’s name with dudes I know personally. Like Bobby Brown who was not recruited as a senior at Westchester but a few months later he’s at Fullerton and onto the NBA; Jerry Jefferson, going from top 150 to top 10 and going to USC in mere months; D’Andre Bell, ranked 257 to getting picked up by Georgia Tech; James Ennis, from no scholly offer to Long Beach State and the NBA.
And now I mention Jonathan Daniels’ name alongside theirs? Wha, wha, why, how could you E-Woods?
Jonathan Daniels had this heart to heart talk convo with highly skilled Camarillo teammate Jaime Jaquez right before the season started.
They promised each other they could combine to help Camarillo beat anybody, they could spark plug their teammates to victory. They love their teammates and they love winning that much.
Playing their season opener against highly rated SoCal powerhouse Sierra Canyon, dang, Jonathan looked like "the takeover." Wap wap 3’s where needed, double behind the back drives on Scottie Pippen Jr. (click on link below), hustle block shot after block shot, rebound, lock up D.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gz3_qNLcfjs
He believed in himself enough to efficiently score 18 points out of the team total 55. Along with Jaquez who scored 17 they barely got beat by a bucket, 57-55, overcoming all the expectations. 100
Jonathan isn’t made of flesh, he’s made of silicon, nickel, and iron - super heated by hot burning oxygen traversing at a high altitude through the atmosphere.
It's because dude’s not a dude anymore, he is the composition of a meteorite nowadays, scoring 20 points and grabbing 9 rebounds in Camarillo's latest game against Warrior Classic Tournament host Heritage Christian.
So it seems he’s just getting started.
So being highly ranked as a freshman isn’t everything. There’s always that one kid who figures it all out at the end, catches fire, that shoots up their recruiting stock like a flaming piece of rock across the night sky.
This is not Hailey’s Comet 2018, its name is Jonathan Daniels.
His strong yet agile physique, his step to the rim, and his outside shooting have always been there inside him, ready to come out. So what has brought it out, what’s changed?
Hear Daniels speak on it, “I loved my Taft teammates, loved that school. I’m proud of my family, appreciate my big brother Deandre. But I’m realizing that I need to make my own name, at my own school, that’s the key for me.
“It’s been a blessing to be at Camarillo. The coaches, players, everyone on campus welcomed me like family. I just want to repay that kindness by helping them win, show we are a force this season. I’m playing with more confidence and thinking this is the start of bigger things to come.”
Other kids might’ve given up on “being the man“ going into their senior year, checked out, given up on themselves. But not dudes like B-Brown, J-Jefferson, D-Bell, J-Ennis.
And not Jonathan Daniels.
Have you ever looked into the eyes of a shooting meteorite? I have, their eyes ablaze with the pain of being passed over, now engulfed with this unmistakable look on their face. Sometimes a quiet storm, sometimes a loud fury to be that “takeover", earn that respect, yezzzzir!
Jonathan kept his dreams going, kept working out with Olin Simplis. He held true to that vision of success on the court, getting past an injury to live up to the Daniels name on his own terms, in his own time.
I’ve seen J-Daniels first hand these past few months in the lab kicking it into overdrive with late night shooting sessions at his local gym, playing vs. 6-6 high flying Jaime Jaquez at Cam high in practice.
That has seemed to unlock his potential and now he’s captured the attention of SoCal insiders like LA Times sportswriter Eric Sondheimer, who commented that Daniels had a “terrific“ game vs Sierra Canyon.
Basketball insider Jack Pollon said J-Daniels “is a huge addition for Camarillo.“ Now we can use our imagination to predict his season.
Daniels’ recruitment has picked up as a result, with a hand full of G-SAC and Big West schools starting to recruit him as of late.
Where does this late blooming player with good grades see himself in college? “I’m still open in my recruitment. Pursuing a career in computer science is my goal. In terms of basketball, I’m looking for a program that sees I can help now that I’m 100% healthy and able to produce on the court for their program. I really feel I have a good groove going that will carry over into college, it’s all coming together now.”
It’s such a coincidence that one of J-Daniels’ fav songs is Ready or Not, by the Fugees because that’s one of my fav songs too.
Jonathan’s game lately? As smooth and sublime as Lauryn Hill’s voice. Jonathan’s delivery in the crunch is just like Wyclef Jean’s technique: unmistakable.
Want to know the lyrics to the song that rep Mr Jonathan? Look into his eyes. His pupils have become the master of his destiny, his song reads as such:
“Ready or not, here I come, you can't hide...
Gonna find you and make you want me
Now that I escape, sleepwalker awake
Those who could relate know the world ain't cake.”
The world is definitely not cake, but right now it is for Mr Jonathan. He escaped the sleepwalking nightmare of underachievement and replaced it with capturing the imagination of what his season just might become for him as that late bloomer of 2018.
