Daniels Quick to Measure Up

With a heat-seeking combination of speed and fury, Derrell Daniels stuck his helmet into dozens of ball carriers as the centerpiece of Sylmar High’s defense last football season.

But almost from the time Daniels signed a letter of intent with Washington, he began to have doubts about taking his game to the next level.

His concerns were understandable. At 6 feet 1 and 210 pounds, the nimble linebacker isn’t exactly the second coming of Lawrence Taylor from a physical standpoint.

“I was thinking, when I go to Washington and I see a big old 6-6 guard pulling at me, how am I going to handle it?” Daniels said.

Daniels found the answer during the first few days of practice with the California team for the Shrine All-Star game. Although all of the offensive linemen are big and headed to Division I colleges, Daniels learned fast that quickness is an effective equalizer.

“I’ll just go the other way,” he said, smacking his hands together for emphasis.

Daniels hopes to put his elusiveness to good use when the state’s premier players take on their counterparts from Texas at 7 p.m. Saturday at Cal State Fullerton. Ensconced at the California team’s camp at Biola University, he has been practicing at three linebacker positions while making friends and earning the respect of his coaches from Oak Grove High in San Jose.

“He’s a very respectful kid and very well-behaved,” said Herb Lee, the defensive coordinator. “Sometimes when you get kids of this caliber, you get attitudes. He has no attitude. He’s a team player.”

A year ago, however, no amount of guile or charm could keep the likable Daniels from the center of controversy.

Sylmar Coach Jeff Engilman was suspended for the first two games of the 1996 season by the City Section because he had illegal contact with Daniels, a magnet-school transfer from San Fernando who was not yet enrolled at Sylmar.

Engilman and Daniels insisted they merely shook hands in the Sylmar weight room, where the player had come for a spring workout.

“I don’t think I was wrong,” Engilman said. “I was at my own school.”

Said Daniels: “I don’t think he should have been suspended. I was in his weight room. It’s not like he came to my house and my mom made him dinner.”

Sean Blunt doesn’t see it that way. The San Fernando football coach claims there were improper overtures made by Engilman toward Daniels.

“There were some things that were not right,” Blunt said. “From what we were told by [Daniels], [Engilman] was recruiting him.”

If Daniels’ transfer alienated people at his old school, he soon found the suspension of Engilman had a similar effect at Sylmar. Walking around campus, he heard the whispers: “That’s the guy who got Coach in trouble.”

“Sometimes I would turn around and people would be staring at me,” Daniels said. “But after a while, it died down. At first, I was afraid to talk to some people because I thought they would shun me.”

Daniels came to Sylmar hoping that by playing for a more successful team, he would attract more college recruiters. He also visited California, Arizona and Oregon State before picking Washington based on the school’s environment and close proximity to downtown Seattle and the city’s professional sports teams--the Seahawks, SuperSonics and Mariners.

What Daniels didn’t count on was having his playing style overhauled by Engilman and his staff.

“The first day I practiced at Sylmar, [Engilman] changed my stance, he changed my drop, he changed everything,” Daniels said. “At first I was like, if I knew I was going to go through all of this, I probably would have just stayed at San Fernando.

“After a while, I realized he was just trying to make me a better player.”

Engilman’s work paid off. Daniels was the leading tackler on a defense that frequently had to carry the load for a sputtering offense. Despite 18 tackles by Daniels, Sylmar (8-3) bowed out in the first round of the City Section 4-A Division playoffs with a 28-13 loss to Narbonne.

Daniels, who played in a regional all-star game in June matching players from the City and Southern sections, said he initially wasn’t interested in playing in the Shrine game but changed his mind after talking with family and friends.

“As long as I knew I made [the team], I didn’t care about playing,” he said. “But my parents wanted me to play. Then [Engilman] and other people started asking me about it. After all that, I didn’t want to let them down. I wanted to represent Sylmar.”

Lee, in charge of the California defense, said Daniels’ experience and intelligence prompted him to give the linebacker three assignments in practice--strong-side inside linebacker, strong-side end and weak-side outside linebacker.

“If we have something happen, we can move him to different positions,” Lee said.

Because of his size and versatility, Daniels believes he might be groomed to play rover--a position similar to safety--at Washington. He played outside linebacker for two seasons at San Fernando before switching to the inside at Sylmar.

Lee said any of the California team’s six linebackers are capable of starting in Saturday’s game. Of course, Daniels already discovered that.

“Me and the other linebackers are all about the same talent,” he said. “We’re just different sizes, that’s all.”

And as Daniels will tell you, size isn’t everything.