How LeShun Daniels became a running back and a Hawkeye

IOWA CITY - So, now Mocha Daniels has a scholarship offer from Iowa. That's LeShun and James Daniels' family dog. They have a little brother, too, and Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said Tuesday that, you bet, Iowa is interested in the little brother, his name is Ellis.

Then Ferentz caught himself. NCAA rules are strict about coaches talking about recruits by name. Ferentz had an out and he took it.

'We've got our eye on him, too,” Ferentz said. 'That was probably a violation. I was talking about the dog.”

Welcome aboard, Mocha Daniels.

Back in reality, LeShun Daniels Sr. has two sons who have contributed to the No. 5 Hawkeyes' brilliant season. James is his father's son, playing guard and subbing some at tackle and pretty much everywhere except center this season as a true freshman. LeShun Daniels Jr. didn't follow the offensive lineman path his father cut at Ohio State. LeShun Daniels Sr. played guard on three of the more decorated offensive lines in Ohio State history from 1994-96, groups that featured the late Korey Stringer at right tackle ('94) and Orlando Pace at left tackle all three of those seasons.

Alas, LeShun Daniels Jr. wasn't going to cut it as an O-lineman. He's a little on the short side at 6-0 and he's . . .

'LeShun is too fast, first of all, to be a lineman,” Ferentz said.

This is where Minnesota begrudgingly raises its hand and agrees. It saw a full-go Daniels last Saturday night, when the junior from Warren, Ohio, rushed for a career-high 195 yards and scored three TDs, including a 51-yard clincher that pushed Iowa (10-0, 6-0 Big Ten) to its first 10-0 record in school history.

Daniels enters this week's game against Purdue (2-8, 1-5) listed as co-starter with senior Jordan Canzeri on an Iowa running back depth chart that is churning at a very high level (1,734 yards and 24 TDs). Math and production tells you that the running backs know they have to stay centered and not let the good performances go to their heads.

'I played OK on Saturday, but throughout the week, I start signing off on Facebook and social media,” said Daniels, who has 559 yards and six TDs. 'I have to stay focused. Last week is last week. That game is over. I have to focus on preparing for Purdue.”

Still, Daniels showed last Saturday what the Iowa staff saw in August when it named him the starter and said he would be the 20-carry back.

'He went off and had some great runs,” guard Jordan Walsh said. 'He wasn't going down for anybody. You see that as an offensive lineman, you like that. You want to block for him.”

Daniels, a 6-0, 225-pound junior, said Tuesday that, yes, maybe, kind of he was on an offensive/defensive lineman track in his early football days. He did play the O-line until seventh grade, totally because he was too heavy to play a skill position in youth football. He finally got to seventh grade and immediately raised his hand for running back.

In sixth grade, Leshun Jr. started running track. It turned out that he was pretty fast. He also could feel that his height was stalling out in the 6-foot range.

'When James (who's 6-4, 285) was in sixth grade, he was huge, like way bigger than I was,” LeShun said. 'At that point, I kind of knew I was going to play linebacker or running back. Running back happened to stick.”

He raised his hand to play running back. Then, the Daniels family lived in DeKalb, Ill. On his first carry at Clinton Rosette Middle School, Daniels bolted for what he estimated as a 40-yard TD.

'That was fun,” he said with a laugh. 'It was a great feeling to go out there and scored like that on your first carry. It was a normal toss play, I just ran to the outside and scored.”

At that point, O-lineman and linebacker thoughts were gone. He rushed for 406 yards and five touchdowns as a sophomore at DeKalb High School. The family moved to Warren, and LeShun gained 2,522 yards and scored 22 TDs in two seasons at Harding High School.

'My junior year it started to hit, that's when recruiting started happening,” Daniels said. 'I thought, I can actually play this, get an education and see where this takes me.”

Maybe none of this ever happens if Ohio State offers. Maybe neither of the Daniels brothers makes it to Iowa if the Buckeyes offered LeShun (Ohio State and Alabama did offer James, by the way). Ohio State didn't. It's not maybe a recruiting advantage that you want to advertise, but whatever works.

'It was easy, they didn't offer him,” Ferentz deadpanned. 'It was simple. I think that helped.”

LeShun said when he dad visited Iowa with him and meet Ferentz and offensive line coach Brian Ferentz, everything just clicked.

'He had a nice connection with them and obviously, my brother and I did, too,” LeShun said. 'I really just think it was a good little mesh.”

Maybe Iowa goes for the trifecta Daniels crew with the younger brother. Or, wait, the dog, Ferentz was definitely talking about the dog.

Mocha is a vizsla, by the way. Cut on a dime, long-strider, good frisbee catcher.

l Comments: (319) 398-8256; marc.morehouse@thegazette.com