Dan Atencio was practically begging.

The De Anza College head football coach had an NFL-caliber player on his hands, but he couldn’t seem to find any Division I takers.

Robertson Daniel, an All-American safety spent an entire redshirt season, his third and final year at De Anza, studying to get his diploma, and waiting anxiously to get a call from a big-time college football program.

He waited and waited. And Antencio just kept pushing.

“They’d go, ‘Well, Coach, I don’t know’, and I’d say ‘he’s a junior college all-American in the state of California,’” Atencio said. “And unless you’ve done your homework, that’s not a bad conference.”

Daniel did all he could. He worked out, stayed in shape, and made videos showcasing his speed and ability to send to potential suitors.

And finally, when BYU’s Trent Trammell went down with an ACL tear in the spring, Atencio got the call from Cougars defensive coordinator Nick Howell. They had a need, and Daniel could fill it.

“Howell said ‘Dan, I think you’re right’, and I said ‘Nick, I know I’m right,’” Atencio recalled.

In just nine games, he’s proven everyone right. Asked to fill in as a cornerback when Jordan Johnson was lost for the season with an ACL injury, Daniel took on the brand-new role without fear, and delivered big time. The junior has 52 tackles, 39 on his own. He also forced a fumble against Georgia Tech on Oct. 12.

“If you have no confidence, you’re not going to cover anybody,” Daniel said. “That’s the thing about playing corner, you literally have to have the confidence of knowing you’re going to be out by yourself on an island covering a guy.”

Confidence is never something that Daniel has lacked. Maturity is a different story entirely. Daniel quit football before his senior season of high school was done, and didn’t have the grades to make it in Division I.

Before his final season ended, he couldn’t keep peace with his high school coach. Daniel would talk back to him, take a self-righteous attitude and refuse to display a work ethic that coincided with his natural ability.

“I do blame myself,” Daniel said. “Anything that happens in your life is on you, you’ve got to take responsibility for it. I could have handled everything a different way, but I chose not to.”

Playing at BYU, a school affiliated with the Mormon Church, not having maturity is not an option. Before he ever stepped on the football field, he got a wake-up call when the school made him relinquish his earrings.

The adjustment for Daniel was one that took some getting used to, but has been smooth. Howell said he had no fear playing Daniel the moment Johnson got hurt, knowing the type of athlete he had.

“With those junior college kids, you bring them out here to play,” Howell said. “You don’t bring them here to redshirt. If you go the junior college route, you’ve got an immediate need.

“When he got here and we watched him play, it just verified in our minds that we were right.”

But BYU was forced to take a chance. It risked getting the old Daniel. But instead it got the one who spent junior college to reflect on the mistakes he made in high school. They got the one that channeled an admittedly arrogant persona into a confidence, a swagger.

When he go the starting nod in his first Division I game against Virginia, there was no big conversation with the coach, there was no gloating.

There was just football.

“Along the way when you’re going through high school and junior college, you have doubts,” Daniel said. “But just finally being there, and being able to play the game that you love, I’ll never forget that day.”

Published on November 15, 2013 at 2:42 pm

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