Football runs in Daniels family

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DeKALB – Since he was six years old, Kiaree Daniels has been a football player.

It’s what he’s known.

Having a former college football player as a father can do that.

Willie Daniels would take his kids to a high school football game every night. And when his alma mater (Florida A&M) would face Bethune-Cookman in the Kickoff Classic, they would be there too.

After such an early start in the game, the Daniels family is about to have three kids playing college football next fall.

Kiaree, a junior college transfer defensive back at Northern Illinois, showed a little of what his father taught him in Saturday’s 38-3 win over Western Michigan. And he also showed a little of the speed that his mother, Sharon, a former track and field runner at South Carolina, might have passed on.

He intercepted a pass and had four individual tackles, showing the ball-hawking ability that helped him come up with an all-important fumble recovery off a punt late in the first half of the Huskies’ win over Purdue two weeks ago.

Kiaree’s older brother Rashad, a junior wide receiver at Murray State, had a bye week but has three catches for 40 this season.

On Friday night, his youngest brother Akeem ran for 84 yards, two touchdowns and an interception in Osceola (Kissimee, Fla.) High School’s 31-0 win over Harmony. Next year, Akeem will likely join his brothers somewhere in the college ranks.

“I still remember getting out of bed at six years old and playing with my dad,” Kiaree said. “Next year, that’s going to me real great.”

Coming off a loss to Idaho where the Vandals passed for 270 yards, Daniels and the secondary had something to prove. After holding pro prospect quarterback Tim Hiller to 178 yards with three interceptions, they went a long way toward proving it.

“We were more focused and came out with energy, setting the tone from the first snap,” said cornerback Patrick George, who also had an interception in the game. “We made the receivers know we were going to be right there wherever they go.”

At NIU, it wasn’t all new faces for Daniels. Cornerback Chris Smith, another former Highland Community College player recruited by NIU linebackers coach Tom Matukewicz, has now joined Daniels in the defensive backfield.

“That’s my boy, it’s good to play with Chris and have him as a teammate,” Daniels said. “We have a chemistry between us.”