Early life and college
Daniel attended Benjamin Elijah Mays High School, while earning All-conference and All-county honors in football and track as a senior. He walked-on at Florida A&M University, but was used mostly as a blocker in his freshman season.
The previous two years (1986 and 1987) the run-oriented offense averaged only around 70 passing yards per game, but over the following seasons with the arrival of quarterback Antoine "Tony" Ezell (who would become the school's all-time passing leader), the team averaged 238 passing yards per game. As a sophomore, he saw his first real production in the passing game, making 12 receptions for 198 yards and one touchdown.
In 1990, Daniel was the deep threat in a group of wide receivers known as the Stallions.[1] He posted 19 receptions for 512 yards and a conference leading 26.9 yard per catch, while helping the Rattlers win their first outright Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference championship with a 6-0 record in conference games. In his finest game as a collegian against Delaware State University, he set a school record with 152 receiving yards and 2 touchdowns on four receptions, breaking the old mark of 150 yards set by Ray Alexander against Howard University in 1983. In that game, Daniel had a 98-yard touchdown reception, the second-longest in school and conference history.
As a senior, he finished second on the team with a career-high 30 receptions (second on the team) and a career-high of 580 receiving yards (led the team) and 3 touchdowns. In the season opener against Tuskegee University, he had 3 receptions for 115 yards, including an 80-yard touchdown. In his final contest against Bethune–Cookman University, he had a single-game career-high of 9 receptions (second in school history) for 141 yards and one touchdown.
In his college career he recorded 61 receptions for 1,290 yards and 7 touchdowns. He averaged 21.1 yards per reception and a touchdown every 8.7 catches, contributing to four straight winning seasons.