WATCH: Sam James hauls in go ahead touchdown, salutes crowd in celebration

On3 imageby:Wade Peery09/22/22

West Virginia quarterback J.T. Daniels drove the Mountaineers down the field and connected with his receiver, Sam James, for a beautiful 24-yard touchdown strike in the middle of the end zone. The touchdown catch put the Mountaineers up on the Virginia Tech Hokies 13-7 with 11 seconds remaining in the first half. Following the score, James decided to salute the ROTC section of the Virginia Tech crowd in Blacksburg, Virginia.

Check it out.

WVU currently leads Virginia Tech at halftime, 13-7. James is a fifth-year senior and has hauled in over 1,670 receiving yards and 10 touchdowns in his career for the Mountaineers thus far. According to the On3 Consensus Rankings for the 2018 cycle, he was rated as the No. 140 wide receiver prospect in the country and a three-star prospect.

West Virginia quarterback J.T. Daniels has shown why he was a five-star quarterback in the 2018 cycle, according to the On3 Consensus Rankings. He was also rated as the No. 14 overall player in America in that class.

Daniels has been firing really accurate passes at different times throughout the game in the first half, despite very tight throwing lanes allowed by the Virginia Tech defense. The Hokies’ corners have been sticking to West Virginia Mountaineer receivers for much of the night. Mountaineers running back C.J. Donaldson has looked like the player we’ve seen the first few weeks of college football–a future superstar. He’s racked up 11 carries for 56 rushing yards in the first half and he’s been impressive to watch every time he touches the football.

Virginia Tech receiver Kaleb Smith hauled in a beautiful 28-yard touchdown catch from Grant Wells in the second quarter to put the Hokies up 7-3, but Daniels drove the Mountaineers back down the field later in the quarter on a six play, 70-yard drive that ended with the touchdown strike to Sam James.