It might be best to describe junior wide receiver Daniel Arias as a guy who's never quite graduated from the "showing flashes" stage of his collegiate career.
In other words, Arias has made some nice catches throughout his time in Boulder, yet, any reflection of his career to date with the Buffs is incomplete without acknowledging the struggles he's faced at times in reeling in passes and avoiding costly drops in general.
Arias has displayed the kind of receiver he has the potential to be, putting his 6-foot-4 frame to good use in hauling in a touchdown pass at Washington in 2018 (which was his first college reception) as a true freshman.
In CU's 2019 Spring Game, Arias was undoubtedly one of the MVPs, as he recorded seven catches, 138 yards and two touchdowns.
However, that fall, he had a costly mishap on third down, failing to come down with a deep pass from Steven Montez that almost certainly could have been a touchdown early in what turned out to be a 35-30 loss to Arizona.
Given the aforementioned context, and coupled with a once again deep wide receivers room full, one would not be out of line in suggesting that time may well be running out for Arias to establish himself as a guy who can deliver regularly and consistently.
Last fall, he totaled five catches for 88 yards in the regular season plus another grab for 17 yards in the Valero Alamo Bowl.
While guys to Arias' left and right such as: fellow juniors Jaylon Jackson and Maurice Bell, sophomore Dimitri Stanley, freshmen Vontae Shenault, Montana Lemonious-Craig, Brenden Rice, Keith Miller III and Chris Carpenter as well as incoming freshmen Chase Penry and Ty Robinson are all looking to factor into the equation by the time of this fall, Arias himself has had a spring thus far that's impressed Karl Dorrell.
"He’s, to me, a completely different player than what I saw in the fall," Dorrell said. "Not knowing him all that much in the fall, I saw this big, athletic kid that’s strong and fast, but I didn’t see the assertiveness of him being confident that he knew what he was doing. That’s completely changed when you watch him now. He’s strong and big and he’s having a really good camp.”
Ultimately, this is not the first report about Arias having a good spring or fall camp.
His objective will need to be translating that when it matters come the fall and putting everything together.
That being said, a 31-yard touchdown pass he caught from JT Shrout did much to wet the appetite once more in terms of what Arias is capable of.
For Dorrell, Arias is having the kind of spring that suggests he's on pace to have that long-awaited breakout campaign in 2021.
“You can tell every time he’s out in practice — he’s so much more confident, he’s so much more assertive — you’re seeing and feel his speed on the field," Dorrell said. "He’s a lot more comfortable now, knowing what his information is and what he needs to do to perform on the field."
