Mike Daniels (American football)

Mike Daniels (born May 5, 1989) is an American football defensive end for the Green Bay Packers. He played college football for the Iowa Hawkeyes and was drafted in the fourth round (132nd) overall in the 2012 NFL Draft.

Early years
Daniels was born in Stratford, New Jersey to Carlene and Michael Daniels. He attended Highland Regional High School in New Jersey where he played running back and defensive tackle. During his sophomore year, he had 41 tackles and six sacks. In his junior year he had 84 tackles and nine sacks. During his senior year, Daniels had 97 tackles and 12 sacks, which earned him first team all-conference honors. He was also twice named a team captain and rushed for 2,203 yards in his career while scoring 25 touchdowns.

Recruitment
Daniels was considered a two-star prospect by Rivals.com. His height was listed at six feet one inches and 230 pounds. His 40-yard dash was listed at 4.6 seconds; he bench-pressed a maximum of 300 pounds and squatted 600 pounds. Daniels was not highly recruited out of high school and only received scholarship offers from Iowa and Temple. When he was asked about why no one knew about him coming out of high school, he replied, "honestly, I don't know".

Iowa
Daniels chose to play football at Iowa and was redshirted during his freshman year. When the redshirt expired the following year, he was not listed on the depth chart after spring practice but still managed to get the first sack of his college career in a game against the Florida International University Golden Panthers, in which he also had two solo tackles and an assisted tackle.

During his sophomore year, Daniels played in all 13 games, and had 10 tackles including 1.5 for a loss.

In his junior year with the Hawkeyes, Daniels played in every game and started eight of them. During a game against Ball State, he was awarded a career-best six tackles (four solo), as well as four more tackles for a loss and a sack. His performance earned him Big Ten co-Defensive Player of the week honors. At the end of the season, he earned a spot on the honorable mention All-Big Ten team by the coaches and media.

During the final season of his college career, Daniels was named to the Pony Express Award preseason watch list. Additionally, he was named a third team All-Big 10 by Phil Steele. During the season, he started all 13 games at defensive tackle and led the team in tackles for loss and sacks. He also recorded 32 solo tackles. During the season opener against Tennessee Tech, he recorded one solo tackles and one assist. When the Hawkeyes competed against Nebraska, Daniels matched his career high of nine tackles. His performance in his final year earned him a spot on the second team all-Big Ten team by the coaches and media.

Daniels graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in sociology.

Scouting
Scouts praised that Daniels for being "quick off the ball" and using "his small frame to work between blockers". They also stated that he had good instincts and could understand offensive schemes and beat them. His size was often criticized because he was often beaten by larger blockers.

Green Bay Packers
Daniels was selected in the fourth round (132nd overall) by the Green Bay Packers who first noticed him a year before when looking at other defensive linemen from Iowa. Defensive coordinator Dom Capers commented that "The thing that jumps out at me is the way he plays the game." He scored his first touchdown on December 9, 2012 against the Lions after recovering a fumble by Matthew Stafford.