‘One day, the ball will stop’: From urban Chicago to College Park, Bri McDaniel’s love for farm animals has only grown stronger

Bri McDaniel grew up on the west side of Chicago, in a small home surrounded by brick apartments with the skyline of Chicago appearing in the distance.

McDaniel attended Kenwood Academy, a high school with a total enrollment of 2,028 students that’s less than 20 minutes away from the Willis Tower.

Chicago is the epitome of an urban city, with a population of over two million people. The lack of agricultural life is apparent when one walks through the crowded streets.

So, when McDaniel tells people that one of her passions in life is farm animals, people look at her like she’s crazy.

“My siblings are like, ‘Why do you want to work with horses and pigs,'” McDaniel said with a chuckle. “I just tell them, ‘You have your things, let me do my thing.'”

Yet for McDaniel, her love for animals emerged when she visited her family farm in Tennessee at a young age. Chicago is not native to many farms, so when McDaniel walked up to the big barn house for the first time at the age of 12, she had no idea what she was about to encounter.

“It was mind-blowing because I was like, ‘Wow, I’m next to a cow, and now I get to feed a horse for the first time,'” McDaniel said.

The farm in Tennessee soon became McDaniel’s home away from home, as she would wake up early to work on the farm with the rest of her family.

“Bri has never been a real morning person, but on the farm, she was up, dressed, and ready at 6 a.m. every time,” Shamona McDaniel, McDaniel’s mother, said.

In fact, she would even shock her parents with her love for animals and knowledge of the farm, even if it scared them.

“They took all the bulls to the middle of the pasture and asked Bri to grab the bulls’ tail,” Adrian McDaniel, McDaniel’s father, said. “She’s holding it, and she helps him neuter the bull, even though she had never done it before … we knew she wanted to be a veterinarian at that point.”

McDaniel comes from a family of six and is the youngest of her three siblings. Both of her parents are high school basketball coaches in the area.

McDaniel and her siblings would get into tussles — as many siblings do when playing sports — and would often come into the house upset with each other. Her parents, however, would assure them they were fine and would send them back out to play.

Eventually, her parents realized their youngest daughter had serious talent, along with some spunk.

“One game she was having a pretty rough go of it, so I told the coaches to sit her,” Adrian said. “She was mad, but she later comes down and asks me if she could go back in. I let her in, and she just demolished this team we were playing.”

As the youngest member of the family began to take center stage, her talent began to shine through. At Kenwood Academy, McDaniel became a star. McDaniel averaged 16.0 points, 6.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists throughout her high school career.

Her game soon put the nation on notice, as she was the No. 42 player in ESPN’s Class of 2022. McDaniel eventually committed to Texas A&M, a decision in which her second passion played a huge role.

A&M is known for its great agriculture school, as the school is consistently ranked in the top ten of agricultural programs.

However, a coaching change made McDaniel hesitant to attend Texas A&M, and she eventually decommitted from the Aggies in April. Not soon after, Brenda Frese came calling.

“Bri came into our program as one of our best defenders already, and she is so much further along than any of us could imagine,” Frese said.

McDaniel soon committed to the Terps, but not after doing some research on the agriculture program. Maryland has a very impressive agriculture school, as a recent ranking by College Factual put the agriculture program at No. 9 in the country.

Additionally, McDaniel discovered the farm on Maryland’s campus. The farm and XFINITY Center are nearly connected, which serves as a symbolic tie between her two passions.

“We got out to Maryland as fast as we could after I decommitted, and I got to see the farm, and I just felt great about the place,” McDaniel said.

McDaniel’s father felt the same way.

“One of the biggest deciding factors for Maryland was the fact that they have a farm literally in the middle of campus,” Adrian said.

Now, her time at the agricultural school has led her to a bounty of opportunities.

“I have a lab class where we go to the farm and work with all the farm animals,” McDaniel said.

Recently, McDaniel discovered a new farming technique that stunned her.

“I got to milk a cow, which was so mind-blowing,” McDaniel said. “I thought you were just pulling the cow, but now I learned there is a whole process.”

Her love for animals is something she takes pride in, as she referenced her hope to become a livestock veterinarian in the future.

On the court, Frese has certainly been impressed by McDaniel’s performance. McDaniels has impressed greatly in practice and in her opening game against George Mason, dropped 13 points on an efficient shooting night.

“Bri’s going to be special, I cannot believe she is a freshman,” Frese said. “She looks like a veteran, and we are going to need her to play that way consistently.”

As Maryland continues to establish itself as a Big Ten contender, it will rely on new faces like McDaniel to provide lineup stability. McDaniel has emerged as a key bench component in the early going, having logged minutes in all five Maryland games thus far.

Between playing for a major basketball powerhouse and studying how to care for horses and cows, McDaniel’s schedule is filled to the brim.

Therefore, McDaniel hopes to return to the farm once the season is over, eventually settling down in Tennessee after her other life aspirations are completed. McDaniel spoke about her hopes of coaching and returning to her old high school to help out her community. Yet, when the time comes, she knows she will have the farm to return to as well.

In fact, the next time she goes to the farm, she hopes to bring teammate Brinae Alexander, whose home is nearby.

“I am trying to convince her to go with me,” McDaniel said with a laugh.

McDaniel seems to have a unique grasp on the situation as a student-athlete, and as a freshman, understands what the next chapters of her life may entail.

“One day the ball will stop, so I know I have to have something that I can go back to and work on,” McDaniel said.