The last time James Daniels saw Mitch Trubisky, the Bears quarterback was “tearing apart” Daniels’ high school in the Ohio state playoffs.

When the two see each other next, Daniels will be preparing block for Trubisky. The Bears drafted Daniels with the 39th pick of the 2018 NFL Draft. The plan now, per Ryan Pace, is to have Daniels — a college center — work at left guard while keeping Cody Whitehair at center.

Daniels, then a sophomore at Warren G. Harding, watched from his center position as Trubisky, a senior for Mentor, threw for 356 yards and five touchdowns while running for 95 yards and a score.

“It’s actually funny. My sophomore year in high school, I’m from Warren, Ohio, he was a senior at Mentor High School. We played his team in the first round of the playoffs and he just tore us apart,” Daniels said on a conference call. “He had like 500 total yards against us and we lost 42-35. When he went to college, I was involved just because you always like to see players I played against in high school do good in college and when he got drafted by the Bears last year I was excited for him because he really tore my high school team apart.”

Considered by some to be the best center in the draft, Daniels watched Thursday night as fellow centers Billy Price and Frank Ragnow were picked in the first round. He was unfazed by the extra wait time.

“It was pretty fun, watching the draft and seeing players that I was at the combine with, from high school,” Daniels said. “It was very cool seeing players I know and I grew up with and coming out and living the dream. It was just amazing. … My grade when I left Iowa, the advisers gave me a second-round grade, so I went pretty much exactly where I thought I was going to go.”

Despite Daniels being a top-rated center, Pace, Harry Hiestand and Matt Nagy view him as a guard, but they value his position versatility, like Whitehair’s.

“One of the better interior linemen on our board. We value his position versatility,” Pace said. “That’s his strength. We believe he has that. Our plan right now is to start him off as guard as his first position, cross-train him at center. Things that stand out with this player is quickness, leverage, balance, excellent technique in pass protection, a guy our scouts and coaches all valued highly, obviously. We’re all on the same page on this one and we’re excited to add him.”

The 6-foot-3 3/8, 306-pounder started 25 games in his three seasons in Iowa City — 23 of those came at center the past two seasons and two at left guard in 2015. He has 33 3/4-inch arms. Daniels underwent surgery to repair a partially torn meniscus following the 2015 season. In 2017, he was named to the Academic All-Big Ten team.

Daniels was the first true freshman to start on Iowa’s offensive line since Bryan Bulaga. He’s the first Hawkeye drafted to the Bears since Bill Anderson, another center, in 1990.

“It really means a lot to me that the Bears took the time to scout me and put a lot of work and resources into drafting me,” said Daniels, who visited the Bears during the pre-draft process. “The draft costs a lot, players cost a lot. It’s a business decision. For them to take a chance on me, I really appreciate what they’ve done.”

Daniels is only 20 — he turns 21 in September. He isn’t much younger than Trubisky, the team’s franchise quarterback. He’ll join Whitehair and Kyle Long on the interior of the Bears’ O-line.

“He’s young — he’s only 20 years old. Again, he’s very athletic,” Pace said. “He plays with very good pad level. He’s very quick off the ball. Very good technique — like a lot of Iowa offensive linemen. It’s a guy that Harry was really passionate about, too. We feel like there’s still a lot of upside ahead of this player, as young as he is. One thing that jumps out with these guys, too, is you see these offensive linemen kinda get caught in awkward positions. He has the ability to kinda recover and maintain his balance. Where some guys awkwardly go down in those moments, he doesn’t do that.”

Hiestand, a renowned offensive line coach, certainly had a say in Daniels being projected as an NFL guard, at least in this offense.

When Daniels reports to Halas Hall, he’ll reconnect with Trubisky and this time he’ll be rooting for Trubisky to “tear apart” opposing defenses.