A shade over a year ago, Aug. 19 to be precise, the DaVaris Daniels Show opened out of town, inside B.C. Place, to boffo reviews.

A year less a day later, the Calgary Stampeders trek back to the Lions Den out west-coast way, where it began for the elegant, acrobatic pass-catcher out of Vernon Hills, Ill.

A virtual Nureyev in shoulder pads, the graduate of  Notre Dame jumped off the practice roster and into the imagination of CFL partisans through the closing 11 games of 2016, hauling in 51 passes for 805 yards, a 17.4-yard average and nine TDs on his way to the CFL’s Most Outstanding Rookie prize.

Many of his receptions left gawking onlookers scraping their chins off pavement in amazement.

This, by comparison, has been a solid but quiet follow-up to such a scintillating introductory campaign: 22 receptions for 361 yards and a pair of majors in six starts (Week 2 was spent on the injured list).

“They’re focusing on D.D. more this year,’’ explains QB Bo Levi Mitchell. “He gets extra attention because of what he did last year and his obvious ability.

“It’s my job to be the point guard, to get him the ball when it’s there.

“Hey, I try and find the guy that’s open. Like Dan Marino said: ‘Don’t make reads. Just find the guy that’s open and get him the ball.’

“But D.D., man, he’s someone who can change a game. He’s one of those guys I know I can trust to go up and make a play.”

With Kamar Jorden languishing on the six-game injury list after sustaining a knee injury and further sobering news Sunday that wideout Lemar Durant, enjoying a breakout start to this campaign, faces an extended period out of commission, the time should be at hand for Daniels to once again set CFL stadiums alight.

When Jorden went down during the 60-1 defiling of the Hamilton Tiger Cats, the 24-year-old wideout was shifted inside to slot from his natural position out wide.

The change in nuance has taken some getting used to.

“I’m in there, playing a new position, K.J.’s position and it’s a little different,’’ says Daniels. “Being inside, I have to worry about blocking a lot more, about picking up linebackers and stuff like that.

“As of right now, I’m not concerned with anything but just trying to get better.

“I know how the game is played, I know how teams are playing us this year as opposed to last year. I know the variables that go into it.

“We’re definitely starting to click now. It’s tough about K.J. and Lemar but with this team, it’s always about next-man-up.”

When asked if he missed the wide-open spaces of being perched on the outside instead of the more suffocating confines of slotback, Daniels smiled.

“I do. But with the downhill motion I get a little more space than I would’ve thought when I moved inside.”

Given his sudden, explosive impact a year ago, expectations for Daniels were off the charts heading into 2017.

“We talked about it coming into the season,’’ acknowledged Calgary receivers coach Pete Costanza. “With all the love he was getting, how he came in relatively unknown last year and what that all means.

“You can’t listen to to predictions. Not from TSN, not from the rest of the media. They look at your numbers and then they project. That’s their job. Leave them to it. Your job is to be the best receiver you can for this team.

“I told him just go out there and prepare. Do that and the catches will come, the big games will come.

“With K.J. down, do we need him to step up? Yeah. K.J. was having a great year, putting up big numbers.

“But we need all our receivers to step up.”

Given the crucial stretch upcoming in the Stamps’ grand plan to replicate a first-place finish in the tightly balanced West Division, particularly in the face of losing receivers the calibre of Jorden and Durant, look for the DaVaris Daniels Show to be back in a primetime air slot again.

“Whoever picks up the slack,’’ reckons Daniels, “that’s fine. I want to help this team, any way I can. If that means catching 10 passes or two.

“Catches are great. But wins are better. That’s what we’re all about here.”