Jayden Daniels’ current situation is much like the beginning of his college football career.  

Facing the inevitable departure of longtime starting quarterback Manny Wilkins after the 2017-18 season, Herm Edwards and the Arizona State coaching staff did what they could to prepare by recruiting three quarterbacks from the 2019 class. They recruited four-star Joey Yellen, three-star Ethan Long and of course, four-star Jayden Daniels. 

Alongside those three was Dillon Sterling-Cole, who backed up Wilkins for three seasons and registered a start as a freshman in 2016. Despite Sterling-Cole’s edge in experience, Edwards didn’t indicate anyone as a favorite initially, stating that the race was wide open.  

Similarly to LSU in 2022, the quarterback competition lasted most of the offseason. After a few months, the race went from four to two, with Daniels and Sterling-Cole coming out as the front runners. Come mid-August, Daniels was announced as the starting quarterback. 

Daniels recalled that quarterback competition in player interviews during fall camp, sporting a similar attitude to the quarterback room that he currently has with the Tigers. Even though they were competing, he did his best to form positive relationships with them. 

“Those are the guys you’re going to be with on the sidelines and talking to throughout meetings,” Daniels remarked. “You’ve got to be able to trust them, and they have to be able to trust [you].” 

Though Daniels has won every quarterback race, at least since his freshman year of high school, he’s never let those victories get to his head, striving to form good relationships with his quarterback rooms. He’s done a decent job so far, evident by the fact that the two quarterbacks he joined Arizona State with opted to stay until early 2022. 

Though the decision to start Daniels would initially pay off for the Sun Devils, with the then-freshman flourishing in the PAC-12 and improving the team’s previous record by a win, the fireworks wouldn’t last. Fast forward two seasons, and the team showed little improvement, following a promising 5-1 start with an embarrassing, midseason collapse that had it finishing with the same record as 2019. 

Among their disappointments was Daniels, whose second full season as a starter did not meet expectations. If you took seven of his touchdowns from his freshman season and converted them into interceptions, you would have his touchdown-to-interception ratio from 2021.  

With two years of eligibility remaining and controversy placing Arizona State football in jeopardy, he had two options: ride the ship to its impending doom or swim in search of better waters.

He took that decision to the next level though, opting to test his abilities at the highest difficulty and with the most eyes on him in the SEC. After less than three weeks in the portal, he became a Tiger.  

“The opportunity presented itself to compete at the highest level, against the best conference in college football in the SEC West,” Daniels said about the decision. “To be able to be around the top matches where I’m trying to go and where I’m trying to be.” 

Not only did he join a team in the toughest division in college football, he also wasn’t guaranteed the starting job despite his track record. He would have to compete with long-time backup Myles Brennan, up-and-coming redshirt freshman Garrett Nussmeier and five-star prospect Walker Howard, a near-identical spread to the one he dealt with at Arizona State. 

Brennan and Nussmeier had already proven they could hold their own as the starter in a limited capacity at the SEC level, and Howard impressed tremendously throughout the offseason. Though Howard quickly got marked off as a candidate, this was a three-man race through much of the offseason, and a tight one at that.  

Daniels considered this a plus in regard to what he’s trying to accomplish, as he sees it as another factor to help better himself. 

“I just want to help prepare them and help them prepare me because at the end of the day, whoever’s called to be the starter is going to be the starter,” Daniels said. “It’s a great quarterback room, one of the top in the country.” 

In an attempt to better himself, he risked losing a quarterback battle and potentially dropping his NFL draft stock. That doesn’t seem to bother him though, as he firmly believes that whoever gets the starting job will provide the team with the best chance to win. 

Even with Brennan departing halfway through fall camp, the race remained tight, with Brian Kelly and the LSU coaching staff not coming to a decision until about a week before kickoff. While Daniels has been consistently seen as the favorite lately, we won’t know until Sunday. 

The competition also isn’t technically over, with Kelly stating he wouldn’t be surprised if both players see the field this season.

Whatever is decided, it isn’t likely to damper either player’s motivation or their relationships with each other. According to both quarterbacks, the camaraderie in the quarterback room is strong, and neither has seen this as a competition.  

“That’s my little bro,” Daniels said about Nussmeier. “I know I’m trying to help prepare him because you never know what could occur at the end of the day.” 

“In the quarterback room, we’re going to need each other. It can’t be divided because we all have to be in the this together.”  

He’s had the same attitude regarding the quarterback room since the start of his college career, seeing the quarterback role as a team effort rather than an individual one. Throughout the press conference, he preached the importance of leadership, citing it as one of the aspects he has worked on the most. 

The decision to transfer to LSU was high-risk, high-reward, with Daniels potentially losing a sure starting job in pursuit of a better opportunity to prove himself a develop of his skillset. Whether or not he wins the role, he will still have a role with this team as a leader.