The best players in college football seem to come out of nowhere sometimes.
Everyone knows the impressive stories of players like Baker Mayfield, who went from a three-star walk-on at Texas Tech to a Heisman winner at Oklahoma, or Cam Newton, who was suspended from Florida and forced to retreat to the JUCO level before winning the Heisman at Auburn.
Those players overcame great odds to become Heisman winners. No one could’ve predicted they’d end up where they did, and that kind of unpredictability is often what sets college football apart.
At first glance, LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels doesn’t have that same long shot profile. A star recruit, he wasn’t buried on a depth chart for years when he made it to the college level; he’s started all but one game in his collegiate career.
However, his journey to New York as a Heisman finalist is markedly different from those that have come before him.
He wasn’t an unknown. He didn’t come out of nowhere; he came out of plain sight.
Daniels was the starter as soon as he walked onto a high school football field, leading the team for all of his four years at Cajon High School in San Bernardino, California.
As a recruit, he was ranked as the No. 35 player in the 2019 recruiting cycle by 247Sports, third among quarterbacks, behind only current South Carolina starter Spencer Rattler and fellow Heisman finalist Bo Nix, now at Oregon.
Having enrolled early at Arizona State, he was again the immediate starter by the time fall came, the first true freshman to ever start in the season-opener for the Sun Devils.
His freshman season was promising, as he led Arizona State to an 8-5 record and finished with 3,298 total yards and 20 touchdowns.
He made remarkably few mistakes, with only four turnovers, and produced three ranked wins, including an incredible victory over Justin Herbert and No. 6 Oregon in which Daniels had 408 passing yards.
It seemed he was on a path to stardom, but that ascent was halted in the coming years. His second year, shortened by COVID-19, was unspectacular, and, despite another 8-5 season in Daniels’ junior year, it was a clear step back for him as a player.
Daniels threw as many interceptions as he threw passing touchdowns with 10 each. In each of Arizona State’s last five games, he had fewer than 160 passing yards.
To outsiders at that point, Daniels was what he was as a player. After three years of evidence, you wouldn’t expect much to change. He was a skinny quarterback with middling arm talent, wavering decision-making and a tendency to scramble before diagnosing the field.
He was written off.
A solid first season at LSU after transferring changed that perception slightly, but no one would’ve confused Daniels for a Heisman contender.
Now, everything has changed.
Daniels has taken the (late) leap to stardom in his fifth year, leading the country in total yards with 4,946 and touchdowns with 50 while also being mind-bogglingly efficient. He leads the country in yards per play and passing efficiency, an NCAA-record 208.0, and has had just five turnovers.
Among Heisman winners historically, his total yards and his touchdowns per game (4.17) would rank third all time.
It’s unprecedented for a player who was a known commodity for four years, who didn’t suffer from lack of opportunity to show how good they were, and had proved to be average, to make the jump to Heisman contention.
Most Heisman winners’ rise to stardom was quick once they won the starting job. Maybe they were unknowns entering the season, but only because they hadn’t yet gotten a starting opportunity, not because they hadn’t produced, like Daniels.
You’d have to go all the way back to Carson Palmer at USC in 2002 to find a player who didn’t win the Heisman within his first two years as a full-time starter or wasn’t already an all-conference performer by the time he did.
Daniels, then, is a stunning late bloomer.
One of the most remarkable aspects of Daniels’ season is that he’s answered all of the questions about the holes in his game. He’s read the field better, he’s become adept at the deep ball and he’s chosen his spots to run with more care, all while maintaining his fearless style of play.
In a way, his rise is a product of the times. With the NCAA-wide extra COVID-19 year and an increase in transfer exceptions that have allowed athletes to stick around for five, six, seven years, Daniels is one of many who have been afforded extra time to develop as a player.
He’s also obviously gotten a bump in resources in the switch from Arizona State to LSU, now surrounded by top-notch coaching and a supporting cast of players who will be high draft picks.
However, more than anything, Daniels’ late ascent is a testament to his work ethic and all the time he’s put in since coming to Baton Rouge. He’s become the team’s unquestioned leader, due largely to his unwavering commitment to steady improvement.
Daniels now sits in New York and awaits to hear if he will be the one chosen for the Heisman from a group of Nix, Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. and Ohio State wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr.
The Heisman ceremony, airing Saturday at 8 p.m. ET on ESPN, will answer that question, revealing the results of a voting process including 870 journalists nationwide and all the living former Heisman winners.
Whether or not Daniels wins, his inclusion in the ceremony is a fitting end to a career that has been incredibly impressive, if less of a dynamo and more of a slow burn.
The lengthy nature of his ascent sets Daniels apart in history and highlights what sparked his success: he never stopped trying to get better, no matter how difficult it was — or how long it took.
