Jayden Daniels (born December 18, 2000) is an American football quarterback for the LSU Tigers. Daniels previously played for the Arizona State Sun Devils before transferring to LSU in 2022.
Early years
Daniels was born on December 18, 2000, in San Bernardino, California. He was a 4 star recruit out of Cajon High School in California. He was ranked number two in the nation for dual-threat quarterbacks.
College career
Arizona State
Daniels committed to Arizona State on December 13, 2018. He graduated early from Cajon in order to enroll at Arizona State in January 2019.
2019
As a freshman, Daniels beat out starter Dillon Sterling-Cole in training camp, making him the first starting true freshman quarterback for the Sun Devils. Daniels led the Sun Devils to victory against multiple ranked opponents including against #6 Oregon. For his performance against Oregon, Daniels was named Offensive Player of the Week and Freshman of the Week by the Pac-12. Daniels was an honorable mention for the Pac-12 Freshman Offensive Player of the Year. He led the Sun Devils to a 20-14 victory at the 2019 Sun Bowl
2020
In a shortened 2020 season, Daniels started all 4 games, where led the Sun Devils to a 2-2 record. In the Territorial Cup, Daniels finished the game with 2 touchdowns and a quarterback rating of 296.8 in a 70-7 victory against Arizona.
2021
Daniels led the Sun Devils to a 8-5 record. Daniels struggled with passing the ball, throwing 10 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.
2022 Offseaon
Prior to the 2021 season, the NCAA announced that the Arizona State program is under investigation due to multiple recruiting violations including recruiting players during the COVID-19 dead period in 2020. Pete Thamel from Yahoo! Sports reported that Daniels' mom allegedly paid more $1,100 to give flights to recruits. Daniels's mom has denied the allegations. Despite the investigation, Daniels announced on December 2, 2021 that he's returning to ASU for his senior year. A few weeks later on February 17, 2022, Daniels announced that he's entering the transfer portal. Prior to putting his name in the transfer portal, multiple coaches including offensive coordinator Zak Hill left the program.
LSU
In early 2022, Daniels announced he was transferring to Louisiana State University (LSU) to play for the LSU Tigers.
Jayden reinjured his ankle, which he originally hurt in a regular season matchup with Texas A&M on November 22, 2022, during the SEC Championship Game against Georgia on December 3, 2022. He was listed as questionable, but he never returned because Garrett Nussmeier took his place.