Jayden Daniels facts for kids
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Daniels with the LSU Tigers in 2023
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| No. 5 – Washington Commanders | |
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| Position: | Quarterback |
| Personal information | |
| Born: | December 18, 2000 San Bernardino, California, U.S. |
| Height: | 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) |
| Weight: | 210 lb (95 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school: | Cajon (San Bernardino) |
| College: |
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| NFL Draft: | 2024 / Round: 1 / Pick: 2 |
| Career history | |
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| Roster status: | Active |
| Career highlights and awards | |
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| Player stats at PFR | |
Jayden Daniels (born December 18, 2000) is an American football quarterback for the Washington Commanders of the National Football League (NFL). He played three seasons of college football for the Arizona State Sun Devils and two with the LSU Tigers, where he won the 2023 Heisman Trophy among other awards after leading the NCAA in total yards and setting the single-season passer rating record. Daniels was selected by the Commanders second overall in the 2024 NFL draft.
Contents
Early life
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Daniels was born on December 18, 2000, in San Bernardino, California. He grew up playing football, basketball, and soccer before attending Cajon High School in 2015. Daniels, named the starting quarterback of Cajon's varsity team as a freshman, required a medical waiver to play due to entering high school undersized for the position at 130 pounds (59 kg). In four seasons, he scored 211 touchdowns (170 passing, 41 rushing) and gained 17,642 yards (14,007 passing, 3,635 rushing), both CIF Southern Section records. He also ran track at Cajon, participating in the 100 metres, 200 metres, 400 metres, and 4 × 100 metres relay.
Daniels was named the men's recipient of the Ken Hubbs Award, given annually the top high school athletes in San Bernardino, following a Citrus Belt League championship and state finals appearance as a senior in 2018. He was invited to the 2018 Elite 11 quarterback competition and participated in the 2019 Under Armour All-America Game in Orlando, Florida, throwing two touchdowns in a win. Daniels, ranked the top dual-threat quarterback prospect of the 2019 college football class by 247Sports, committed to play for the Sun Devils at Arizona State University (ASU). He graduated from Cajon early and enrolled at ASU in January 2019.
College career
Arizona State (2019–2021)
Daniels, named the starter for the 2019 season, was the first freshman quarterback to start opening week for the Sun Devils. He suffered a minor knee injury against the UCLA Bruins that forced him to miss a game. Daniels was named the Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week in a Week 13 upset win against the Oregon Ducks, scoring three touchdowns and passing for 408 yards. He threw for 17 touchdowns and 2,943 yards on the season, the latter being a school record for a freshman. He led the team to a 8–4 record and was voted MVP of the 2019 Sun Bowl in a win over the Florida State Seminoles. He was later named a semifinalist for the FWAA freshman of the year award.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Daniels and the Sun Devils played only four games in the 2020 season. One of the games included a 70–7 win against the Arizona Wildcats, the largest margin of victory in the history of the rivalry. For the 2021 season, he led the Pac-12 in completion percentage (65.4) while throwing for 2,381 yards with 10 touchdowns and rushing for 710 yards with 6 touchdowns. Daniels led the team to an appearance in the 2021 Las Vegas Bowl against the Wisconsin Badgers before finishing with a record of 8–5. Due to significant coaching staff turnover following the season, in which several were fired or had resigned following a NCAA investigation into the school for COVID-related recruiting violations, Daniels entered the transfer portal in February 2022.
LSU (2022–2023)
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In March 2022, Daniels transferred to Louisiana State University to play for the LSU Tigers. He was named the starter over Garrett Nussmeier prior to the opening game of the 2022 season. Daniels led the Tigers to a 9–3 record and an appearance in the 2022 SEC Championship Game against the Georgia Bulldogs. Daniels, entering with a sprained ankle, left the game following a sack by Jalen Carter late in the second quarter. He returned the following week for the 2023 Citrus Bowl, catching a touchdown pass from wide receiver Malik Nabers in a 63–7 win over the Purdue Boilermakers. He finished the season as a semifinalist for the Davey O'Brien Award after accounting for 28 touchdowns (17 passing, 11 rushing).
Named a team captain for the 2023 season, Daniels led the Tigers to a 9–3 record and won the Heisman Trophy among several other awards after setting the NCAA single-season passer rating record (208.0) and scoring 50 touchdowns (40 passing, 10 rushing) with 4,946 total yards (3,812 passing, 1,134 rushing). He was the third LSU player to win the Heisman behind Billy Cannon (1959) and Joe Burrow (2019). Daniels suffered a head injury against the Alabama Crimson Tide but returned the following week against the Florida Gators and set a SEC record with 606 total yards, becoming the first player in NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) history to pass for 350 and run for 200 in single game. He scored eight touchdowns the following week against the Georgia State Panthers. Daniels sat out of the 2024 ReliaQuest Bowl to prepare for the 2024 NFL draft, finishing his college career with 16,057 total yards, the sixth-highest in FBS history and the only to pass for 12,000 yards while rushing for 3,000.
Statistics
| Year | School | Games | Passing | Rushing | ||||||||||||
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| GP | Record | Cmp | Att | Pct | Yds | Avg | TD | Int | Rtg | Att | Yds | Avg | TD | |||
| 2019 | Arizona State | 12 | 8–4 | 205 | 338 | 60.7 | 2,943 | 8.7 | 17 | 2 | 149.2 | 125 | 355 | 2.8 | 3 | |
| 2020 | 4 | 2–2 | 49 | 84 | 58.3 | 701 | 8.3 | 5 | 1 | 145.7 | 33 | 223 | 6.8 | 4 | ||
| 2021 | 13 | 8–5 | 197 | 301 | 65.4 | 2,381 | 7.9 | 10 | 10 | 136.2 | 138 | 710 | 5.1 | 6 | ||
| 2022 | LSU | 14 | 10–4 | 266 | 388 | 68.6 | 2,913 | 7.5 | 17 | 3 | 144.5 | 186 | 885 | 4.8 | 11 | |
| 2023 | 12 | 9–3 | 236 | 327 | 72.2 | 3,812 | 11.7 | 40 | 4 | 208.0 | 135 | 1,134 | 8.4 | 10 | ||
| Career | 55 | 37–18 | 953 | 1,438 | 66.3 | 12,750 | 8.9 | 89 | 20 | 158.4 | 617 | 3,307 | 5.4 | 34 | ||
Professional career
| Height | Weight | Arm length | Hand size | |||||||||
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| 6 ft 3+5⁄8 in (1.92 m) |
210 lb (95 kg) |
32+1⁄2 in (0.83 m) |
9+3⁄8 in (0.24 m) |
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| Values from LSU's Pro Day | ||||||||||||
Daniels was selected second overall by the Washington Commanders in the 2024 NFL draft. He was one of six quarterbacks taken in the first round, tying the 1983 draft for the most in NFL history. Daniels signed his four-year rookie contract, worth $37.75 million fully guaranteed, on June 14, 2024.
Awards
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- Heisman Trophy (2023)
- Walter Camp Award (2023)
- Associated Press College Football Player of the Year (2023)
- Sporting News College Football Player of the Year (2023)
- Davey O'Brien Award (2023)
- Manning Award (2023)
- Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award (2023)
- Consensus All-American (2023)
- SEC Offensive Player of the Year (2023)
- 2022 LSU Tigers football MVP
- 2019 Sun Bowl MVP
- 7× SEC Offensive Player of the Week (2022: Week 8, 10; 2023: Week 3, 4, 6, 11, 12)
- 2× Pac-12 Offensive Player of the Week (2019: Week 13; 2021: Week 5)
Records
- NCAA single-season passer rating record: 208.0 (2023)
- Only player in FBS history with 12,000 passing yards and 3,000 rushing
- LSU career quarterback rushing yards: 2,019
- LSU single-season total yards: 4,946 (2023)
- LSU single-season quarterback rushing yards: 1,134 (2023)
- LSU single-season quarterback rushing touchdowns: 11 (2022)
- LSU single-game total touchdowns: 8, tied with Joe Burrow (2023)
- LSU single-game total yards: 606 (2023)
- Only player in FBS history to pass for 350+ and rush for 200+ in the same game
- Arizona State freshman passing yards: 2,943 (2019)
- CIF Southern Section passing touchdowns (170) and yards (14,007)
Personal life
Daniels was born to Javon "Jay" Daniels, a college football cornerback in the 1990s for the Washington Huskies and Iowa State Cyclones, and Regina Jackson. He has an older sister named Bianca. His paternal grandparents died from COVID-19 in early 2021. In April 2024, Regina was found to have violated NCAA recruiting guidelines by booking $1,100 in flights for recruits to visit Arizona State during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. His chose 5 as his uniform number after former NFL quarterback Donovan McNabb.
Daniels is a Christian. His favorite meal to prepare is spaghetti and other types of pasta, with his favorite snack being honey buns. Daniels earned an undergraduate degree from Arizona State in December 2021 and pursued a Master of Liberal Arts degree at LSU. In 2024, San Bernardino mayor Helen Tran declared January 20 as Jayden Daniels Day and presented him with the key to the city. At the same time, Cajon High School renamed their football stadium after him.
In college, Daniels signed name, image, and likeness (NIL) deals with brands such as Raising Cane's, Powerade, Beats by Dre, and Urban Outfitters. He will be featured on The Money Game, a NIL-focused docuseries by Prime Video that followed him, Angel Reese, Flau'jae Johnson, and Livvy Dunne through LSU's 2023–24 sports season. Daniels began training using virtual reality (VR) during his 2023 Heisman season. The custom software was designed by the German company Cognilize for VR headsets and included LSU's playbook and opposing teams, with Daniels attributing it to helping him understand defensive coverages "75 to 80 percent" better by the end of the season. He continued to use the technology in the NFL. Daniels threw the ceremonial first pitch at a Washington Nationals game in June 2024.
