Jayden Daniels confirms top-speed rumor dating back to the spring
Jayden Daniels, the heralded quarterback transfer from Arizona State vying to take the helm of the LSU Tigers offense in 2022, is such a dynamic player at the position in part because of his running ability. In 29 games with the Sun Devils across three seasons, Daniels averaged a shade more than 10 rushing attempts a game.
The idea of Daniels galloping around the bayou was only aided by a tweet this spring that claimed new LSU Head Coach Brian Kelly said Daniels hit 21 miles per hour on the run in the spring. (For reference, Raheem Mostert was the fastest clocked NFL player in 2021 at just over 23 mph.) At a media session on Aug. 16, Daniels was asked about this tidbit and whether it was indeed true that he clocked in at 21 mph.
“Yeah I did,” Daniels said. “I did.”
He got asked if coaches and staff regularly measure or track the speed of players in practice.
“Yeah they do,” Daniels said. “That was probably one of the — yeah I ran 21 miles per hour. That’s what Coach Kelly told me. I mean I look at that type of stuff, but I just go out there and run.”
Daniels was then asked if there’s an emphasis on running less or being more selective about running now that he’s at LSU, and if he sees the chatter on social media that he should be doing such.
“I mean yeah for sure,” Daniels said. “I mean I don’t really pay attention to that kind of stuff. But I mean I hear it. At the end of the day, everybody has a cell phone, stuff like that, so it’s going to pop up. But just being here, the main thing is just being the best version of me — if that’s a part of my game, to run it.”
Based on his answer, it does seem that Daniels is trying to be a little more disciplined about choosing when to bail from his reads and run, but that he’s not going to get away from what makes him such an exciting talent.
“There’s times where I could stay in there a little bit longer. That’s something we’ve been working on with Coach Kelly, Coach [Mike] Denbrock, Coach [Joe] Sloan,” Daniels said. “But that’s not just me, that’s everybody. They don’t want us to lose who we are, at the end of the day. What makes us what we are. How we got here. So it’s just fine tuning the little things so at the end of the day we can go out there and help the team win.”
Daniels is currently jockeying with redshirt freshman Garrett Nussmeier to be the starting quarterback for the Tigers. Myles Brennan was also a contender for the job until he recently decided to step away from football.