Jalon Daniels ‘heartbroken’ about career-ending loss
Jalon Daniels leaves behind a complicated legacy over his six years at Kansas. On one hand, he’s a major figure in helping turn the program from the depths into relevancy. Daniels was one of the faces of the program and put himself into the record books, finishing as the Jayhawks’ second all-time leading passer.
However, Daniels can also be remembered for the shortcomings of the rebuild in the last two years. Those shortcomings culminated on Friday, where Daniels threw three interceptions as Kansas fell a game short of bowl eligibility for the second straight season.
“I don’t give a damn about my stats personally,” Daniels said after the game. “I don’t care what they look like as long as the stat that counts is the win. And when my stats are the reason why I feel as if we’re losing, that leaves me heartbroken. Especially when that’s the game that we need to be able to become bowl eligible.”
Daniels struggled from the onset, throwing an interception on Kansas’ first drive of the game. Lance Leipold said Daniels struggled to get into a rhythm.
“It wasn’t Jalon Daniels’ best game, which is very unfortunate in his last game as a Jayhawk,” Leipold said. “I don’t think he ever felt fully in rhythm. I think there were times where, you know, he had a look about him that he wasn’t, he knew he wasn’t in great rhythm.”
Jayhawks helped Daniels stay energized through rocky performance
Throughout his six seasons, Daniels has persevered through injuries and not playing his best football at times. Despite the tough situations, Daniels has always tried to bring the best energy for his teammates.
“I try to be the best teammate that I can be,” Daniels said. “If I’m on the field or if I’m not on the field at the end of the day, I’m going to bring that energy every single day because, like, I keep telling you all again, can’t take this game for granted. You never know when your last snaps are going to be.”
Despite throwing three interceptions, and two in the fourth quarter, Daniels responded with a touchdown drive to make it a one-possession game. Daniels relied on his teammates to uplift him amidst a tough day.
“These guys on this team, you know, even if I felt down, even if I looked down, they won’t allow me to be down,” Daniels said. “They continue to keep cheering me up, continue to keep uplifting me, continue to keep saying, like, ‘JD. This game’s not over.’ At the end of the day, you know, it don’t matter how many mistakes you make, this game is not over until the clock reads zero.”
Daniels grew over his time at Kansas, wants to continue to be a mentor
When the clock did read zero, it also read a Kansas loss, marking the end of Jalon Daniels’ six-year career. He started at Kansas as a teenager and praised the guys in the locker room for helping him grow.
“Coming in at 17 as a teenager and leaving at 23, you know, there’s a lot of growth in between there,” Daniels said. “There’s a lot of people in that locker room who have helped me become the person I am today. No matter what’s going wrong in life, they continue to keep uplifting me, continue to keep letting me know that, you know, I’m somebody that they love and somebody that they continue to want to be with, no matter what happens on the field.”
Daniels has had the opportunity to be looked at as a leader and mentor for young Kansas players. He said he’s excited about the future of Kansas football and wants to continue being viewed as a leader by guys like Isaiah Marshall.
“Zeke came up to me after the game and just said that there’s a lot of things that he looked up to me on, a lot of things that I was able to teach him in my time that we both been here together,” Daniels said. “And it’s things like that mean so much to me because I was able to see the emotion in his face. I was able to see the emotion and a lot of my teammates face and it’s things like that continue to make me feel that I need to continue to keep, not only getting better as an athlete, of course, but also as a man.
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