Getty Image / Todd Kirkland
LSU entered this college football season with some major question marks.
Brian Kelly was in his first year in charge of the program and the team had some quarterback concerns.
Before the season began, Jayden Daniels and Garrett Nussmeier were competing for the starting job, but both came with concerns. Daniels hadn’t looked great in recent seasons and Nussmeier was low on experience in college.
Daniels won the starting job and got off to a bit of a rocky start, but put all of those concerns to rest down the stretch as he led the Tigers to the SEC West crown.
Today he gave LSU’s fans some more good news. Daniels announced that he would be returning for another season.
— Jayden (@JayD__5) December 22, 2022
This has been an amazing ride and honestly, I am not ready to get off just yet. That is why it is important that I announce I am returning for the 2023 season to fulfill the goal of an LSU Tiger and bring our fans another championship.
In his announcement, Daniels said:
During his freshman year at Arizona State, Jayden Daniels looked like a future star. He immediately became the team’s starter and threw for 2943 yards and 17 touchdowns while only throwing 2 interceptions and led the team to a Sun Bowl win over Florida State.
Over the next 2 seasons, Daniels regressed and in his junior year he had a 1:1 TD:INT ratio while seeing his yards per game average dip quite a bit from his freshman year.
In his first season with LSU, Daniels had a career resurgence. He threw for 2774 yards and 16 touchdowns while only throwing 3 interceptions while facing a tough SEC schedule. He also tacked on 11 rushing touchdowns.
With him returning to LSU, they’ll likely be seen as one of the favorites in the SEC West even though they’ll have to go through Alabama again.
After beating Bama this season, Daniels and LSU likely won’t be intimidated by that challenge in 2023.