re: Jayden Daniels - Heisman Finalist 2023

A high completion percentage isn't the end-all be-all to being considered efficient.

When Hurts was at Bama, they had a great running game, to include his ability to run. Not only must a QB be capable of completing passes at an average to higher than average rate but they also must produce a pretty sizable number of explosive plays.

LSU was below average by a lot at producing explosive plays this year. Daniels completing most of his passes within about 12 yards downfield. Dinking and dunking is harder than most fans realize. You must be able to score TD's at a high clip when you get in the redzone.

When you produce a good amount of explosive plays, it can mask your inability to operate your offense in the RZ because you're scoring on big plays before ever getting in or close to the RZ.

Think about some of the games where we struggled or lost this season. We were able to move the ball between the 20's but couldn't produce TD's in the RZ. Efficiency is more than completion percentage, it's also measured by how many points you score per possession. Also, how off do you score in got-to-have-it situations.

Hurts is a better QB now and was a better QB than Daniels in college. Not knocking JD but I just don't see him ever been a starter in the NFL. Yet Hurts is in the MVP conversation as we read this.

32 Passing TD's and 20 rushing TD's in a single season is insane! JD had 16 passing and 11 rushing this year. DRASTIC difference from Hurts. Both had phenomenal freshmen years, mediocre sophomore and junior years, and both transferred to new schools and learned new offenses in their 4th year. I think JD's best season is still his freshman season, I could be wrong though. He had Brandon Aiyuk and was throwing deep balls like crazy!

I keep seeing some fans keep saying how he's the best QB at LSU outside of Burrow. That's COMPLETELY not true. Jamarcus Russell was also better than JD. Remember the guy that was the #1 pick? I know we've had bad QB's at LSU for mostly 2 decades or so, so it's not saying a lot to say he's better than most of them. We're FAR from being a school with a history of great QB's.

Go look at the stats of some pretty decent QB's from their 1st season starting and see what their stats looked like in their 2nd season. Then remember that Daniels has started 3 years prior to coming here and this season.

Mac Jones had 1500 yards, 14 Passing TD's, and 3 INT's in year 1. He followed that up with 4500 yds, 41 and 4. Tua had 636 yds, 11 Td's and 2 Int's in year 1. He followed it up with almost 4000 43 and 6. A.J. McCarron had 2600 yds, 16 passing TD's and 5 INT's in year 1. He followed that up 2900 yds, 30 passing TD's and 3 INT's.

Bama have had good to great QB's for the better part of Saban's stint there. All had significantly better stats and performances than JD5. I used them because Bama is who we compete with. Also, if you look at their stats, they made the biggest jump in performance from their 1st year starting to their 2nd year. Their performance was about the same level afterwards.

There's always the possibility but it would be a rare occurrence if JD made HUGE strides next year.