re: Another vote for Daniels

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Interesting take. That average QB manage to go for 13-19, 286 YDS, 2 TDs with 6 caries for 45 yards.

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Some of you act like Daniels has been putting up huge stats recently. In reality, he hasn’t had a 300 yard passing game in 2 seasons and had 10 picks last year. We also saw the accuracy issues and technical/footwork inconsistency in the Spring.

I’m not saying that Daniels can’t improve and shouldn’t be the starter. He may win the job and I’m good with whoever the coaches choose. If he’s improved his passing consistency and footwork (both are issues that our staff has pointed out publicly on multiple occasions), that’s great. But until he does that, he’s not any more of a complete QB than Brennan or Nuss. I just don’t think any of the three should be considered a shoe-in to win the job at this point.

If Daniels can put it all together and become a passing QB who just happens to be a great athlete as well, then we all know he can be a superstar. But that’s still an if until we see it on the field.

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I think people see the big play ability with Nuss. That’s exciting to fans. The big arm, the crazy scrambles, the tight window throws, who doesn’t want that. He also seems to really love LSU. Those that follow recruiting remember that he was a big part of helping recruit his own recruiting class. Fans obviously like a player that seems to love the team and program.

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I see a kid that really reminds me of Oklahoma Baker Mayfield. A guy who will bounce around the pocket, scramble if necessary, and isn't afraid, ever, to attempt the big throw...which also could be his weakness. Of the 3 QB's on the roster I see him as having the highest ceiling.

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People tend to like Myles because of his allegiance to the University. Although he entered the transfer portal he’s back (for better or for worse). He’s just had some bad luck (injuries, goat LSU qb transferring in) in his career that have stopped him from playing. Hard to not like a kid that doesn’t jump ship.

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Burrow wasn't the "goat LSU QB" when he transferred in. He was the 2nd or 3rd string QB at OSU who, to that point, had not played a significant snap in his college career. In fact, Brennan (who was also the higher ranked prospect coming out of HS) had MORE significant game experience than Burrow (Troy, Syracuse, Alabama) going into the 2018 season. Yet, despite that, the LSU staff felt compelled to bring in a grad transfer who was looking for a place to START, not just "compete for a job" following the spring of 18. NO ONE at that time knew Burrow was on a trajectory towards being the #1 pick. So why bring him in so late...and why would he come to a place who already had a starting QB? The reason is because LSU did not feel any of the QBs on the roster (including Brennan) were SEC starters.

Everyone wants to pull for a (relatively) local kid who "pays his dues" in the program. But the reality is LSU seemingly has been trying to move on from Brennan since before he actually stepped foot on LSU's campus. Immediately upon being named the permanent HC Orgeron went hard after Tua...despite having Brennan committed for several months. If you recall, that caused Brennan to de-commit until Tua finally said he was not considering coming to LSU. As noted above, going into the 2018 season Brennan looked to be the presumptive starter. Brennan was the ONLY of the 3 QBs on the roster who got significant snaps in 2017. Hell, it was Brennan to who LSU turned to try to prevent them from their most embarrassing loss in 20 years (Troy). Yet, LSU STILL chose to bring in a guy (Burrow) to start for presumably 2 years. This past season Brennan entered the portal in November. It wasn't until Johnson chose to leave, 6-7 days after Kelly was hired, that LSU tried to get Brennan back. Then, when it looked like Brennan would be the presumptive starter by choosing to return to LSU and LSU's prior starter gone to A&M, LSU dips into the portal just before spring practice to add a 3 year starting QB, with 2 year of eligibility remaining, to the team.

Actions often speak louder than words. And the actions have hinted for quite a while that LSU has never been completely sold on Brennan.

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Daniels is an outsider. Yeah I really like the kid and I want the best qb to play, but he’s the newest face. His teammates (for better or for worse) trashed his locker when he announced he was transferring. He digressed after having a really good season as a freshman (Jake Fromm anyone?). So it’s really not too hard to see why a large portion of the fan base sides with what is familiar.

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There is no doubt concern given that Daniels has regressed since his freshman year. But you also cant ignore that freshman year happened and he HAS showed the ability to be a playmaker. The optimist says he is more the 2019 player than the 20-21 player, and that the Pac-12's ridiculous overreaction to covid plus ASU's seemingly bad environment is a significant reason for the drop off. The pessimist says 2019 was the aberration you sometimes see with new players, and that once defenses "got a book" on Daniels it is clear he is not a top notch QB.

More than anything though, I think if Daniels is the QB it is (primarily) for two reasons:

1. They don't fully trust the OL going into game 1 and Daniels ability to run and escape pressure (at least relative to Brennan) gives the OC a bit more options for success behind a questionable OL

2. Just about everything is new this year and there are a ton of unknowns. The coaches are new. The offensive system is new. Many of the player expected to contribute are new. So with so many unknowns, the coaches are going to go with the guy who has the most experience, and the highest level of "certainty" in what he can and can't do (Daniels)...because there is more film of him than any of the other QBs. He may ultimately be a bust. But the coaching staff is trying to find the guys they trust the most early on. For better or worse, Daniels is far and away the most experienced QB on LSU's roster.

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The most important reason Daniels leads early is the question marks surrounding the O line. Once they gel, let the more accurate QBs run the show.

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And who exactly is the more accurate QB? Daniels has a 65% completion percentage last year with 8 YPA. Nuss has a 50% completion percentage with a 5.7 YPA.

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Brennan's career completion % is 60.2%.
Daniels' is 62.4%

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The important thing to to note here is Myles has 201 attempts and Jayden has a staggering 723

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all he has to really prove is that he can control the pace of a game. Because we already know the other 2 cannot.

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just perhaps,,, are you confusing Min. for Brennan. Yes, Nuss has been amped up but Brennan has shown really good poise.

Min was the guy running 7 yards and stepping out when we need 8, making panic throws and not keeping up or controlling the pace of the game.

Daniels may end up as starter who knows but one thing is always a constant on tRant: Whoever ends up as starting QB tRant's favorite QB will always be whoever is behind them on the bench clamoring for the replacement to come in the game at the first sight of a struggle

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Daniels' teammates at his former school would probably advise against it.

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They were pissed that he left, because they won 8 games and he was the returning starter. He was a big reason they won as many as they did.

Here's one thing I don't get: a lot of guys who are saying Nuss, keep talking about big-play potential. Daniels has shown by FAR the most big-play potential of the 3. I know they're called highlights for a reason, but dude is ripping off bombs and huge runs against conference opponents, including Washington and Oregon.

I went on ESPN, watched highlights from a number of ASU's games, including the ones they lost. His arm looks fine, he can make the necessary throws. He looks like Alvin Kamara running, slices for tons of yards where you don't see much room. The big thing is how easily he would run for 8+ yds when he would take off, and it didn't look like there was room.

Doesn't bother me that he doesn't have a lot of 300 yd games, because that's scheme-dependent. They ran for a lot of yds in some of those games.

I don't see how you can have Daniels and Brennan in the same scheme, because Brennan can't run like that. Nussmeier could probably go either way.

Daniels fits Denbrock's scheme the best too. He likes RPO with the ability to top a defense off. Since Daniels has the big play arm down the field and a dangerous running threat, it's easier to lull a defense to sleep if they have to focus on his additional layer alongside the RBs running threat. Means he gets more opportunities to shred deep.

LSU was a averaging 40+ PPG and Myles was averaging 350+ YPG and 3+ TDPG before he got hurt in 2020. He was putting up Burrow-like numbers. I don't know why people hate this kid or doubt his talent so much. The last time we saw him play in games he looked really, really good.