LSU Football
Jayden Daniels spent a memorable 2023 football season rewriting the LSU record books and giving new meaning to the term dual-threat quarterback. He dominated the college football awards circuit – winning the Heisman Trophy, the Associated Press Player of the Year, and the Manning Award, as well as collecting numerous first-team All-America honors including the American Football Coaches Association, Football Writers Association of America, Sporting News and Walter Camp.
He adds to that by being selected as the winner of the Allstate Sugar Bowl’s James J. Corbett Award for the top male amateur athlete, across all sports, in the state of Louisiana. Daniels is the 14th LSU football player to win the Corbett Award since its inception in 1967.
James J. Corbett Awards
“It’s truly an honor to be named the winner of the Corbett Award as the top amateur athlete in the state of Louisiana,” Daniels said. “I owe a great deal to LSU and the state of Louisiana as they welcomed me with open arms when I transferred here from Arizona State nearly three years ago. LSU and coach Kelly provided me with an opportunity to grow as a player, while also helping me create an identity for myself outside of football. This honor wouldn’t be possible without my great teammates and coaches – I’m very thankful for their support, friendship and the memories that we created. I love everything about LSU and Louisiana, and I am humbled to have my name placed alongside some of the great athletes who are previous winners of this award.”
Daniels, who became LSU’s third Heisman Trophy winner in history (joining Billy Cannon from 1959 and Joe Burrow from 2019), put together a sensational senior season, leading the nation in total offense with 4,946 total yards, ranking second in passing touchdowns (40), and fifth in passing yards (3,812), while topping all quarterbacks with 1,134 rushing yards. His 412.2 total yards per game were more than 85 FBS teams and his 50 total TDs were more than 91 teams scored this year.
“It’s exciting to know that that guy’s on your team, first of all,” said LSU head coach Brian Kelly following one of Daniels’ record-setting performance. “And then there’s this sense of whatever you call, it’s going to be executed. And it’s not like – when the call comes in, you’re thinking, ‘Okay, what’s the defense going to do?’ Because they have no chance unless they come up with something new. That’s a quarterback that has complete control of what’s going on out there, and that’s kind of fun.”
The San Bernadino, Calif., native completed 236-of-327 passes for 3,812 yards, 40 touchdowns and only four interceptions. He also joined Heisman winner Johnny Manziel as the only players with 3,500 passing yards and 1,000 rushing yards in SEC history. He rushed and passed for a TD in seven games this year and he reached the 100-yard mark in rushing four times, including 163 against Alabama, 130 against Missouri and 120 against Texas A&M. In consecutive weeks in November, Daniels set the SEC record for total yards with 606 against Florida when he passed for 372 yards and rushed for 234 yards becoming the first player in FBS history to pass for 350 yards and rush for 200 yards in a game. The following week he tied the LSU record for TDs in a game with eight (6 passing, 2 rushing) in the win over Georgia State.
“A transfer quarterback that comes into your program has to win the locker room and you do it by your work ethic. You do it by being humble, you do it with your actions and he did that on a day-to-day basis,” said Kelly about Daniels.
Daniels accounted for at least four TDs in nine games and joined Burrow as the only players in LSU history to reach the 500-yard mark three times in a season. Daniels had 513 yards against Ole Miss and 509 yards against Georgia State. In all Daniels topped the 400-yard mark six times in 2023.
“What an outstanding winner,” Archie Manning said after Daniels was announced as the Manning Award honoree. “He carried the offensive load for LSU all year. He raised his game to an unbelievable level, especially with those runs he made, making people miss. I can’t remember many quarterbacks having a better year than Jayden Daniels.”
