Pros
This is a game about talent, and Daniels has a lot of it. The 247Sports scouting report of Daniels compared him to Deshaun Watson coming out of high school. He’s got an arm and he’s certainly got legs, meaning he can change a game in an instant.
That talent flashed on multiple occasions in his three years at Arizona State. There are few things Daniels cannot do. He’s shown he can evade defenders in the pocket while keeping his eyes down field, he can drive the ball and he can outrun a lot of defensive backs.
In 2021, not including sack yardage, only three quarterbacks in the Power Five ran for more yards than Daniels. According to Pro Football Focus, only Sam Howell from North Carolina had more rushes for 10 yards or more. In 2020, he averaged 9.9 yards per carry in Arizona State’s COVID-shortened year. This is an explosive player, regardless of what his passing looks like on a given day.
While Daniels was never consistent as a passer, in 2019, he threw for 2,943 yards as a freshman. He paired that with a 17-2 touchdown to interception ratio. For a true freshman playing Power Five football, that’s exceptional.
Arizona State made a change at OC entering 2020. With COVID-19 making it difficult to prepare for a season (the Pac-12 spent much of the year not even planning to play) Daniels was inconsistent.
Despite that, he still ranked first in the conference in ESPN’s RAW QBR while ranking second in yards per attempt and passer rating.
His 2021 season was even more inconsistent, but he had the best completion percentage of his career despite having one of the more drop prone pass catching groups in the country.
Daniels ability to run could also be the best fit for what Brian Kelly, Mike Denbrock and Joe Sloan want to do at LSU.
Daniels’ three years at ASU were marred by the pandemic and an on-going NCAA investigation that forced drastic changes to the Sun Devils’ coaching staff. They were difficult conditions for any player to progress under. The talent Arizona State put around Daniels was lesser than what he will have at LSU.
The optimist would say that under these better conditions, Daniels will resemble his 2019 self.
Next: The case against Daniels