As a top 40 recruit in the 2019 class, Jayden Daniels had high expectations from the moment he signed with Arizona State, but it took the California kid five years and a move to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to finally reach them.
After three tumultuous years in Tempe, Daniels transferred to LSU to join Brian Kelly in his first season leading the Tigers. While that season included a memorable overtime win against Alabama, outdueling Bryce Young, and a spot in the SEC Championship Game against Georgia, Daniels finished with just 17 passing touchdowns and failed to eclipse 3,000 passing yards in 14 games.
So how, then, did he become the Heisman Trophy winner in 2023 with a 40/4 touchdown to interception ratio, 3,800 passing yards, and 1,000 more on the ground? A lot of early mornings.
How 5:30 a.m. film sessions built a Heisman Trophy quarterback
“I’ll give you a little quick story,” fifth-year LSU wide receiver and former teammate of Daniels, Chris Hilton Jr., said in an exclusive interview with FanSided promoting his NIL partnership with Popeyes. “Coming from the ‘22 to ‘23 season, I saw the growth, and I was actually with him for a majority of it. So what he would do was, he would watch film every morning at 5:30, and I feel like that’s kind of where most of his success came from.”
Leading up to the 2024 NFL Draft, in which Daniels ultimately went No. 2 overall to the Washington Commanders, before leading the once hapless franchise to the NFC Championship game in his rookie year, former ESPN and current Ringer NFL Draft analyst Todd McShay recalled a story from LSU’s 40-13 loss to Tennessee in 2022 on the Bill Simmons podcast.
“What do you see in practice that I’m not seeing?” McShay remembered asking Kelly. “Because it looks like he can make all the throws but he just doesn’t seem to trust it. And the anticipation isn’t there.”
“And he said, ‘Watch the first play of this game. Just watch. Because we’re forcing him to make this throw. I’m not going to tell you where it’s going. But we’re forcing him to make this throw. Because we’re trying to prove to him that if you just trust your read and your eyes and you get the ball out on time, you’re special. You’re different than anything we’ve been around or seen.'”
In 2023, it all clicked. Daniels began to trust, not just his eyes, but his two future first-round wide receivers, Malik Nabers and Brian Thomas Jr., and according to Hilton, who caught 13 passes for 225 yards and two touchdowns during Daniels’ Heisman campaign, that’s all a credit to his early-morning film sessions.
“He knew what was coming before it even happened,” Hilton said, reminiscing on the many hours in the film room. “I was with him pretty much every day. Didn’t miss a day, even though I wasn’t really playing at the time, I was still there, so just seeing how he did it and to him end up winning the Heisman, that was nice to see.”
Now, Hilton and his teammates are hoping Daniels’ successor, Garrett Nussmeier, who waited patiently on the sidelines before taking over the offense last season, can do the same. Despite some early-season offensive struggles, LSU is off to a 3-0 start in 2025 and up to No. 3 in the country.
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