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NEW YORK – LSU senior quarterback Jayden Daniels won the Heisman Memorial Trophy as college football’s most outstanding player on Saturday night, capping off a spectacular season in which he led the nation’s best offense. the country.
It is the 20th time this century that a quarterback has won the Heisman and Daniels is LSU’s third Heisman winner, following quarterback Joe Burrow in 2019 and the winner in 1959, half Billy Cannon. Alabama running backs Mark Ingram (2009) and Derrick Henry (2015) and Crimson Tide wide receiver DeVonta Smith (2020) are the only non-quarterback winners since 2000.
Daniels received 503 first-place votes and a total of 2,029 points. Washington quarterback Michael Penix Jr. was second in the poll (292, 1,701), Oregon quarterback Bo Nix was third (51, 885), and Ohio State wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. they ranked fourth (20, 352). Daniels was on 90.46% of the total votes and won four of the six electoral regions.
He is the fifth back in the last seven seasons to win the Heisman after transferring schools and the first since 2016 not to play in his championship game.
Florida State quarterback Jordan Travis was fifth in the poll, followed by Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe, Oklahoma State running back Ollie Gordon II, and Missouri running back Cody Schrader. Michigan’s Blake Corum and JJ McCarthy rounded out the top 10.
The Heisman Trophy added to Daniels’ accolades this season after he was named the Associated Press college football player of the year and the Walter Camp Player of the Year. He also won the Davey O’Brien Award, given to the top quarterback in the country.
Daniels, who turns 23 on Dec. 18, led the nation in total offense, passing yards, punts responsible for, rushing yards per carry, and touchdowns. lead in tackles (40) and Nix. He completed 72.2% of his passes for 3,812 yards and had 1,134 rushing yards and 10 more scores on the ground.
The game that probably won him the award came on November 11 against Florida, when he became the first player in FBS history to throw for 350 yards and rush for more than 200. yards in one game. He finished with 606 of LSU’s 701 total yards in the 52-35 victory.
The focal point of LSU’s offense, Daniels’ steady hand and calm demeanor under pressure led the Tigers as they led the FBS in scoring (46.4 points per game), overall offense (547.8 yards per game), and third down turnovers, averaging an absurd 8.53 yards per game.
“Being a college athlete and winning this award is a dream come true. I would like to present this award to every boy and girl who has a dream or a belief, with hard work you never know what is possible,” Daniels said in his acceptance speech. . “They said I was too skinny, so I had to wait, then they said I relied too much on my legs, so I went to work, completed all those passes, had that season I got it. They said I was too. quiet, so I got louder. I stepped out of my comfort zone and now I’m here today.
“So what did I learn from all this? I learned how to block out the noise, that you can overcome any obstacle, and just be humble, be famous and most important, you know you love what you do. And when you get it. knock yourself down, get back up, keep smiling and never give up on your dreams.”
An award-winning quarterback from Cajon High School in San Bernardino, California, after scoring 170 touchdowns and 41 rushing touchdowns, Daniels began his college career at Arizona State in 2019.
He arrived in Tempe after enrolling in school under head coach Herman Edwards. The 6-foot-4 Daniels weighs just 175 pounds, raising questions about whether he can physically handle playing college football. But he became the first running back to be named Arizona State’s starter for a season opener.
He showed flashes of the player he will become as a freshman, throwing for 2,943 yards with 17 touchdowns and two interceptions as the Sun Devils finished 8-5. Arizona State played just four games in the shortened 2020 season.
His time with the Sun Devils was anything but easy. However, Daniels started 29 games in three seasons, his last year in 2021 played amid the NCAA investigating the school for its practices during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Daniels said he stayed at Arizona State at the end of the season but jumped on the transfer door months later after five coaches on the staff either left or were fired. in the midst of an NCAA investigation.
His team was clearly upset with that decision and posted a video of players cleaning his locker, with someone in the background saying Daniels was “so wet.”
When he arrived at LSU, he beat two other quarterbacks as the best and finished 2022 with 2,913 passing yards and 17 touchdowns, adding another 885 yards and 11 touchdowns on the ground.
Follow sports writer Scooby Axson on Twitter @ScoobAxson
Jayden Daniels Heisman Trophy acceptance speech
Contributor: Sahil Kurup, USA TODAY Network