BY LONN PHILLIPS SULLIVAN
FOLLOW ON X: @LonnPhillips
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On Thursday, LSU senior QB Jayden Daniels was named the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm, the first national quarterback award given out for the 2023 season....and a special announcement, via a telephone call from the son of the Hall of Fame Colts QB, broke the news to Jayden.
According to the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Educational Foundation, "The Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award is presented annually to the nation’s top quarterback who best exemplifies character, scholastic and athletic achievement."
Daniels joined Joe Burrow as only the 2nd LSU Tiger to win the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm award, while also becoming just the 3rd Tiger QB to win a national honor.
Could this be the start of the dominoes beginning to fall, as national consensus begins to build behind Daniels for the Manning, Davey O'Brien and Heisman awards in the coming days, ahead of the Heisman announcement on December 10th?
I think we're starting to see that wave build incredible momentum, and regardless of what Bo Nix does or doesn't do this coming Saturday during the Pac 12 Championship Game, I do believe there's a growing voter push for Jayden Daniels...and the Golden Arm Award could very well become ground zero for the JD5 awards season revolution.
For his 2023 Golden Arm win, Daniels will be honored in Baltimore on December 7th, which can be viewed from this live streaming link here.
(The Following list of JD5 accomplishments is from LSU's official press release, written by Sports Information Director Michael Bonnette):
"The five-time SEC Offensive Player of the Week this year, Daniels is one of only two players in SEC history to pass for 3,500 yards and rush for 1,000 yards in a season, joining Johnny Manziel who did it in 2012 at Texas A&M.
Daniels is also one of only five players in SEC history to account for 50 touchdowns in a season, joining Heisman Trophy winners Burrow (63), Tim Tebow (55), Cam Newton (51) and Bryce Young (50).
Daniels became the first player in FBS history to pass for 350 yards and rush for 200 yards in a game when he did it in the win over Florida, setting the SEC record for total offense with 606 yards. Daniels passed for 372 yards and rushed for 234 yards in the 52-35 win over the Gators.
A week later, he tied the LSU record for touchdowns in a game with eight (6 passing, 2 rushing) in the win over Georgia State. He tied Burrow’s mark which was set against Oklahoma in 2019.
Daniels has accounted for at least four TDs in nine games this year, one shy of the school record and he’s reached the 400-yard mark in total offense six times. He joined Burrow as the only players in LSU history to have three 500-yard games of total offense in a season.
Overall, Daniels has thrown for 3,812 yards, connecting on 236-of-327 passes with only four interceptions.
Daniels has been the catalyst behind an LSU offense that leads the nation in total offense (547.8) and scoring (46.4). The Tigers are the only team in college football to average 300 passing yards and 200 rushing yards a contest. LSU ranks No. 4 nationally in passing yards per game (334.3) and No. 7 in rushing with a 213.5 average.
The LSU offense also features the nation’s leader in receiving yards in Malik Nabers and the top two touchdown producers at wide receiver in Brian Thomas (15) along with Nabers (14)."
by LONN PHILLIPS SULLIVAN
Copyright 2023 Uninterrupted Writings Inc, a subsidiary of Uninterrupted Media LLC
I am so happy for Jayden Daniels. He deserves this award and so many others!
Great news! Richly deserved. 👏👏