Kansas’ Jalon Daniels officially entered the Heisman Trophy race after demolishing Duke
Jalon Daniels’ Heisman campaign started out like most celebratory memes about Kansas football—a little tongue-in-cheek, but mostly an over-the-top way to acknowledge a strong performance from a perennially flat program.
The kind of joke you’d make after, say, torching Tennessee Tech for 189 yards on 15-for-18 passing with two total touchdowns in a season opener. Oddsmakers in Vegas certainly weren’t taking it seriously.
They aren’t laughing in the desert anymore, folks. Not after a fourth-straight victory for the Jayhawks, and not after the way Daniels continues to make legit opponents look powerless against the KU offense.
Last week, Daniels was +10000 to win the Heisman. After torching previously 3-0 Duke for 324 yards on 19-for-23 passing with four touchdowns and another 83 yards and a score on 11 carries, Daniels’ has entered the Heisman race in earnest.
He’s now +4000 at BetMGM to win college football’s most-coveted individual award. Those are the the seventh-best odds on the board, tying the quarterback with preseason favorites like Clemson’s DJ Uiagalelei and Tennessee’s Hendon Hooker as well as Alabama standouts Jahmyr Gibbs and Will Anderson Jr.
Daniels has better odds (as of Week 4) than Bijan Robinson, Michael Penix Jr., Will Levis, TreVeyon Henderson and Sam Hartman.
And it’s not as if Kansas is playing against teams that let Daniels pad his stats. KU has won two true road games at Houston and West Virginia, before beating Duke, 35-27, with Daniels proving he can literally do it all.
Daniels’ 97.6 QBR is No. 1 in the NCAA. He’s thrown just one pick and only took his first sack of the year against Duke (a huge credit to his offensive line).
The junior is averaging 222.5 yards per game on 67.1 percent passing with seven scores with just that one interception. He’s also carrying the ball for 80 yards per game on 9.5 attempts—an average of 8.8 yards per carry that pairs nicely with his three rushing touchdowns.
He also happens to pass the eye test.
Let’s roll the tape:
This isn’t to say that Daniels is going to become Kansas’ first Heisman-winner, or even the first Jayhawk to receive a Heisman vote since quarterback David Jaynes finished fourth in 1973. To make such a statement after four wins (against just three FBS teams) would be ridiculous.
But it’s no longer ridiculous to consider Daniels a candidate. His play has already convinced many that’s the case. Now his betting odds reflect that.
Daniels is a value-play at best right now, but if he continues to demolish defenses the way he has, that won’t be the case for much longer.