Young king: Kansas’ Jalon Daniels the latest KU QB worthy of being the face of the Jayhawks’ program

By Matt Tait     Dec 27, 2022

Nick Krug
Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels

You’d never know it by talking to him, but Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels is an underdog.

He just doesn’t care.

And in that way, if not a several others, he quickly has become the worthy heir to the title of best quarterback at Kansas since Todd Reesing.

You remember Reesing, the gunslinger with more heart and fire than talent and enough moxie to take on any team 1-on-11 and think he still would win.

Daniels is wired the same way.

Nick Krug
Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels (6) watches a replay on the video board during the second quarter on Friday, Sept. 2, 2022 at Memorial Stadium.

Although the two quarterbacks play different styles, and while Daniels is unlikely to do what Reesing did to the KU record books, there are plenty of reasons the junior from Lawndale, California, has been the guy who finally led Kansas back to a bowl game — 4:30 p.m. today against Arkansas at the Liberty Bowl in Memphis.

Current KU coach Lance Leipold summed up the biggest reasons in five simple words.

“Confidence with charisma and energy,” Leipold told the Journal-World when asked to identify Daniels’ best traits.

When interviewed for this story and asked to name the best elements Reesing brought to the field, former KU coach Mark Mangino said basically the same thing.

“His swagger and confidence was off the charts,” Mangino said of Reesing. “I think he was convinced he could pin King Kong in a wrestling match.”

Nick Krug
Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels (6) gives thanks before a play during the third quarter on Friday, Sept. 2, 2022 at Memorial Stadium.

This story is not a comparison of how Daniels and Reesing play the position. Nor is it a knock on any of the other quarterbacks who came through Kansas during the past 14 years.

Instead, it’s intended to emphasize the reality that, after waiting so long to find a quarterback Kansas fans could put their heart and soul behind again, the Jayhawks have that guy. Daniels is the face of the Kansas football program. And his electric smile and unyielding confidence is every bit as impressive and infectious as the Rick Flair-style that Reesing brought during this program’s glory years.

“They’ve asked me a bunch of times this year on radio segments, ‘Who would you add to this team from the Orange Bowl team?’ But those are the conversations we need to stop having,” said former KU running back Brandon McAnderson, who played with Reesing and now covers the team as a sideline reporter for the KU radio broadcast. “I don’t want to watch anyone from the Orange Bowl. I want to watch Jalon Daniels. I want to watch his charisma. I want to watch his toughness. I feel safe when he’s in the game. I think he’s special. I don’t think it’s hyperbole. I don’t think it’s over-talk. I think Jalon Daniels is a better quarterback than Todd was.”

“What made Todd special is all the things you can’t see,” McAnderson added. “Jalon has both, the intangibles and the talent.”

McAnderson said Daniels’ big arm, physicality and leadership qualities made him worthy of the early-season Heisman Trophy hype he received and the adoration he’s getting from Kansas fans.

Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels (6) is chased by TCU defensive lineman Dylan Horton (98) during the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Oct. 8, 2022, in Lawrence, Kan. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Like current KU running back Devin Neal, McAnderson grew up in Lawrence and has seen every phase of KU football, from the Orange Bowl peak to the winless lows and repeated head coach firings.

He said one of the areas the two QBs remind him most of each other was the way they embrace being an underdog and how that resonates with football fans in Lawrence.

Reesing’s story is that of legends. Overlooked by every major college program, the undersized playmaker connected with Mangino and willed and competed his way to every major passing record in program history during KU’s best three-year stretch of all-time.

Daniels, who was similarly overlooked despite growing up around and competing with Heisman-type QBs like Alabama’s Bryce Young and Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud, took his first snap at KU at age 17 and has yet to back down or stop smiling.

“He is our guy the same way Todd was our guy,” McAnderson said. “The best thing about him is everybody feeds off his joy.”

McAnderson continued: “He’s the kind of person you need in a town like Lawrence, where basketball is exclusive. It’s premium. It’s glitz and glamour. It’s accomplishment. It’s the winningest program in college basketball history. Football is for everyone. It’s inclusive. Jalon’s smile is inclusive. His personality is inclusive. His style of play, you feel like you’re a part of it, you feel like you know him. So, he’s perfect for us in more than one way. Not just his talent but that he’s become a top dog after being an underdog. That’s important. And that’s why I’m so happy he’s here. I hope he gets nine years of eligibility.”

Daniels and Reesing met for the first time this season. Reesing had reached out to Daniels via social media direct messages prior to their in-person introduction. But the hello and handshake came when Reesing was in town for KU’s win over Iowa State that moved the Jayhawks to 5-0.

Daniels is too young to remember Reesing as a player. But he knows what he means to KU and appreciates what he now means to him, as well.

“His main thing with me was just stay where your feet are, play by play,” Daniels recalled. “Keep on cheering those guys on and hopefully at the end of the day you’ll be able to have the success that you want. He basically just said, ‘Go out there and have fun because you never know when it’s over,'”

Daniels said he appreciates any time people mention his name in the same sentence with Reesing’s. And although he never quite knew how or when — or even if — it would come, he spent a lot of his childhood dreaming of being the face of a college football program.

“I liked looking at myself in the mirror a lot when I was younger,” he joked. “So, to be able to see myself in other places besides the mirror is beautiful. Growing up with the guys that were in my class, there was a lot of clout around their names and I always felt like, ‘OK, I guess I just play football.’ But now that it feels like we’re on the same scale, it means a lot. It definitely does.”

Daniels is smart enough to know that the only way he’ll stay on that level and the only way what he christened a “new era” for KU football will actually last long enough to be considered an era is by winning.

Everyone who knows him believes the sustainment of KU’s recent culture change is possible in large part because of Daniels. Just like it was because of Reesing all those years ago.

“When you’re a fan of a program like this that has struggled for as long as we have, you’re an underdog,” McAnderson said. “And when you look out there and see Jalon Daniels and Todd Reesing, they don’t carry themselves like underdogs. They carry themselves like kings.”

More news from the Kansas-Arkansas Liberty Bowl matchup

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Liberty Bowl Notebook: Leipold, Pittman both shoot down notion that Kansas is more motivated to win than Arkansas

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Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.