Whichever way you decide to settle your thoughts about the legacy of Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels, you’re probably right.
If you’re in the camp that says he was an amazing talent who changed the direction of KU football with his play, positivity, swagger and signature smile, you’re right.
If you’re in the camp that says he underachieved, was too inconsistent to be considered great and had just as many disappointing days as good days, you’re also probably right.
Say what you will, but don’t say he didn’t care.
He did. More than you know. More than he ever let on. More than most.
And that part was evident on Friday afternoon, as he sat inside of Mrkonic Auditorium for the last time as a Jayhawk, on the wrong end of a gut-wrenching 31-21 loss to No. 13 Utah. Daniels himself played an enormous part in determining the disappointing outcome for the home team, but his emotions about the arrival of the end had very little to do with him.
It wasn’t just the season-ending loss or JD6 lamenting his two interceptions that cost KU the game that stood out. Instead, it was how the loss made him feel, a picture he painted very clearly with his actions, words, emotions and pain after the game.
Not how he felt for himself, though. Far from it. Instead, how he felt for so many of his teammates whom he believed he had let down.
“You can’t take this game for granted,” Daniels said, voice raspy, emotions bubbling to the surface. “You never know when your last snaps are gonna be. Truth be told, today was the last time that some of my guys get the chance to put on shoulder pads and a helmet. And that hurts me. Because I know that there was an opportunity to get that sixth win and be able to go to a bowl game. But… came up short.”
Before Friday, every other time Daniels and the Jayhawks had come up short there was always the opportunity to flush it and come back fighting for the next one. That’s the Lance Leipold way. It’s how Daniels came up in this game dating back to youth football. And it’s a core value of the culture that exists within the Kansas football program in 2025.
Unfortunately for Daniels and the 32 KU seniors alongside him on Friday, there is no longer that next game out there. Not this season. Not next year. Not ever.
So, yeah; you can imagine how that one hurts. If it doesn’t, you probably didn’t care. But Daniels did. About the team and the program and the wins and the losses. Sure, he always wanted to put on a good show. But that showman’s spirit was always backed by wanting to make plays to help his team win.
Sometimes he did and sometimes he didn’t. But his intention was always to come through.
“I’m heartbroken,” he said after Friday’s 10-point loss that kept the Jayhawks out of the bowl picture for at least another year. “I can’t really even (describe) how I feel right now besides heartbroken. … When my stats are the reason why I feel as if we’re losing, that leaves me heartbroken. Especially when that’s the game that we needed to be able to become bowl eligible.”
These weren’t just words that sounded good in the moment. They were actual pain.
You could see it in his eyes and hear it in his subdued voice. You could see it when he would grit his teeth before giving an answer that, like those interceptions, hurt him all over again. And you could see it in his body language and sunken-down posture when he answered the dozen or so questions thrown his way about his last game and what went wrong.
Somewhere in there was a hint of pride. It may not have carried the moment or been enough to make him smile for long. But you could tell he felt it. In all actuality, that probably made the whole thing hurt even more.
Because, this wasn’t just another loss for Jalon Daniels and the Jayhawks. This was the end of the Jalon Daniels era.
It might not have meant to fans today quite what it did back when he was a legit Heisman Trophy candidate busy battling to put the Jayhawks back on the map and make the rest of the college football world take notice.
But it was a special era for Daniels and for so many of his coaches and teammates.
Many of them made sure to share that with him in the tear-filled aftermath of Friday’s loss.
One of them was redshirt-freshman QB Zeke Marshall, who learned under Daniels during the past two seasons.
“Zeke came up to me after the game and just said that there’s a lot of things that he looked up to me on, a lot of things that I was able to teach him in my time that we’ve been here together,” Daniels explained. “It’s things like that that mean so much to me because I was able to see the emotion in his face. I was able to see the emotion in a lot of my teammates’ faces. And it’s things like that that continue to make me feel that I need to continue to keep, not only getting better and continue to keep trying to be me, but be able to be that energetic person every single day. Continue to have that smile around the guys. Because what I’ve heard today, from a lot of my teammates, is that stuff is infectious. There’s a few people saying it’s hard to have a bad day when you have so much energy. And that’s the guy that I want to continue to keep being.”
Win or lose, that’s exactly the way he should look at this thing. College is done now. But there's a whole lot of life and living still ahead. If that includes football, great. But even if it doesn't, the lessons he learned these past six years — with a few new ones arriving on Friday — will serve JD well as he continues his walk.
"... Today was the last time that some of my guys get the chance to put on shoulder pads and a helmet. And that hurts me."
— KU QB Jalon Daniels on Friday's season-ending loss to Utah
Daniels’ ride at Kansas was unlike any before it. And it included all kinds of polarizing moments and conflicting data points, from wins and losses, to yards and touchdowns and good moments and bad.
I get why people don’t quite know how to feel tonight. But even as frustrated, disappointed and downright mad as you may be about how it ended or Daniels falling short of his full potential, think about how much more things sucked before JD came into your lives.
Back then, you didn’t even have hope. You do today. And with hope and heightened expectations comes the risk for added disappointment.
Daniels was the author of both chapters and it’s not a complete story if you disregard the first 200 pages.
Throughout his career, there were questions about what he actually was and how great he could be. There were questions about what he could do and should do and didn’t do and might do and needed to do and couldn’t do and so much more.
But no one should ever look back on his time here and question how much he cared.
Daniels loved being a Kansas Jayhawk. And while he didn’t hit every throw or win every game, he proved that part over and over.
He could’ve left a couple of different times. But he stayed. Through a coaching change and to play for a guy who didn’t even recruit him and under three different offensive coordinators.
He was always comfortable in the spotlight — loved it, in fact — and projected himself as the kind of QB that fans, coaches and alums would want their quarterback to look like.
He helped get Kansas back to two bowl games — no small feat — and led the program to the brink of two more, missing out both times by just one win.
KU running back Daniel Hishaw Jr., who had his own emotional goodbye on Friday — after six years in town, too, by the way — sighed a heavy sigh and paused when he was asked about his time with Daniels after the loss.
The two grew together and battled through so much, including many of the same frustrations, like injuries, coming up short and the long road of trying to rebuild to respectability.
“(There’s) a lot I'm gonna remember about JD,” Hishaw said Friday. “Just since we got here, they called him electric, and that's exactly what JD is. To this day, I believe he's one of the best QBs in college football. The throws, the runs, the reads he would make; it’s just like insane, incredible. I haven’t really seen too many people do the things that Jalon Daniels has done.”
“Off the field, (I'll always remember) just how fun of a guy JD is," Hishaw continued. "He’s always got this spark to him, this kind of glow. So, I just hope he never loses that, which I'm pretty sure he won't.”
Asked what he saw in Daniels on the sideline and in the huddle after the 97-yard pick-6 that took the life out of The Booth and put Kansas on the fast track to a gut-wrenching loss, Hishaw said it was the same as always. And that made him smile. Even after the loss. Even knowing he won’t get the chance to suit up with him and see that glow again.
“What’d I see? Determination. Head up,” Hishaw told R1S1 Sports. “You know, it was never like, ‘Oh, we’re about to lose’ or like he dwelled on it for longer than like 30 seconds. I just saw leadership, man, somebody that was very determined to just be better.”
Say what you will about how you’ll view Daniels’ time as a Jayhawk and the legacy he leaves behind. It’s all fair game when you play such a high-profile position and get the kind of money these guys are getting to do it these days.
But I promise you, the only opinions that Daniels truly cares about are those that belong to guys like Hishaw and so many others. That, on top of the loss, was why Daniels showed a side of himself that we had never seen before after his final game as a Jayhawk.
“My guys have never seen me put my head down, no matter what’s going on,” Daniels said Friday. “I’ve been hurt on the sidelines, still cheering guys on. I try to be the best teammate I can be. And it’s just cool that they know that, no matter what, I was gonna fight for them to the very end.”
He did that.
Now it’s on to the next chapter for both Daniels and Kansas.
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