- 2 days ago
Paul Finebaum has some strong opinions about Jayden Daniels’ drama with LSU, and he put them all on blast when he joined The Sports Junkies this morning. Do you agree with Paul’s reasoning, or are you siding with Jayden Daniels?
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00:00Good morning, Paul.
00:02Good morning, guys. I really appreciate you inviting me.
00:04Yes, sir.
00:05Thank you for joining us.
00:06We thought earlier in the week that when we hit Friday,
00:10we'd be talking about the Commander's first preseason game
00:13and whether we'd see Jaden on the field.
00:15But it's all this off-the-field shenanigans that has become front and center here.
00:19What's your read on Jaden versus LSU?
00:24I want to say one thing.
00:26I'm not an equivocator,
00:27but I got to know Jaden when he was at LSU.
00:30I really liked him, talked to him a lot,
00:32and I would interview Brian Kelly.
00:33And even when he went to the Commanders,
00:35there was a great sense of pride in what he did the first year.
00:38I said all that to say this.
00:41He's lost all of that from everywhere and everyone in LSU Nation
00:46after what happened this week.
00:48And I know it's been said here before,
00:51but I rarely have ever seen a dumber, more senseless move.
00:56I don't know who pulled the strings,
00:58but all the cleanup on aisle three from Jaden Daniels from this moment on
01:03will not be enough.
01:04He has made a terrible mistake.
01:08He can be successful in Washington.
01:11I hope he is,
01:12but I would advise him to never waste another second in Baton Rouge, Louisiana,
01:17because they are done with him.
01:19What's the reception?
01:20If he were to ever come to a LSU game and be on the sidelines,
01:24what's the reception going to be like for him?
01:26I think it would be chillier than Inauguration Day at the nation's capital.
01:37I think it's one thing if there was a misunderstanding,
01:41but when the report came out yesterday about the cease and desist
01:45and giving the trophy back,
01:47I mean, that's just pure stupidity.
01:49I mean, there are plenty of copies of the Heisman Trophy.
01:52I don't think anybody knows which one is the original,
01:55because every school has one in their trophy case.
01:57Every player has one at home.
02:00They're not that, you know, they're not that,
02:03that's not such a big deal.
02:05And I, you know, and then, you know, his statement,
02:08I think it was a statement yesterday that, you know,
02:11it seemed like he was trying to ameliorate the situation,
02:14and then he went all in.
02:16And I don't know really all the backstory on it,
02:20but, you know, and it's been said before, but I'll say it again.
02:24He was a really great player.
02:25Individually, he did not have a tremendous team around him.
02:28He did maybe more than any player I've ever seen.
02:32Having said all that, he's still not Joe Burrell.
02:34Joe Burrell had a transformational season on one of the best teams,
02:39maybe in the history of the game.
02:41And then when you show up two or three years later
02:44and win the Heisman on a good team that beat Nick Saban,
02:49but not an elite team,
02:52you're really going into a jungle that you're not going to come out of.
02:56I mean, LSU, it's not Alabama, it's not Ohio State,
03:00but they've had many great players and many national championships.
03:05And while individually,
03:08Jaden Daniels may be one of the two or three best players in the history,
03:11he's not going to be remembered that way because he never got a title.
03:15If Joe Burrell was doing this exact same thing, would you feel the same way?
03:19No.
03:20I mean, Joe Burrell would be different.
03:21I would be incredibly disappointed in Joe Burrell,
03:24but he would at least have a leg to stand on.
03:28And it is a fact.
03:29They haven't replicated Joe Burrell's number since he left.
03:33That doesn't mean they won't.
03:34I mean, they're retiring a jersey in a couple of weeks for Burt Jones,
03:38who played in the 70s, okay?
03:39Right.
03:40So, I mean, LSU's not always on top of things when it comes to being on the moment.
03:48But this just doesn't make any sense.
03:49So what would Paul Feinbaum do if he was Jaden Daniels
03:54and you were promised that the number five wasn't going to be used?
03:58Maybe it was by Brian Kelly, who was Lane Kiffin's predecessor.
04:01And then you find out that the number five is given to a player
04:06who wore number three last year.
04:08What would Paul Feinbaum do in Jaden Daniels' shoes?
04:11Well, I would have my agent and my people go back channel,
04:16which I'm sure they did.
04:17And, you know, Kiffin said that he talked to Jaden.
04:19I mean, again, you're going to believe anything Lane Kiffin says.
04:24So, I mean, I would have just handled it, you know,
04:28outside the public domain.
04:29And even if you got the wrong result, you know,
04:33even if they told you, hey, sorry, just let it go.
04:35Just what's the point?
04:37I mean, what do you – I mean, you have to think these things through
04:40on a couple of different layers.
04:42And I know he's consumed with this season
04:44and maybe trying to return to his rookie play.
04:48But you just – I mean, this is not –
04:51this should not be his main concentration right now.
04:53I don't think it is.
04:54I don't think it is.
04:55It's bad timing, but just to play devil's advocate, Paul,
04:59Joe Burrow was told no one's going to wear number nine, all right?
05:03He won a Heisman.
05:04Jaden Daniels was told no one's going to wear five.
05:07And in the first year of Kiffin, his regime,
05:10some kids were in number five.
05:12He feels like he's not being treated the same way.
05:14And he was lied to.
05:15Okay.
05:16Well, guess what?
05:17We all get lied to.
05:19Well, Joe Burrow didn't.
05:21Well, listen, you guys have a job.
05:23You work for a big company.
05:24I do too.
05:26I know what you're saying, and it's fair.
05:29But at the end of it all, like, okay.
05:31So all you have to do at that point to me is say, screw them.
05:37I'm not going to – handle it off the air.
05:40Handle it in private.
05:42Don't ever go back.
05:43I mean, Jaden Daniels has something to offer, or he did.
05:48He can still be valuable, and that's all he has to communicate.
05:53And this ticket guy who, you know, whether he's a good player or not,
05:56he'll come and go and deal with it another day.
05:59That's all I'm trying to say.
06:01Oh, and I agree with you.
06:01Can it be resolved, though?
06:03The one difference I'll say with you, Paul, is that I do think that
06:08eventually they can come to some sort of resolution, whatever it might be,
06:11some sort of compromise of some sort, I don't know,
06:13and that they can't overcome it, I think, at some point.
06:16I mean, maybe the LSU faithful will never let them forget it.
06:19Everything kind of dies.
06:20But, yeah, I mean, I never thought Michael Vick would be embraced again.
06:24Yeah, right.
06:25You know?
06:25Yeah, he's doing TV.
06:26We're not going to care in a week, I don't think.
06:28Well, I mean, listen, you guys are in Washington.
06:31I mean, we've seen this movie a few times.
06:35The president's coming back and disgraced individual.
06:38Yeah, of course, yeah.
06:39Maybe my statement was a little hyperbolic,
06:41but what I was trying to do was represent what I heard from LSU fans yesterday
06:45and what I heard from plenty of them.
06:47Oh, I'm sure you did.
06:47The good news is also, I'd say this, and I'm biased because I think he's,
06:51like you said at the beginning, like all your interactions were great or whatever,
06:55all indications from afar.
06:56And, by the way, I thought OJ Simpson was a great guy, too, so who knows?
07:00But did Jaden spend—
07:01Oh, you changed your mind on that?
07:03I'm surprised.
07:03Yeah.
07:04But Jaden seems like a pretty spectacular guy, kind of checking all the boxes.
07:08This one may be a misstep, at least in terms of the public perception.
07:12I don't think it outweighs all the goodness and the way he's handled himself.
07:16And I don't think he cares.
07:17I think he cares about this issue, certainly, but I don't think it consumes him.
07:20I think he's kind of forced to do media at gunpoint.
07:24He'll answer the few questions, and then as soon as he walks away from that podium,
07:27I don't think he's going to give it one one-hundredth of a second of thought.
07:31But, you know, what you guys just laid out here is a far more compelling argument
07:35for why he was screwed than anything I've heard from Jaden Daniels or his people.
07:40And that's the mistake.
07:42I mean, listen, there are a million PR firms that, you know, for a few bucks,
07:45you could have gotten this message across and let somebody else do it.
07:49I mean, yeah, you guys could have saved him, but that's the problem.
07:54And you're right, of course.
07:57I mean, we forgive anybody, and yeah, that's part of the culture of the world.
08:03But it's just hard to get over, and I can't – I know I mentioned Joe Burrow a few times,
08:09but that's part of his problem, too, in perception.
08:12So he was so closely aligned with Burrow.
08:15He kind of came out of nowhere.
08:17Everybody knows his back story.
08:18He wins the Heisman in a very weird year, but his numbers were so dynamic
08:23that you couldn't help but vote for him.
08:25I think Michael Penix was second.
08:28But fans in this particular – I mean, I think this goes for everybody,
08:32but you're judged by titles and banners.
08:35And when you don't have one and you have just the – I don't want to say just the Heisman
08:41trophy,
08:41and you followed it up pretty well with the commanders,
08:44it just doesn't resonate as well with a fan base.
08:46Yeah, talking to the great Paul Feinbaum, you know, from the Paul Feinbaum show,
08:50Seen Daily, SEC Network, you know, from ESPN, New York Times bestseller.
08:54So give us a little example of what the callers were like.
08:59All in unison ripping Jayden Daniels yesterday?
09:02Any supporters?
09:04There were no supporters.
09:06Oh, really?
09:06Now, again, you know, we're a pretty caller-heavy show.
09:11I'd hate to use that as the New York Times-Washington Post poll
09:15being accurate.
09:17But, I mean, I think some of it was a lot of people were saying,
09:21I hadn't heard that yet because, you know, it happened late at night on Wednesday.
09:25So – and it probably didn't help when the host of the show was biased from the very beginning,
09:31you know, spinning the story the way I have already.
09:33So I say all that.
09:35There were no positives.
09:37Now, again, that doesn't mean I wasn't doing a show in Baton Rouge.
09:41I did talk to a reporter in Baton Rouge, and he pretty well said that the feeling down there
09:45was the same as I have conveyed to you.
09:49Can you – will you acknowledge this, Paul?
09:51I know this as a parent of kids that played sports, and all of us had kids that played
09:56sports or whatever at different various levels.
09:58There is something that – where people get in their feelings about numbers, and when
10:01you see your number passed on to the next person, it – I'm not going to say that you're
10:06all going to send cease and desist letters, but it does affect you.
10:10As a parent, as a player yourself, you see the next kid take your number, like, right
10:14away, like, you're forgotten immediately.
10:17Like, there is something about it.
10:18I don't know how to explain it.
10:20I don't know how to articulate it.
10:21You know, I get it.
10:22I mean, listen, if I died in the middle of this interview, there would be somebody else
10:27sitting in my seat at 3 o'clock this afternoon.
10:30Exactly.
10:30They might do a two-minute tribute to me, but as soon as the first big story came along
10:34at 4 o'clock, they forget me.
10:36I mean, I get that.
10:37We all understand that, because we're in the middle of sports, and there's probably
10:41nothing where you are forgotten faster than in the sports world.
10:45All right, Paul, let's switch gears quickly here before we let you go.
10:49You know, the biggest story, certainly, in the coaching ranks was Kiffin leaving Ole Miss,
10:54going to LSU.
10:55Huge story.
10:56He's there.
10:56He brought in a bunch of transfers, especially on the offensive end.
11:00He's got a new quarterback.
11:01He's got all new receivers.
11:02He's brought in a new running back.
11:05They're going to open up with Clemson Labor Day weekend at home.
11:10Now, Dabo doesn't have a bunch of transfers.
11:11He's got a bunch of guys that he recruited and tries to develop, but there's a lot more
11:17pressure, I think, on Kiffin this year.
11:20Your thoughts on this game, and what do you expect from LSU, especially offensively?
11:25Yeah, I mean, Sam Levitt's a quarterback.
11:26He was at Arizona State.
11:28He took them to the playoffs two years ago, but he was banged up last year with a foot injury.
11:31If somebody steps on him on the first play, LSU's season is going straight downhill because
11:36he can't afford to get the foot re-injured.
11:39But they have so much talent on that team.
11:42I think their schedule could be their undoing.
11:46It won't be Clemson, though.
11:47Clemson is a shell of itself.
11:50There's not a coach I'm more disappointed in than Dabo Sweeney, who in 2019 literally was
11:56on the same level as Nick Saban.
11:58He had beaten Saban twice.
11:59He'd played for the national championship four times, playoffs about six or seven.
12:04But he was the last guy to get off your lawn, my lawn guy, who said, we're not changing.
12:11We're not going to the portal.
12:12We're not going to NIL.
12:13And he got screwed.
12:14And it's almost too late.
12:15That program is now about the fourth or fifth best in the ACC, which is not exactly the
12:19best league.
12:20So I think LSU will roll them.
12:22LSU's problem come later.
12:23Two weeks later, they're at Ole Miss.
12:25That will be one of the tensest games in the history of college football.
12:29Yeah, that's going to be a must-watch.
12:30Must-watch.
12:31I don't even know what it's comparable to in the NFL or any other sport.
12:35But I've never seen a fan base hate somebody more.
12:39I mean, this is 16 years old and jilted by the girl that you were going to marry and have
12:46seven kids with.
12:47But, I mean, I'm telling you what, I mean, every time I'm in an elevator with an Ole
12:51Miss fan, they say, what do you think of Kiffin?
12:54And I say, I hate him.
12:56I say, well, then they want to hug me.
12:57If I said I like him, they might pull a gun.
13:00Right, right.
13:01Yeah, that's going to be really interesting.
13:02And then just your thought, you know, overall in the SEC, you've got a bunch of new coaches.
13:08You know, Ole Miss has Goldie now, but he was there, but they have Goldie.
13:11Obviously, Lane's gone.
13:12But there's four other schools that fired their coaches and brought some new guys in.
13:17Georgia's ranked three in the preseason.
13:19I think LSU's middle of the pack.
13:21I don't know where they are.
13:22Maybe 13, 14.
13:23But just your thoughts on the conference in general with all these new coaches.
13:27Well, I mean, yeah.
13:28I mean, half these guys I've never heard of before.
13:31I mean, they were coming from the middle of nowhere.
13:34Keep your eye on John Sumrall.
13:35He's a Florida coach.
13:37He was at Tulane last year, which made the playoffs.
13:39And for Tulane to be good is really staying a great deal.
13:43The team I'm most intrigued by is Texas.
13:45The talent level on that team is astronomical.
13:49You know, it starts with Arch Manning.
13:51I think he's one of the two or three best quarterbacks.
13:54They have the best wide receiver, a guy named Cam Coleman.
13:57They've got another wide receiver that is not far behind.
14:00They have running backs.
14:02I mean, they are just, you know, a lot of it's money.
14:05But Texas is also a very powerful attraction.
14:10But I don't like the SEC to win the championship again.
14:13If I had to pick a team, I'd go with Oregon, with Dante Moore.
14:17I mean, this guy could have been the second pick in the draft last year.
14:21But the word was he didn't want to play for the Jets
14:24or some other terrible NFL franchise.
14:27So, I mean, they are.
14:28Dan Lanning is another coach who hasn't won a championship yet, but he will.
14:32Paul, great stuff.
14:34Appreciate the insight.
14:35Thanks for your time.
14:36Yeah, I'll get you on again soon.
14:37Thank you, Paul.
14:37Thanks for calling in.
14:38We love it, guys.
14:39Thank you very much.
14:39All right.
14:39Thank you, bud.
14:40It's a great Paul Feinbaum, New York Times bestselling author,
14:43ESPN college football commentator.
14:45You can watch him daily on the SEC Network.
14:48Still to come, our pal Dan Helley, who's going to be calling the game,
14:52the Commander's Dolphins game tonight on the TV side.
14:55He'll jump on at 9 o'clock here on The Fan.
14:58Let's go.
14:58Let's go.
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