00:00All right. The reason for reaching out to you, I'm sure you know, is just the last five days. So
00:06what you've covered the LSU football for 30 years, Jaden was an incredible Heisman Trophy winning player. I mean, I've
00:16talked so much about that team. If it had just a bad defense instead of a horrific defense, they probably
00:22would have been in the playoff and had a chance.
00:25But just give me, you know, your personal perspective on what's happened here the last few days.
00:32It's so very unfortunate. And you're right. I always said during those Daniel years that they just would have had
00:37an average defense his last year. They could have been a national champion.
00:43But he's a fantastic kid. Always gracious, always great in interviews.
00:52I've got a little bit of a feeling for what the dynamics are behind the scenes and some off the
00:57record conversations that we've had with his camp.
01:04But the overriding thought for me is that Jaden Daniels is knee deep in preparing with his football team and
01:12in constant meetings and in workouts and practices.
01:17And I don't think he's been behind the scenes worrying about this too much.
01:21It's somebody else on his behalf. I think you know who that is.
01:25Yeah. And of course, it's it's the mother we we've we've we've we've had two years of it.
01:31You guys had two years of it and everybody understands that this was the family and most likely the mother.
01:40I just so I want to go ahead. Continue. I don't I don't want to inject anything.
01:44I just and it's I there's a former LSU staffer that's kind of behind the scenes as well and close
01:55to Jaden and his mom.
01:58And I think that's where some of it's going out.
02:00And I know several media friends of mine were talking to that individual.
02:06Well, that that that was festering for a week or a few weeks before it broke phone calls being made.
02:15What are they doing? So I'm I'm kind of wondering how much of that was stirring the pot and and
02:22getting her riled up or or whatever.
02:26You know, I just wonder at some point.
02:30First of all, I hate it for Jaden that he should have no speed bumps or anything in front of
02:38him that causes him any issues with the LSU fan base.
02:42If the commanders have an open date, he's the guy that you want to come here on that Saturday because
02:48they're not playing that weekend.
02:50And he's he's being acknowledged between quarters and waving to a crowd to a standing ovation.
02:58It's to me, it's criminal what has been done to him.
03:02And again, I don't think it's him.
03:05I just wonder, you know, we're all raised differently.
03:10We all have different dynamics, whether you come from divorced parents or whatever.
03:15But at some point, he's got to be the adult.
03:24Yes. So at some point, you need to do the Michael Jackson thing and separate from the parent.
03:29Yeah. Not separate from the mother, but separate from the mother being overly involved in creating more problems than she's
03:38solving.
03:39Yes. Yes. He's got to live with this.
03:42That's his legacy. I don't know what his the end result of his full NFL career is going to is
03:50going to be.
03:50I hope it's for him multiple Super Bowls and and so forth.
03:57But one of the great things about being a former player in a school like LSU and many others is
04:04all the years is your grain to be able to go back, you know, once a year or whenever and,
04:10you know, enjoy that time.
04:13And I don't want anything less than that for him.
04:18And so I'm actually kind of shocked by, you know, the first 24 hours or 36, 48 hours of that
04:25last week.
04:26I couldn't tell who was getting the worst of it, whether it was LSU or him.
04:30But by by the weekend, it's been all been on him.
04:34Yeah. And so then I'm like, well, what is the solution?
04:39It's almost like the solution is either the mom comes out and throws herself under the bus.
04:46Or Jaden throws her under the bus.
04:50Right. Yeah.
04:52I mean, I, you know, one of the I hadn't is the mom capable of saying this was all my
04:58doing.
04:59Jade had nothing to do with it.
05:01I mean, I don't know what the way to do it is, but guys like him and his stature have,
05:08you know, crisis management people and PR firms.
05:13They need to get one.
05:14They don't need to just be winging it because because it looks bad for him.
05:19I'm sure it's I'm sure it's absolutely hurt his value tremendously with, you know, potential sponsors and everything else.
05:29Yeah. You know, the perspective, obviously, we have different perspectives because he's going to play for us in a month
05:37in a regular season game.
05:38And it's a massive, crucial season for him.
05:42And he can make all of this a non-issue by going out, playing well and leading the team to
05:48wins.
05:48He's never going to play at LSU again.
05:51So the legacy is what took a hit.
05:55And to your point, like, I don't know what the solution is, but I know that the lesson better have
06:01been learned.
06:02Because if nothing is learned, then another big self-inflicted mistake and distraction is just around the corner.
06:12Because remember, she's his agent as well.
06:15And what you said about this, I've said it, too, that the part that saddens me, because I love Jaden
06:20Daniels.
06:21I loved him in college.
06:22Everything that he's been here has been first rate.
06:25This is, by the way, he's an introvert, too, naturally.
06:30Oh, he absolutely is.
06:31Yeah, so this could not have been an easy, you know, 24 to 48 hours.
06:35But he'll get through it.
06:36He'll get over it.
06:37The part that upsets me is that what you described, being in that bye weekend on the sideline with, you
06:45know,
06:45Justin Jefferson or Jamar Chase watching a big game and being welcomed back.
06:50And I think from this seat, it's a recoverable relationship.
06:56But I've read that a lot of LSU people believe that it isn't.
07:00What do you say?
07:02I tell you what, I do a lot of shows.
07:04I host my own shows.
07:07And, look, I think a lot of people are having fun with the memes.
07:14Look, Billy Cannon, the number 20 that's retired, that number, Heisman Trophy winner, you know, he was, he did prison
07:23time for counterfeiting money.
07:25Right, right.
07:27It took time for that to get smoothed over and for fans to forgive him.
07:33And in his later years, it was all good.
07:37But Jane Daniels in this thing is nothing compared to that.
07:40I think eventually this will blow over.
07:43And I think the LSU fans, particularly those that pay attention, know exactly or feel like you and I do.
07:51They're not blaming it on Jane at all.
07:55They saw all the interviews that we did with him, which he didn't do many because, like you said, he's
08:00an introvert.
08:01But he's a quiet guy.
08:02I just don't see in him being, anything about him is that prima donna thing, which is why everybody is
08:11pointing the finger at his mom.
08:13Yes.
08:14I mean, if you're paying attention, you understand that.
08:16But this thing went, you know, so viral and so pop culture.
08:21And most of those people don't.
08:23And so their opinion is what their opinion is.
08:26But it really matters to me.
08:28I mean, here again, he's going to play, you know, that's what we're focused in on is him being focused
08:34in on a critical season.
08:36And he's going to play a game on September 13th.
08:39That'll matter against the Eagles on the road.
08:41And if he plays well, it doesn't matter.
08:43But that LSU relationship, I hope, gets repaired.
08:47And again, you know, it's about did it is she and those around that situation, are they capable of understanding
08:57how much damage they did?
09:00And then reconciling that with a solution that is maybe we need to take a major step back and let
09:07him be a professional football and an adult.
09:11And my question is, is the attorney that, you know, put the cease and desist letter together?
09:18Yeah.
09:18I mean, I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall during that meeting.
09:21Did that attorney try and say, are you sure you want to do this?
09:25I mean, let's really talk about what the ramifications are for this or what what are the possible outcomes?
09:31I mean, did they really, you know, work this from all angles and bring in other staffers from the inside
09:37of the building and say, no, what could go wrong here?
09:40It's not hard to figure out what could go wrong.
09:42And it did.
09:43Yeah.
09:44I mean, this would have been the easiest with anybody that pays attention to this kind of thing to say,
09:49no, no, no, that's that's a terrible idea.
09:53And and enumerate the reasons.
09:55I actually think, you know, reaching out to ESPN and giving them the whole story was just as bad.
10:01As the cease and desist letter, none of it was was very bright.
10:06And hopefully they learn from it.
10:08But I to your point, and I think a lot of our fans understand the same thing.
10:13This more likely than not wasn't him.
10:17He's focused on the season.
10:19He's focused on football.
10:21He is a gym rat.
10:22Everybody says that about him when it comes to football.
10:25And, you know, he's just got to probably be the one that prevents anything like this happening again.
10:30And in the future.
10:31Yeah.
10:32And when and when does that happen?
10:34I mean, does he all of a sudden when his NFL career is over realize that the you know, the
10:41trail of of disasters that they're waiting for him to clean up once his playing days are over?
10:48You know, you know, you know, and this is, you know, kind of the mess that my mom has made
10:54for me along the way.
10:59Man, again, we're all brought up different.
11:01I just.
11:02Yeah, I mean.
11:03I mean, I know the way me and my friends would have reacted had our mom inserted herself in these
11:09types of things when we're in our mid-20s.
11:12And.
11:14We I think we would have been very nice because it is our mothers, but we it would essentially would
11:19have been pound Sam.
11:22Yeah, look, that's a dynamic I can't guess on it's it's it's his mother.
11:28And by the way, she's bright and but she's been involved and overly involved going back to Arizona State.
11:34And it's led to negative outcomes when it's been that hyper over controlling parent getting far too much involved, not
11:44as an agent, but as a parent.
11:47Everybody remembers the clip of him in a basketball game and her getting between him and the girl.
11:51Yeah.
11:53Yeah.
11:53I mean, it's all that.
11:55I mean, where does that kind of stuff end?
11:59You know, hopefully does he finally snap at like thirty one or thirty two?
12:05And and and then their relationship, you know, you know, some point later in life.
12:10Is there an animosity built up between the two of them because of the wreckage?
12:15Yeah, I don't know.
12:16I can tell you this.
12:17What's obviously apparent is she's enjoying the celebrity of it.
12:23And that's part of the problem, too.
12:26You know, combining the enjoyment of being a big part of the Netflix special.
12:31I mean, she's at camp.
12:32She's being mobbed for autographs and pictures.
12:35The mother of the quarterback is.
12:39So, yeah, hopefully this was who is the who is the quiet one?
12:45His father.
12:46Yeah.
12:47Yeah.
12:48Don't know his name.
12:51Don't have no idea.
12:53Exactly.
12:53Is that your point?
12:55Yes.
12:56Yeah.
12:57Right.
12:58And by the way, that tells me that that's probably who Jaden is most like.
13:03Right.
13:05Well, we'll do.
13:06We can do psychological, you know, family analyses on this show.
13:12But you've told me what's going on down there.
13:16And it really sounds like the LSU fan base at some point, they recognize that this isn't him.
13:22And by the way, the we didn't even talk about the actual cease and desist and the number controversy.
13:29It certainly seems from afar, Mike, like most LSU fans are like, look, DJ Pickett's really good.
13:36He's wearing number five.
13:39And don't forget, there's also a dynamic here where LSU went, you know, what, 70 years between Heisman Trophy winners
13:50and then they got two of three.
13:54And so don't discount how close him and Joe Burrow's Heisman Trophies came about and probably the Daniels camp always
14:04comparing, you know, how much one is revered over the other or however they want to perceive it and spinning
14:11that conspiracy amongst themselves.
14:13And I think there's a whole lot of that going on, too.
14:17Well, there is.
14:18And I'm curious, do you come down on the side of, let's just say DJ Pickett said, I want number
14:25nine.
14:26Would they have given him number nine?
14:28Would Brian Kelly have committed to that?
14:30I bring it up.
14:32I've been brought up in the last few weeks several times.
14:35Bryce Underwood, Michigan quarterback, was committed to LSU for almost two years.
14:41And he was a five-star quarterback, number one quarterback in that high school class.
14:47And let's say he had worn the number nine since elementary school.
14:54I bet you Joe Burrow would have gotten a phone call and said, man, go ahead and wear number nine.
14:58Right.
15:00I guarantee, I know that that's how it would have been handled.
15:04Yeah.
15:05Or maybe Bryce Underwood would have said, you know what, I've worn nine forever.
15:10Maybe I don't want to wear nine at LSU.
15:12And, you know, who knows what the dynamic would be.
15:15But I just don't see Joe Burrow concerning himself with that.
15:18I honestly don't.
15:19Both he and Jay Daniels are going to get statues at LSU under the rules and the criteria for it
15:28back-to-back at some point in the future,
15:31regardless of all this stuff happening right now.
15:33Now, it's, but again, it's, you know, it kind of, the story really died down here.
15:43We lost the beloved Skip Burtman on Friday and football season is full speed ahead.
15:50But, you know, the memes are still out there and people are still having fun on Facebook and Instagram and
15:55so forth with it.
16:00But for Jayden, I want it repaired because I don't want, I want him to have the full benefits of
16:09the special two years he had at LSU and the Heisman Trophy.
16:14And to me, that's...
16:19Yeah, no, no, no, no, I'm with you.
16:21And I think that because we've gotten to know him a little bit here, you guys had him for two
16:26years as well.
16:28He's so naturally likable that he's highly respected.
16:33And to see him be a national punching bag for four straight days was painful.
16:38It was hard, especially knowing that it wasn't him.
16:43I don't know how, you know, whether it was post-game interviews or whatever, that anybody that walked away from
16:48him just didn't walk away saying that kid was a total sweetheart.
16:51I mean, because he just is.
16:55Well, hopefully he goes out and torches the Eagles on September 13th and has a season like he had two
17:01seasons ago.
17:02I'm expecting it.
17:04Mike, thanks so much for your time.
17:06Really appreciate it.
17:07Anytime.
17:08And I hope all the success in the world, too, and he bounces back and has a great year.
17:12I think he will.
17:13Thanks.
17:13Mike Scarborough, everybody, from TigerBait.com.
17:16He's been covering LSU sports and the football team for three decades.
