Jalon Daniels and the Power of Being Genuine

There is a big difference between people who are authentically themselves and those who pretend to be authentic, and that feeling usually comes out within a few minutes of interacting. 

An interaction between reporters, content creators, columnists, and fans with college and pro players often leans toward the latter. An imaginary wall often separates these groups, and breaking it down takes time, trust, and genuine interest in getting to know the person. Some players are more skilled than others at navigating that sometimes tenuous relationship. Others simply thrive in their own skin.

A college All-Star game setting like the East-West Shrine Bowl — held in Frisco, Texas, in January this year — is a perfect example. Hundreds of players travel from across the country, with varying levels of experience, and coverage comes from outlets and independent journalists. Quarterbacks are best at navigating that delicate balance, and it is rare to leave a conversation having learned something tangential.

It had already been a long five-day stretch for the players, specifically for Jalon Daniels. He opened the week with a throwing session, and by the time I spoke with him on Jan. 25, after three full days of practice, he gave off an unmistakable feeling.

Inside the second floor of the Hyatt Regency Frisco-Dallas, which served as the host hotel for the Shrine Bowl, Daniels, with a backup in tow and wearing a sweatsuit accompanied by his slightly sideways-facing hat, walked up with a big smile on his face — a demeanor he echoed on Thursday night’s Prime Video Thursday Night Football broadcast.

He had an instant genuineness about him. Here he was, a few hours after a morning practice session, spending time with nearly every NFL team in attendance, ready to give me his full attention.

And he wasn’t even supposed to be here.

“It's great. It's amazing. It's a blessing to be here,” Daniels said of being at the Shrine Bowl, noting that he was supposed to be attending another All-Star game. “[I] ended up getting an invite from here a few days before it started. And I was psyched.

“Being able to be with some of the most highly touted guys in this draft class, some people who I've gotten the chance to be able to see on TV make plays, do this, do that, be successful where they are. It has meant a lot because I get the chance to be able to show everybody that I'm an ultimate competitor.”

And when I say he wasn’t supposed to be here, there's layers to it. Be here, specifically, in Texas that weekend. Be here, specifically, at this stage of his football career. 

He played two seasons on the freshman team at Narbonne High School and was the third-string quarterback behind Kyle Williams, who eventually became a wide receiver and now plays for the Patriots, and Jaylen Henderson, who now plays at Liberty. And when Jake Garcia, who now plays at Furman — his fifth college in six seasons — transferred to Narbonne, Daniels decided to bet on himself at Lawndale High, where he later won a state championship.

He started six games as a 17-year-old three-star freshman recruit during a COVID-19 shortened 2020 season under Les Miles at Kansas, who, frankly, should not have been coaching; the team’s 3-18 record across those two seasons showed it. And after six seasons at Kansas — one that included the 2023 campaign being shortened with a back injury — the NFL decided to pass on drafting him, and he signed with Tampa Bay as an undrafted free agent.

He was in the same recruiting class as C.J. Stroud, Bryce Young, and D.J. Uiagalelei, all of whom, like Daniels, hail from Southern California. He got to see “a lot of these guys who are hooping in the NFL, playing the same position as me, from the same area, a lot.”

Now, after making the Buccaneers as an undrafted free agent, beating out Jake Browning — who a few years ago was balling for the Bengals — for a backup job and being thrust into a starting role after Baker Mayfield dislocated his thumb on his throwing hand almost three weeks ago, Daniels seemed unfazed by the moment Thursday night.