Jalon Daniels reveals how he's growing as a leader, why 'pressure is a privilege'

In 2022, Kansas surprised a lot of people by winning its first five games of the season. A huge part of that success was quarterback Jalon Daniels becoming a breakout star.

Now, Daniels knows that he needs to grow as a leader if Kansas is going to reach its goals and compete for a Big 12 Championship. As he explained during Big 12 media days, Daniels is trying to be as confident in his own abilities as possible.

“For me, I just want to be able to go out there and be as confident as I can,” Jalon Daniels said. “Be as confident in my ability as I can because if I’m able to show confidence in what I’m doing, then that means the team is going to be confident in what they’re doing as well.”

The reality is that there is a lot more pressure going into 2023 than there was in 2022. That doesn’t bother Daniels, though, because as he explained, he just has to remain confident and remember that he considers pressure to be a privilege.

“Remain confident and also don’t let pressure get to you because at the end of the day, pressure is a privilege. If you have pressure that means things are expected of you and if you are able to meet those expectations, then that means that you’re doing pretty doggone good.”

Kansas starts its 2023 campaign with a game against Missouri State before taking on Illinois out of the Big Ten. The Jayhawks play their first conference game against BYU at the end of September. For Jalon Daniels and Kansas, those games are going to be incredibly important to set the tone for the season.

Greg McElroy on Jalon Daniels’ potential

ESPN college football analyst Greg McElroy recently raved about Jalon Daniels and his potential as a quarterback during his show Always College Football.

“Those that pay close attention realize that Jalon Daniels in Kansas was a one-man wrecking crew. And you look at another guy, got sidelined, got banged up against TCU on October 8, but look at the first month of the season. Look at how good he was and how dynamic he was. Now, is he ultimately going to make a push for the Heisman trophy? I think Dillon Gabriel’s got a much better chance (out of quarterbacks in the big Ten),” McElroy said.

“But still Jalon Daniels, if he can pick up where he left off ever he returned late had an unbelievable finish to the season against Arkansas, they ultimately came up short in that game, but my goodness. I mean the fourth quarter, name a better fourth quarter performance by a quarterback and any bowl game this past season. Probably wasn’t one.”