Brian Kelly evaluates play of Jayden Daniels prior to leaving game with injury

Early in the fourth quarter during Saturday’s game between LSU and Alabama, Tigers QB Jayden Daniels was injured after taking a massive hit from Crimson Tide defender Dallas Turner.

His night was over shortly after the hit, and he was placed in concussion protocol by the LSU medical staff. He finished the game with 382 total yards of offense and three touchdowns, including multiple 40-plus-yard plays. Head coach Brian Kelly called his performance “good,” but not “great.”

“He would like to be considered great every week,” Kelly said postgame. “He’s tough. The runs that he had tonight were outstanding runs that kept drives alive. I mean, if he’s not out there we’re not even in the game. He made a difference, but I’m sure there’s going to be some things that he would like to do better as well.”

After his injury, Daniels was replaced by backup Garrett Nussmeier, who finished the game 5-of-10 passing for 53 yards. Nussmeier, a former four-star recruit out of the 2021 recruiting class, had 12 completions for 143 and a touchdown pass before taking over for the injured Daniels.

For a moment, Daniels did return to the game after the hit but was swiftly replaced once against by Nussmeier, who remained LSU’s quarterback for the remainder of the game. Kelly explained the thought process behind allowing Daniels to return for those few moments.

“He was evaluated, was cleared and then came back and they looked at him again and felt like he wasn’t prepared to go back into the game and held him out of the game,” Kelly said. “Those are decisions that are made by our medical team.”

On the season, Daniels has produced career numbers in completion percentage (72.1 percent), and passing yards through nine games (2,792). He also has a 27-to-4 touchdown-to-interception ratio on the year. His 27 touchdown passes are 10 more than his career high in any season throughout his five-year college career. He has also contributed 684 rushing yards and six more touchdowns on the ground to bring his total to 33 touchdowns through 10 weeks.

Losing a Heisman candidate like Daniels at this point of the season is devastating for LSU to say the least.

Whether Daniels’ will be cleared in time for LSU’s Week 11 matchup against Florida at home. The Tigers have an 87.5 percent chance to send the Gators back to Gainesville with a loss, according to ESPN’s Matchup Predictor.