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Jon Gruden spotlights 'The freakin' LSU Tigers' ahead of Jayden Daniels chat

by:Jerit Roser•04/18/25
Screenshot 2025-04-18 at 2.29.30 PM
Jon Gruden, LSU

Jon Gruden shared a 10-minute video Thursday unpacking LSU gear and sharing praise for and memories of the Tigers ahead of his interview with 2023 Heisman winner Jayden Daniels.

The longtime NFL coach turned football media personality thanked LSU football coach Brian Kelly and baseball coach Jay Johnson for the large box and bag of purple-and-gold gear he had to slowly angle his way through the doorway and into the camera shot.

“Oh, man, this is a glorious day: The freakin’ LSU Tigers,” Gruden exclaimed in his well-known growling voice. “What else needs to be said about Mike the Tiger? The football program? The baseball program? The LSU Tigers? Mike the Tiger?

“Holy cow, I saw a game there years ago. Charlie McClendon was the head football coach. They had A.J. Duhe, Charles Alexander, No. 4. Speaking of football, look at these boxes: Is it not the most beautiful color in all of football? When you see that color, what do you think of? I think of 100 years of LSU Tigers, man! It’s awesome. They used to call this and think they still do call it: D-B-U.”

Gruden, whose most recent NFL role came as a New Orleans Saints consultant in 2023, went on to rattle through a number of former Tigers greats such as players Tommy Casanova, Tyrann Mathieu, Patrick Peterson, Corey Webster, Odell Beckham Jr., Ja’Marr Chase, and JaMarcus Russell and coaches Nick Saban, Les Miles and Ed Orgeron.

He pointed out a pair of players his teams drafted in tight end Foster Moreau, the Oakland Raiders’ 2019 fourth-round pick and “one of my favorite LSU Tigers ever,” and wide receiver Michael Clayton, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ 2004 first-round pick, and also shared a connection to 1958 national championship coach Paul Dietzel, who was Indiana’s athletic director in the mid-1970s when father Jim Gruden was an assistant coach with the Hoosiers.

And, as Gruden promoted his upcoming Daniels interview, he was particularly excited to mention the Tigers’ pair of recent Heisman-winning quarterbacks, as well as another former LSU quarterback who was a childhood favorite in the 1970s.

“You know, if you know anything about football, everybody knows Joe Burrow went to LSU. And my man Jayden Daniels, the current beast of the National Football League. But you know, when I was a kid, one of the first jerseys I got: Baltimore Colt, No. 7, Bert Jones.”

Check out the full video below.

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