ASU’s Jayden Daniels cracks Athlon Sports’ top 20 breakout QBs for 2021
Aug 22, 2021, 6:49 AM
Arizona State quarterback Jayden Daniels (5) warms up for the team's NCAA college football game against Oregon, Saturday, Nov. 23, 2019, in Tempe, Ariz. (AP Photo/Matt York)
(AP Photo/Matt York)
The 2020 campaign was not nice to the Arizona State Sun Devils football team.
Outside of a 70-7 drubbing of their in-state rival and a running clinic against Oregon State, the Sun Devils missed three games to COVID-19 complications, lost a heartbreaker to USC and allowed UCLA a game-winning drive with a minute left.
The Sun Devils’ 2021 campaign looks to be much brighter with quarterback Jayden Daniels poised to make up for the lost time and a team returning a vast majority of its starters from a year ago.
Steven Lassan of Athlon Sports released his top 20 breakout quarterbacks for the 2021 season, where he has Daniels coming in at No. 5 behind some noticeable names.
Arizona State’s four-game 2020 season didn’t provide many opportunities for Daniels to showcase any improvement from an impressive freshman campaign but look for that to change in ’21. The California native has passed for 3,644 yards and 22 touchdowns to just three picks over 422 career attempts. Also, Daniels has rushed for 578 yards and seven scores since arriving in Tempe. The Sun Devils need Daniels to reach his potential if this program wants to win the Pac-12 South this fall. All signs suggest the junior is headed for a huge ’21 season.
The four names in front of Daniels include C.J. Stroud of Ohio State at four, J.T. Daniels of Georgia at three, D.J. Uiagalelei of Clemson at two and the newest Nick Saban prodigy, Bryce Young of Alabama rounding out the star-studded list.
Jayden de Laura of Washington State was the only other Pac-12 quarterback to make the list, receiving honorable mention.
