Jayden Daniels Holds Players-Only Meeting, Building Trust With WR's

The Tigers' offense must be more aggressive, trust one another to make the plays necessary to win.

It hasn’t been the offensive attack many had hoped for from LSU this season. Struggling to find their rhythm, it was their passing game that lacked grit in Saturday night’s victory over Auburn, but following the contest, starting quarterback Jayden Daniels arranged a players-only meeting.

The meeting was used to establish trust between Daniels and his receivers. With weapons ranging from All-American Kayshon Boutte to sophomore standout Malik Nabers, the options are endless, and when used correctly could put this LSU offense as one of the best in the country.

“We gotta trust each other better,” Nabers said. “We gotta trust the QB to make the pass and he’s gotta trust us to make the catch. That was mainly the thing the meeting accomplished, just us trusting each other more. As a receiver we’ve gotta trust ourselves to make those competitive plays on the ball in the air.”

Malik Nabers: I’m really excited for this game plan we have against Tennessee.

Says Jayden Daniels put together a players only meeting to dissect what improvements need to be made offensively.

“We have to trust each other. We have to trust the QB. It’s about trust.” #LSU

— Zack Nagy (@znagy20) October 5, 2022

Trust can come in many ways for this squad. Whether it be Daniels trusting his arm to fit passes into tight windows or throwing it so that his gifted wideouts can make a play of their own, it’s time for this unit to trust one another to make the play rather than a conservative style of offense.

“We’re way too conservative right now,” Kelly said on Monday. “I don’t want to throw interceptions or turn the ball over. We haven’t thrown any. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but if you’re looking to be aggressive, you’re going to throw an interception because somebody made a great play. You trust that you’re going to throw it in there and we need Jayden [Daniels] to be a little more on that edge and be a little more aggressive.”

For Daniels, he understands he needs to trust himself more. With so many weapons, he explained how he should utilize them better.

“It’s a mindset. Trust what you see and I go out there and I see those guys. These guys are at LSU for a reason and it’s about letting them make plays,” Daniels said. “We’ve gotta win our one on one matchups and I’ve gotta put the ball there and let them make a play. Be decisive.”

Heading into their matchup against Tennessee, it’s clear the main message of this group is to go out there and believe in each other to make the plays. Facing a Volunteers squad that runs the fastest offense in the country, it’s a given the Tigers will need to put points on the board.

But for Daniels to arrange a players-only meeting shows this LSU offense is prepared for the challenge and are being accountable for their early struggles. This week they’ve worked on being more aggressive and trusting in one another so it translates on the field in one of the more highly anticipated matchups of the week.

“If we wanna win, we wanna achieve the goals we’ve set, obviously you’re gonna have to push the ball downfield and make those big plays,” Daniels said. “Make teams respect you deep. That starts with me giving the receiver the chance to win a one on one matchup, winning the route and getting into that flow. We’ve seen how explosive our offense can be and we gotta make those plays.”