Heisman Favorite Daniels Uses NIL to Give Back to LSU Staff

Star quarterback gifts HEYDUDE shoes to Tiger administrators, Coach Brian Kelly

LSU star quarterback Jayden Daniels' holiday season kicked off early as he's already receiving gifts, in the form of individual awards. The senior from San Bernardino, CA won the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award this week and is a favorite in the upcoming Heisman Trophy, which ends voting on Monday.

While LSU and Daniels did not make it to the SEC Championship Game, they are still very involved in the weekend's conversation. With Daniels' Heisman competitors - Bo Nix of Oregon and Michael Penix Jr. of Washington - facing off tonight in the Pac-12 Championship Game, the school erected a "That Kid Jayden." billboard in Las Vegas, where the game takes place. 

Beyond the individual accolades coming his way this month, Daniels is using a NIL partnership to give back to the LSU athletics community. Through his deal with HEYDUDE - coordinated by NIL platform Postgame - the signal caller took on the role of Santa for the brand's "Holi-Dude" campaign to surprise LSU administrators with festive shoes.

Per his Instagram collab video with HEYDUDE, Daniels shared that he wanted to "show my appreciate to everyone who supports me." Wearing a Santa hat, Daniels visited multiple offices within LSU's athletic department to hand out shoes. His final stop was Head Coach Brian Kelly, who he gifted special LSU-branded shoes as part of HEYDUDE's Collegiate Collection.

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"Postgame was excited to include LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels into the HEYDUDE Holi-Dude NIL campaign," Postgame CEO and Co-Founder Bill Jula shared with Sports Illustrated. "Having worked with Jayden in the past, we knew he would deliver some amazing content."

Other college football stars taking part in this campaign include Jordan Travis of Florida State and Quinn Ewers of Texas, who both gifted their teammates.

Earlier this season, HEYDUDE launched their Collegiate Collection featuring licensed school logos and marks from LSU, Alabama, Texas, Tennessee, Florida and Clemson.

Expected to be named a Heisman Trophy finalist early next week, Daniels is already a finalist for the Davey O’Brien Award, the Walter Camp Player of the Year Award, the Maxwell Award and the Manning Award.

"The timing couldn't have been more perfect for HEYDUDE given the heightened attention being paid to Jayden as he continues to make a strong argument for being this year's Heisman Trophy winner," added Jula. " His Holi-Dude video came out great and even gave HEYDUDE's recently launched Collegiate Collection some added exposure with the gifting of a pair of LSU branded HEYDUDE's to LSU Head Coach Brian Kelly."

Daniels finished the regular season with 3,812 yards, 40 touchdowns and a 72.2 completion percentage. He also ran for 1,134 yards and 10 touchdowns on just 135 carries. His Heisman resume is rounded out by leading the nation in touchdown passes, passer rating, total touchdowns and total offense per game.