ASU Football: Jayden Daniels Ranks Fifth in Pac by PFF, QB Down South Ranked 1st
Once again, Pro Football Focus (PFF) isn’t big on Sun Devil sophomore sensation Jayden Daniels.
The quarterback was rated as the fifth-best returning QB in the conference by the publication.
I have written multiple stories about PFF’s issues with Jayden Daniels (read them here and here).
To try and summarize my previous pieces:
I have been very clear about how, while I understand that Jayden Daniels doesn’t have exceptional accuracy, PFF is wrong in their overall assessments of Jayden Daniels. PFF claims he is the 63rd-best quarterback in the FBS.
As my previous articles explain, they are right in that accuracy is by no means a positive in Daniels’ game. However, ranking him outside the top 60 ignores who he is in crunch time, his tremendous situational athleticism as a dual-threat QB, and his eye test results. Jayden Daniels is a top 15 quarterback in college football.
Moving on…
I want to take a look at the two Arizona quarterbacks, because while Jayden Daniels hasn’t earned the right to be called the best quarterback in the conference over Kedon Slovis, U of A’s Grant Gunnell certainly hasn’t either, and Daniels is the better quarterback out of the two.
The breakdown starts with who they were situationally in 2019, while they were both impressive true freshman.
I like Grant Gunnell. He did a solid job last year in a situation he should not have been put in. He played in eight games and only started three.
It’s not surprising that he doesn’t have great cumulative numbers, considering he didn’t have much time to prove himself with Khalil Tate in the picture. Gunnell did well when he had the opportunity.
Attempting 155 passes, Gunnell completed 65.2% of his throws, which was 4.5% more than Jayden Daniels. According to Anthony Treash of Pro Football Focus, “Gunnell threw an accurate pass on 65.9% of his throws beyond the line of scrimmage, which would have ranked third in college football had he qualified for a rank.” That’s tremendous accuracy, unlike what they found of Daniels.
PFF found and recorded a 17% QB-fault incompletion percentage for Daniels last year, and recorded him as accurate on only 48.4% of his passes. It was a much different story in Tucson than it was in Tempe when it comes to the quarterbacks’ accuracy.
Gunnell’s impressive TD:INT ratio of 9:1 rivals Daniels’ 17:2 in terms of efficiency. And while Gunnell’s 1239 passing yards isn’t very impressive, neither is Daniels’ 2943 passing yards considering he started 12 games. That placed 39th in the FBS and his 17 passing touchdowns came in at 62nd.
PFF is clearly impressed with what comes to mind when imagining what Gunnell could have done with 12 starts instead of 3. That’s fair, but PFF is taking the “what-if” game too far. Gunnell averaged less yards per attempt than Daniels, so if anything, it can be argued just as much that Gunnell’s passing yard total would’ve checked in lower than Daniels.
As someone who was impressed with Gunnell’s 2019, I understand that he could have had a great year if he was a full-time starter, but there’s not a big enough sample size to confirm that and claim that he’s better than Daniels.
Daniels may not have the prettiest numbers, but he doesn’t turn the ball over. PFF actually had mentioned his 2.4% turnover-worthy rate before, which ranked 14th in the country. So while one of Gunnell’s best attributes is that he doesn’t make many crucial mistakes, Daniels is right there with him.
What makes Daniels so special is who he is down the stretch in clutch moments. In the Michigan State game, the Washington State game, and the Oregon game, he proved that jitters don’t apply to him and that he knows how to go out and steal a game. He even showed in, for instance, the Washington State game that he can even put his body on the line with his rushing ability to use his dual-threat abilities when they matter most.
That’s another reason Daniels’ stats don’t pop out. Sure, 2.8 yards per carry for 355 rushing yards and three touchdowns isn’t special, but he displayed throughout the season that he knows how to take what he can get, and when he needs to, he can break one.
All season long, Tempe saw him slide and avoid hits. It took a toll on his yards per carry, but nobody complained when he stayed healthy enough to start almost all 13 games, and when he did indeed take risks rushing the ball when he needed to, he proved who he is as a ground-game playmaker. (Again, re-watch his game-winner vs. Washington State.)
The talent’s there; don’t put too much stock into the yards/carry. He’s far more talented than Gunnell, and as far as specifically rushing ability goes, Gunnell provided nothing last year. Daniels’ natural abilities are what make him so special when he’s called on to use his “it-factor” that he already proved he has. Gunnell, on the other hand, hasn’t proven that yet.