Heisman winner to skip LSU’S bowl game
BATON ROUGE, LA. >> LSU’S Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Jayden Daniels is skipping the Tigers’ bowl game against Wisconsin.
“Thank you to everyone who made this happen, but all great things must come to an end,” Daniels said in a video posted on social media on Monday. “I feel better about the state of the program with the quarterback moving forward.”
No. 13 LSU and Wisconsin are set to meet in the Reliaquest Bowl in Tampa, Florida, on New Year’s Day. Garrett Nussmeier, who is now in his third season at LSU — and has two more seasons of eligibility left — is slated to start against the Badgers after serving as Daniels’ backup and seeing action in five games this season.
Daniels led the nation in total offense this season, passing for 3,812 yards and 40 touchdowns to go with 1,134 yards and 10 touchdowns rushing.
Daniels played five years of college football — the first three at Arizona State. He transferred to LSU in 2022, which also was coach Brian Kelly’s first year in Baton Rouge after more than a decade coaching at Notre Dame.
After winning the starting job at LSU in 2022, Daniels blossomed into one of the most prolific dual-threat QBS in the nation. He passed for 2,913 yards and rushed for 885 yards while leading the Tigers to an SEC West title.
This year, Daniels became the second LSU quarterback in the past five seasons to win the Heisman. Joe Burrow won in 2019, the year he led LSU to its last national title.
QB Moore headed to Oregon
Former Clemson safety Andrew Mukuba announced he is transferring to Texas, his hometown school, cornerback Decamerion Richardson said he is leaving Mississippi State for rival Mis
sissippi and quarterback Dante Moore committed to Oregon after spending his freshman year at UCLA.
Entering the portal officially were Arkansas quarterback KJ Jefferson, a three-year starter, TCU QB Chandler Morris, and two former five-star recruits from USC in freshman QB Malachi Nelson and sophomore cornerback Domani Jackson.
Moore, a former five- star recruit from Michigan, played nine games and started five for the Bruins. He completed 53.6% of his
passes and three 11 touchdowns and nine interceptions.
He is the second high-profile quarterback to choose Oregon as a transfer destination this month, joining Dillon Gabriel. Moore, who originally committed to Oregon as a high school recruit before flipping to UCLA, made his announcement with an Instagram post.
Gabriel, who played the last two seasons at Oklahoma, will play a sixth season at Oregon.
Florida State received a commitment from the son of a former
Seminoles star when edge rusher Marvin Jones Jr. posted on social media that he was transferring from Georgia to Tallahassee.
The elder Jones was an AllAmerica linebacker from Florida State in the early 1990s who went on to play 10 seasons for the New York Jets. Jones Jr. was a five-star recruit who played sparingly for Georgia in two seasons.
QB Raiola flips to Nebraska
Quarterback Dylan Raiola, one of the top high school football recruits in the country, announced he will sign with Nebraska after months of being a verbal commitment to Georgia.
Raiola, whose father played for Nebraska and uncle is a current assistant coach, made his announcement with a poem posted to social media.
“No longer a cog in some powerhouse machine, But a quarterback, with an even grander ambition unseen,” Raiola wrote in his post.
The early signing period of high school recruits starts Wednesday, when Raiola and other recruits can make their college decisions official by signing a national letter of intent.
When Raiola signs, he will become one of the highest-rated recruits to ever join Nebraska. He has played high school football in Texas and Arizona before transferring to Georgia this year and playing at Buford High School, near Atlanta.
Georgia QB Beck returning
ATHENS, GA.>> Georgia junior quarterback Carson Beck said he will return for the 2024 season instead of entering the NFL draft. The fourth-year junior will lead the No. 6 Bulldogs against No. 4 Florida State in the Orange Bowl.
Beck was considered a possible candidate to be drafted in the first or second round after he completed 72.4% of his passes for 3,738 yards with 22 touchdowns and six interceptions this fall.
Troy hires Notre Dame OC
Troy has hired Notre Dame offensive coordinator Gerad Parker to be its next head coach. Parker will replace Jon Sumrall, who left Troy earlier this month after two successful seasons to become head coach at Tulane. Parker will be a first-time head coach after spending two seasons at Notre Dame, the last as offensive coordinator. He has also been an assistant at West Virginia, Penn State, Duke, Cincinnati and Purdue.