{"id":30824,"date":"2023-12-18T09:20:03","date_gmt":"2023-12-18T14:20:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?p=30824"},"modified":"2023-12-18T10:20:51","modified_gmt":"2023-12-18T15:20:51","slug":"heisman-winner-jayden-daniels-calls-jesus-his-rock-and-savior-during-acceptance-speech","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2023\/12\/heisman-winner-jayden-daniels-calls-jesus-his-rock-and-savior-during-acceptance-speech.html","title":{"rendered":"Heisman Winner Jayden Daniels Calls Jesus His &#8216;Rock and Savior&#8217; During Acceptance Speech"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_30857\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-30857\" style=\"width: 768px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2023\/12\/jayden-daniels_ESPN-College-Football-YouTube-scaled.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-30857\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/87\/2023\/12\/jayden-daniels_ESPN-College-Football-YouTube-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"768\" height=\"576\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-30857\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">ESPN College Football\/YouTube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The record-setting winner of this year\u2019s Heisman Trophy recently encouraged the nation\u2019s young athletes to \u201clean\u201d on their faith, saying his belief in Jesus made a significant impact on his life.<\/p>\n<p>LSU\u2019s Jayden Daniels won the Heisman Trophy as college football\u2019s most outstanding player, beating out Washington\u2019s Michael Penix Jr. 2,029 to 1,701 votes in what was the closest Heisman race since 2018. Daniels led the nation in total yards per game, passing touchdowns, and total touchdowns. His passer rating was the highest in FBS history. In a win over Florida, Daniels became the first player in FBS history to pass for 350 yards and rush for 200 yards in the same game.<\/p>\n<p>When asked during the ESPN broadcast what advice he would give young people, Daniels said, \u201cAlways believe in yourself, no matter the doubters, no matter what people say about you, just believe in yourself. Lean on your faith with Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, and just keep working.\u201d Daniels\u2019 path to the Heisman wasn\u2019t typical. As a transfer, he struggled in his last season at Arizona State, throwing as many interceptions as he did touchdowns. In 2022, he started as quarterback for LSU and led the Tigers to the SEC West division title, and then in 2023, he guided his team to a 9-3 record.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-yhzN_lDSbw?si=rFOGEBhE6EKn3IHT\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Daniels referenced his faith during his acceptance speech. He said, \u201cThis is a dream come true. I want to first give thanks to God. He\u2019s my Rock, my Savior. He blessed me with the talents and ability to get here.\u201d He also thanked his teammates, his offensive line, his coaches at Arizona State and LSU, and his family. He joked that his father raised him to play cornerback on defense but added that the \u201cdecision to play quarterback paid off\u201d as his parents sat in the audience. He told his father, \u201cYou taught me how to play, lead, and be calm no matter the situation.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He also addressed his mother during his acceptance speech. Daniels told her, \u201cYou always had my best interest at heart from day one. And you showed me that tough love when I needed it. You instilled the hard work mentality that got me here. I graduated in three years because that\u2019s something you pushed me to do.\u201d In a November interview with LSUSPorts.net, Daniels credited LSU player relations manager Sherman Wilson for helping him deepen his faith. He said of Wilson, \u201cHe\u2019s behind the scenes, but he\u2019s like my right-hand man. I kind of got back into my faith more, always giving glory to God.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Daniels continued, \u201cHe died on the cross for us; anything is possible with Him. Coming back out here, trying to figure out my life, I wanted to stop trying to put so much pressure and just give everything to God, letting Him take care of it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The record-setting winner of this year\u2019s Heisman Trophy recently encouraged the nation\u2019s young athletes to \u201clean\u201d on their faith, saying his belief in Jesus made a significant impact on his life. LSU\u2019s Jayden Daniels won the Heisman Trophy as college football\u2019s most outstanding player, beating out Washington\u2019s Michael Penix Jr. 2,029 to 1,701 votes in&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":657,"featured_media":30857,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3630,7,3294,10],"tags":[6071,6068],"class_list":["post-30824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-athletes","category-entertainment","category-football","category-sports","tag-heisman-trophy","tag-jayden-daniels"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Heisman Winner Jayden Daniels Calls Jesus His &#039;Rock and Savior&#039; During Acceptance Speech<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"During his Heisman Trophy acceptance speech, LSU&#039;s Jayden Daniels called Jesus his &quot;Rock and Savior&quot; and gave an encouraging message to young athletes.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2023\/12\/heisman-winner-jayden-daniels-calls-jesus-his-rock-and-savior-during-acceptance-speech.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Heisman Winner Jayden Daniels Calls Jesus His &#039;Rock and Savior&#039; During Acceptance Speech\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"During his Heisman Trophy acceptance speech, LSU&#039;s Jayden Daniels called Jesus his &quot;Rock and Savior&quot; and gave an encouraging message to young athletes.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" 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