How did Jayden Daniels become such a smart runner? Not from coaching

Regina Jackson stood on the aisle stairs in the northwest stands of Sun Devil Stadium. She was jittery, anxious. Not necessarily scared, but she didn’t want to be presumptuous.

Her son, ASU quarterback Jayden Daniels, had always dominated, always excelled. Whether it was youth football, track, high school football, whatever. But this was college. The guys running after her son were going to be much bigger, much faster, much stronger than the defenders the 6-foot-3, 175-pound quarterback faced in high school.

Jayden had always kept himself safe, she thought, but this was a different animal.

In his first college start as a tall, lengthy 18-year old, Daniels soon began improvising as he did at Cajon High School. When things broke down in the pocket, when pressure was barreling toward him, he’d take off, running into the fray of much larger defenders.

With a game program in her right hand, Jackson would jump up and down, wincing as she yelled, “Don’t run. Don’t run. I told him that.”

Since then, Daniels has played in four additional college games, leading the Sun Devils to a 4-1 record and a No. 20 ranking in the latest AP Poll. He’s thrown for over 1,200 yards with a 60 percent completion percentage. But, more pressing, he’s taken off 48 times for 175 yards, including 12 rushes for 84 yards in an upset win at Cal.

He’s added a new dynamic to ASU’s offense. One where if things break down in critical late-game and 3rd-down situations, Daniels can gallop for yardage. But he’s still putting his body out in the open against massive Division I defenders. Does Jackson still get nervous?

“I’m good now,” she said. “I’m like, ‘Run, boy, run.”

Perched up in the coach’s booth, ASU offensive coordinator Rob Likens is screaming something similar. “I’m yelling, ‘Don’t slide until you get past the sticks.’ I don’t want to call 3rd and 1,” Likens joked.

When Daniels tucks the ball and darts toward open space, however, he can’t hear his mom or Likens.

But coach Herm Edwards voice, that gets through.

“I don’t raise my voice a whole lot until he leaves the pocket,” Edwards said. “I’m screaming as loud as I can scream. ‘Get down as fast as you can.’”

Added Daniels: “Last week (against Cal) I was running down the sideline, it was third down. I wanted to cut back but (Herm was) on the sideline yelling, ‘Be smart,’ so I just got out of bounds.”

Daniels came out of Cajon as the No. 2 dual-threat quarterback in the nation. That dual-threat label often brings with it the stereotype of a signal-caller who is more of a running back than he is a quarterback.

When he has time, Daniels sits in the pocket, checking through his progressions. When pressure comes, he shuffles out of the pocket but still keeps his eyes downfield with the intention to pass. At some point, he says, the clock in his head starts ringing and he bolts.

His long legs get churning like a train engine, building up speed as more green grass unfolds. Then, suddenly, it’s as if someone rears back on the emergency brake of Daniels, triggering him to jump out of bounds or slide like he’s Ricky Henderson going into second base.

New stories of Daniels’ calm demeanor seem to pop up every week. It’s not as if he’s emotionless, it’s just that he doesn’t let emotion hinder him. The same is true when he runs.

Everyone looks at the quarterback throwing his body into danger as a guy who cares. When John Elway helicoptered in the air after leaping into two Green Bay Packers defenders in the Super Bowl, people said he was a competitor. That guy will do anything to win.

Daniels doesn't get caught up in that. He understands his health and durability are far more important to ASU’s success than an extra yard. Just as Manny Wilkins will be remembered as the quarterback who loved to hurdle defenders, Daniels reputation is the quarterback who likes to slide before they hit him.

“Yeah, Manny he did the hurdling thing,” Daniels admitted. “That’s probably one of the first things (the coaches) told me not to do here.”

Edwards says he tells all of his quarterbacks to know when the journey is over. In other words, know when to get down, to get out of bounds. But who taught Daniels what to do when the journey is over?

Jackson said people often come up to her and ask if Jayden ever played baseball. The slide just looks so natural. Nope, she assures them. Even fellow ASU quarterback Ethan Long tells Daniels, “It really does look cool when you slide.”

“It’s nothing we taught,” Cajon coach Nick Rogers said.

“We didn’t work on that, that’s just a natural thing,” Likens said.

“Him as a runner, I tell him, ‘I’ve got nothing for that, man,’” Graduate assistant Mike Bercovici said.

“My dad and coach Rogers came out to me (in high school) and just said, “You’re going to have to learn how to slide.’ So in the games I just did it,” Daniels said, adding that he has never practiced sliding.

*****

Before ASU’s opener against Kent State, Likens had no clue what to expect out of Daniels' legs. He had the quarterback’s high school tape to look back on but, like Jackson, he was a bit flummoxed by how Daniels’ running ability would translate to college. That’s because, during practice, Daniels was dead-set on staying in the pocket and making throws, rarely ever running.

The same was true of Daniels when he was at Cajon. Rogers, who made his way out to Tempe for ASU’s game against Colorado, said Daniels is sliding more than he ever did in high school because of the size and speed of the guys charging at him. A 15-yard gain for the Sun Devils would have been a 50-yard touchdown at Cajon, Rogers said.

During his junior and senior seasons, Daniels ran 361 times for 2,828 yards and 31 touchdowns. In a state championship game win his junior year, he accounted for eight total touchdowns, throwing for 293 yards and picking up 281 with his legs. Yes, that’s 574 total yards.

The highlight of Cajon’s first CIF title in 30 years came, though, at Cajon’s own 1-yard line. The Downey High School defense played man and brought an all-out blitz at Daniels. He stepped up, found the crease and sprinted downfield for the 99-yard touchdown.

“You’re not catching him from behind,” Rogers said.

The Cajon coach can’t help but chuckle. What Daniels did in high school was almost comical in its absurdity. Possibly most absurd is that without Daniels, Rogers admitted, Cajon has again had to practice punting.

In addition to its signal-caller, Daniels was Cajon’s punter. But Rogers only called him out to kick “maybe five or six times a year.” It just seemed like a good bet that Daniels would pick up the first down -- no matter the situation.

“We’d be going for it on 4th and 20 and not even think about it,” Rogers said. “We just thought we always had a shot with him in.”

Asked why her son has excelled running the ball in college, Jackson points to two things. First, she says, Jayden didn’t go to a Southern California football factory like Mater Dei or St. John Bosco. He went to Cajon, a school that hasn’t produced a D1 lineman in a long time.

“The O-line was always consistent but it wasn’t always great for him.” Rogers said, before speaking about Daniels playing behind a re-shuffled ASU offensive line. “If there’s a kid trained for that, it’s this kid.”

“That really equipped me and molded me for my game now,” Daniels said of Cajon’s O-line. “Sometimes, you needed to run.”

The second thing, Jackson said, was Daniels background running track. He started at 7-years old, competing in seemingly every sprinting event: the 100-meter dash, the 200, the 110-meter hurdles. But, on top of that, he ran the 400, a race most football players don’t touch because of its length.

The thought was a longer race would be an extra benefit to Daniels’ endurance and stamina. That it did. But it also helped him learn how to maximize the effectiveness of his long frame.

“Your turnover, picking up speed, you see it translate to the field,” Daniels said. “Just learning how to use my legs. A lot of people call me long, so just learning how to use my long legs.”

Daniels has indeed learned how to use them -- and learned how to keep them aware from oncoming danger. His biggest skillset is staying calm amidst chaos, making the rational move instead of the one tied to emotion.

In high school, Daniels racked up gaudy stats by running past and away from stampeding defenders. In college, he’s taken charge and added a new wrinkle to ASU’s offense by never allowing his journey to go too long.

“It’s just like riding a bike,” Jackson said. “It’s just a bigger bike.”

Join us on our premium message board, the Devils’ Huddle, to discuss this article and other ASU football and recruiting topics. Not a member yet? Sign up today here and join your fellow Sun Devil fans!