- 20 hours ago
LSU Insider Mike Scarborough from Tigerbait joins The Kevin Sheehan Show to analyze the Tigers' upcoming campaign and provide the latest on the Jayden Daniels legal drama involving LSU. Mike shares his perspective on the friction between Daniels' team and the school, while discussing if the Heisman winner's legacy can be preserved despite the ongoing controversy.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00All right. The reason for reaching out to you, I'm sure you know, is just the last five days. So
00:06what you've covered the LSU football for 30 years, Jaden was an incredible Heisman Trophy winning player. I mean, I've
00:16talked so much about that team. If it had just a bad defense instead of a horrific defense, they probably
00:22would have been in the playoff and had a chance.
00:25But just give me, you know, your personal perspective on what's happened here the last few days.
00:32It's so very unfortunate. And you're right. I always said during those Daniel years that they just would have had
00:37an average defense his last year. They could have been a national champion.
00:43But he's a fantastic kid. Always gracious, always great in interviews.
00:52I've got a little bit of a feeling for what the dynamics are behind the scenes and some off the
00:57record conversations that we've had with his camp.
01:04But the overriding thought for me is that Jaden Daniels is knee deep in preparing with his football team and
01:12in constant meetings and in workouts and practices.
01:17And I don't think he's been behind the scenes worrying about this too much.
01:21It's somebody else on his behalf. I think you know who that is.
01:25Yeah. And of course, it's it's the mother we we've we've we've we've had two years of it.
01:31You guys had two years of it and everybody understands that this was the family and most likely the mother.
01:40I just so I want to go ahead. Continue. I don't I don't want to inject anything.
01:44I just and it's I there's a former LSU staffer that's kind of behind the scenes as well and close
01:55to Jaden and his mom.
01:58And I think that's where some of it's going out.
02:00And I know several media friends of mine were talking to that individual.
02:06Well, that that that was festering for a week or a few weeks before it broke phone calls being made.
02:15What are they doing? So I'm I'm kind of wondering how much of that was stirring the pot and and
02:22getting her riled up or or whatever.
02:26You know, I just wonder at some point.
02:30First of all, I hate it for Jaden that he should have no speed bumps or anything in front of
02:38him that causes him any issues with the LSU fan base.
02:42If the commanders have an open date, he's the guy that you want to come here on that Saturday because
02:48they're not playing that weekend.
02:50And he's he's being acknowledged between quarters and waving to a crowd to a standing ovation.
02:58It's to me, it's criminal what has been done to him.
03:02And again, I don't think it's him.
03:05I just wonder, you know, we're all raised differently.
03:10We all have different dynamics, whether you come from divorced parents or whatever.
03:15But at some point, he's got to be the adult.
03:24Yes. So at some point, you need to do the Michael Jackson thing and separate from the parent.
03:29Yeah. Not separate from the mother, but separate from the mother being overly involved in creating more problems than she's
03:38solving.
03:39Yes. Yes. He's got to live with this.
03:42That's his legacy. I don't know what his the end result of his full NFL career is going to is
03:50going to be.
03:50I hope it's for him multiple Super Bowls and and so forth.
03:57But one of the great things about being a former player in a school like LSU and many others is
04:04all the years is your grain to be able to go back, you know, once a year or whenever and,
04:10you know, enjoy that time.
04:13And I don't want anything less than that for him.
04:18And so I'm actually kind of shocked by, you know, the first 24 hours or 36, 48 hours of that
04:25last week.
04:26I couldn't tell who was getting the worst of it, whether it was LSU or him.
04:30But by by the weekend, it's been all been on him.
04:34Yeah. And so then I'm like, well, what is the solution?
04:39It's almost like the solution is either the mom comes out and throws herself under the bus.
04:46Or Jaden throws her under the bus.
04:50Right. Yeah.
04:52I mean, I, you know, one of the I hadn't is the mom capable of saying this was all my
04:58doing.
04:59Jade had nothing to do with it.
05:01I mean, I don't know what the way to do it is, but guys like him and his stature have,
05:08you know, crisis management people and PR firms.
05:13They need to get one.
05:14They don't need to just be winging it because because it looks bad for him.
05:19I'm sure it's I'm sure it's absolutely hurt his value tremendously with, you know, potential sponsors and everything else.
05:29Yeah. You know, the perspective, obviously, we have different perspectives because he's going to play for us in a month
05:37in a regular season game.
05:38And it's a massive, crucial season for him.
05:42And he can make all of this a non-issue by going out, playing well and leading the team to
05:48wins.
05:48He's never going to play at LSU again.
05:51So the legacy is what took a hit.
05:55And to your point, like, I don't know what the solution is, but I know that the lesson better have
06:01been learned.
06:02Because if nothing is learned, then another big self-inflicted mistake and distraction is just around the corner.
06:12Because remember, she's his agent as well.
06:15And what you said about this, I've said it, too, that the part that saddens me, because I love Jaden
06:20Daniels.
06:21I loved him in college.
06:22Everything that he's been here has been first rate.
06:25This is, by the way, he's an introvert, too, naturally.
06:30Oh, he absolutely is.
06:31Yeah, so this could not have been an easy, you know, 24 to 48 hours.
06:35But he'll get through it.
06:36He'll get over it.
06:37The part that upsets me is that what you described, being in that bye weekend on the sideline with, you
06:45know,
06:45Justin Jefferson or Jamar Chase watching a big game and being welcomed back.
06:50And I think from this seat, it's a recoverable relationship.
06:56But I've read that a lot of LSU people believe that it isn't.
07:00What do you say?
07:02I tell you what, I do a lot of shows.
07:04I host my own shows.
07:07And, look, I think a lot of people are having fun with the memes.
07:14Look, Billy Cannon, the number 20 that's retired, that number, Heisman Trophy winner, you know, he was, he did prison
07:23time for counterfeiting money.
07:25Right, right.
07:27It took time for that to get smoothed over and for fans to forgive him.
07:33And in his later years, it was all good.
07:37But Jane Daniels in this thing is nothing compared to that.
07:40I think eventually this will blow over.
07:43And I think the LSU fans, particularly those that pay attention, know exactly or feel like you and I do.
07:51They're not blaming it on Jane at all.
07:55They saw all the interviews that we did with him, which he didn't do many because, like you said, he's
08:00an introvert.
08:01But he's a quiet guy.
08:02I just don't see in him being, anything about him is that prima donna thing, which is why everybody is
08:11pointing the finger at his mom.
08:13Yes.
08:14I mean, if you're paying attention, you understand that.
08:16But this thing went, you know, so viral and so pop culture.
08:21And most of those people don't.
08:23And so their opinion is what their opinion is.
08:26But it really matters to me.
08:28I mean, here again, he's going to play, you know, that's what we're focused in on is him being focused
08:34in on a critical season.
08:36And he's going to play a game on September 13th.
08:39That'll matter against the Eagles on the road.
08:41And if he plays well, it doesn't matter.
08:43But that LSU relationship, I hope, gets repaired.
08:47And again, you know, it's about did it is she and those around that situation, are they capable of understanding
08:57how much damage they did?
09:00And then reconciling that with a solution that is maybe we need to take a major step back and let
09:07him be a professional football and an adult.
09:11And my question is, is the attorney that, you know, put the cease and desist letter together?
09:18Yeah.
09:18I mean, I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall during that meeting.
09:21Did that attorney try and say, are you sure you want to do this?
09:25I mean, let's really talk about what the ramifications are for this or what what are the possible outcomes?
09:31I mean, did they really, you know, work this from all angles and bring in other staffers from the inside
09:37of the building and say, no, what could go wrong here?
09:40It's not hard to figure out what could go wrong.
09:42And it did.
09:43Yeah.
09:44I mean, this would have been the easiest with anybody that pays attention to this kind of thing to say,
09:49no, no, no, that's that's a terrible idea.
09:53And and enumerate the reasons.
09:55I actually think, you know, reaching out to ESPN and giving them the whole story was just as bad.
10:01As the cease and desist letter, none of it was was very bright.
10:06And hopefully they learn from it.
10:08But I to your point, and I think a lot of our fans understand the same thing.
10:13This more likely than not wasn't him.
10:17He's focused on the season.
10:19He's focused on football.
10:21He is a gym rat.
10:22Everybody says that about him when it comes to football.
10:25And, you know, he's just got to probably be the one that prevents anything like this happening again.
10:30And in the future.
10:31Yeah.
10:32And when and when does that happen?
10:34I mean, does he all of a sudden when his NFL career is over realize that the you know, the
10:41trail of of disasters that they're waiting for him to clean up once his playing days are over?
10:48You know, you know, you know, and this is, you know, kind of the mess that my mom has made
10:54for me along the way.
10:59Man, again, we're all brought up different.
11:01I just.
11:02Yeah, I mean.
11:03I mean, I know the way me and my friends would have reacted had our mom inserted herself in these
11:09types of things when we're in our mid-20s.
11:12And.
11:14We I think we would have been very nice because it is our mothers, but we it would essentially would
11:19have been pound Sam.
11:22Yeah, look, that's a dynamic I can't guess on it's it's it's his mother.
11:28And by the way, she's bright and but she's been involved and overly involved going back to Arizona State.
11:34And it's led to negative outcomes when it's been that hyper over controlling parent getting far too much involved, not
11:44as an agent, but as a parent.
11:47Everybody remembers the clip of him in a basketball game and her getting between him and the girl.
11:51Yeah.
11:53Yeah.
11:53I mean, it's all that.
11:55I mean, where does that kind of stuff end?
11:59You know, hopefully does he finally snap at like thirty one or thirty two?
12:05And and and then their relationship, you know, you know, some point later in life.
12:10Is there an animosity built up between the two of them because of the wreckage?
12:15Yeah, I don't know.
12:16I can tell you this.
12:17What's obviously apparent is she's enjoying the celebrity of it.
12:23And that's part of the problem, too.
12:26You know, combining the enjoyment of being a big part of the Netflix special.
12:31I mean, she's at camp.
12:32She's being mobbed for autographs and pictures.
12:35The mother of the quarterback is.
12:39So, yeah, hopefully this was who is the who is the quiet one?
12:45His father.
12:46Yeah.
12:47Yeah.
12:48Don't know his name.
12:51Don't have no idea.
12:53Exactly.
12:53Is that your point?
12:55Yes.
12:56Yeah.
12:57Right.
12:58And by the way, that tells me that that's probably who Jaden is most like.
13:03Right.
13:05Well, we'll do.
13:06We can do psychological, you know, family analyses on this show.
13:12But you've told me what's going on down there.
13:16And it really sounds like the LSU fan base at some point, they recognize that this isn't him.
13:22And by the way, the we didn't even talk about the actual cease and desist and the number controversy.
13:29It certainly seems from afar, Mike, like most LSU fans are like, look, DJ Pickett's really good.
13:36He's wearing number five.
13:39And don't forget, there's also a dynamic here where LSU went, you know, what, 70 years between Heisman Trophy winners
13:50and then they got two of three.
13:54And so don't discount how close him and Joe Burrow's Heisman Trophies came about and probably the Daniels camp always
14:04comparing, you know, how much one is revered over the other or however they want to perceive it and spinning
14:11that conspiracy amongst themselves.
14:13And I think there's a whole lot of that going on, too.
14:17Well, there is.
14:18And I'm curious, do you come down on the side of, let's just say DJ Pickett said, I want number
14:25nine.
14:26Would they have given him number nine?
14:28Would Brian Kelly have committed to that?
14:30I bring it up.
14:32I've been brought up in the last few weeks several times.
14:35Bryce Underwood, Michigan quarterback, was committed to LSU for almost two years.
14:41And he was a five-star quarterback, number one quarterback in that high school class.
14:47And let's say he had worn the number nine since elementary school.
14:54I bet you Joe Burrow would have gotten a phone call and said, man, go ahead and wear number nine.
14:58Right.
15:00I guarantee, I know that that's how it would have been handled.
15:04Yeah.
15:05Or maybe Bryce Underwood would have said, you know what, I've worn nine forever.
15:10Maybe I don't want to wear nine at LSU.
15:12And, you know, who knows what the dynamic would be.
15:15But I just don't see Joe Burrow concerning himself with that.
15:18I honestly don't.
15:19Both he and Jay Daniels are going to get statues at LSU under the rules and the criteria for it
15:28back-to-back at some point in the future,
15:31regardless of all this stuff happening right now.
15:33Now, it's, but again, it's, you know, it kind of, the story really died down here.
15:43We lost the beloved Skip Burtman on Friday and football season is full speed ahead.
15:50But, you know, the memes are still out there and people are still having fun on Facebook and Instagram and
15:55so forth with it.
16:00But for Jayden, I want it repaired because I don't want, I want him to have the full benefits of
16:09the special two years he had at LSU and the Heisman Trophy.
16:14And to me, that's...
16:19Yeah, no, no, no, no, I'm with you.
16:21And I think that because we've gotten to know him a little bit here, you guys had him for two
16:26years as well.
16:28He's so naturally likable that he's highly respected.
16:33And to see him be a national punching bag for four straight days was painful.
16:38It was hard, especially knowing that it wasn't him.
16:43I don't know how, you know, whether it was post-game interviews or whatever, that anybody that walked away from
16:48him just didn't walk away saying that kid was a total sweetheart.
16:51I mean, because he just is.
16:55Well, hopefully he goes out and torches the Eagles on September 13th and has a season like he had two
17:01seasons ago.
17:02I'm expecting it.
17:04Mike, thanks so much for your time.
17:06Really appreciate it.
17:07Anytime.
17:08And I hope all the success in the world, too, and he bounces back and has a great year.
17:12I think he will.
17:13Thanks.
17:13Mike Scarborough, everybody, from TigerBait.com.
17:16He's been covering LSU sports and the football team for three decades.
Comments