Brian Kelly isn't afraid to stump for Jayden Daniels in his Heisman Trophy campaign. Here's why Daniels needs his help

BATON ROUGE — LSU football coach Brian Kelly admits that he didn't spend much time stumping for awards for his players in the past.

But he has since changed his ways.

"When you have the opportunity today, you have to be able to talk about your players when they're doing something that's so special, in particular with what Jayden (Daniels) is doing," Kelly said during his weekly press conference Monday. "I think it's my responsibility when I have this opportunity in front of the media to talk about something that I haven't seen happen in my three plus decades as a head football coach, somebody that has developed and has excelled at an elite level."

Kelly is all in on Daniels' Heisman campaign. That's good news in his quest to win the Heisman.

Because despite leading the FBS in total yards, passing touchdowns, points responsible for per game, he and LSU still have work to do in convincing the rest of the country that he should be the favorite to win the award.

Las Vegas does not love Daniels' odds to win the Heisman. DraftKings and BetRivers give him the second best odds to take home the award. BetMGM, bet365 and Caesars Sportsbook list Daniels as only having the third best odds to win it.

The driving reason as to why Daniels is trailing is because of LSU's record. The Tigers already have three losses and won't be playing in the SEC Championship Game, let alone make the College Football Playoff.

But in Kelly's eyes, none of that should matter.

"You can say whatever you want, 'Well, we're 7-3 and whoever is undefeated,' that doesn't mean anything," Kelly said after LSU football's 52-35 win over Florida on Saturday. "What matters is who's the best player. He's the best player."

And it hasn't just been Kelly. Daniels' teammates have also begun stumping for him as the Heisman favorite.

"(He's) the best player in the country right now," Noah Cain said following LSU's win over Florida. "There's nobody changing games like Jayden."

The national media has also started to talk about Daniels' incredible season and performance against Florida, when he became the first player in FBS history to throw for 350 or more yards and run for 200 or more yards in the same game.

Against the Gators, Daniels also had two 50-plus yard touchdown runs, five total touchdowns and produced 606 yards of offense by himself, an SEC single-game record.

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"Jayden Daniels is a living, breathing, American hero," 247Sports analyst Josh Pate said on his show Lake Kick.

"Jayden Daniels only leads the nation in total offense by 57 yards per game at 408.2, which is more than 80 teams average this season. He’s accounted for 38 touchdowns, which is more than 81 teams have scored. I mean, what are we doing if he doesn’t win the Heisman?" FOX Sports analyst Chris Fallica posted on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

"Jayden Daniels belongs in New York on Dec. 9. He is indisputably one of the four best players in college football," ESPN reporter Marty Smith posted on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter.

Voting for the Heisman Trophy is open until Dec. 4, giving Daniels and LSU some more time to build up his case. LSU also faces Georgia State on Saturday (7 p.m., ESPN2) before finishing out the regular season the next weekend against Texas A&M.

A lot can change in two weeks of games. But Kelly and many others already agree.

Daniels should be the favorite to win the Heisman.

"If he didn't win (the Heisman) tonight, he's got to be the leading candidate," Kelly said after the Tigers' win Saturday. "Unless the Heisman is just about popularity. If you want to be the most popular then fine, but he's the best player in college football."

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Koki Riley covers LSU sports for The Daily Advertiser. Email him at kriley@theadvertiser.com and follow him on Twitter at @KokiRiley

This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Jayden Daniels Heisman Trophy campaign: Brian Kelly stumps for his QB