Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels had a nightmare 2023 season, playing only three games and having to watch from the sidelines as QB2, as Jason Bean led the Jayhawks to their best season in a while.
The offseason could not start fast enough for the maverick quarterback, and he started it off in style.
Jalon Daniels, with a $400,000 On3 NIL valuation, shared a story of himself on Instagram waking up at an exclusive beachside resort with the ocean a few meters away. He captioned the story:
"Good morning. Paradise."
Jalon Daniels details his excruciating injury-riddled season
There were high hopes for Jalon Daniels coming into 2023 as the reigning Big 12 Player of the Year and Heisman Trophy hopeful, but his season soon descended into a nightmare.
He had a previous back injury that was tweaked during fall camp, but he started the season even though he was not at full fitness.
Before the game against the Texas Longhorns, Daniels felt the familiar pain, and his nightmare began afresh. During an appearance on "Pucker Up Podcast," he revealed the agonizing pain he went through.
"And it was kind of crazy because the first time I felt something was the day of the Texas game in the morning," Daniels said. "I forgot what we were doing, but I ended up telling the trainers like, something's not right... So I did a few throws, and I'm just like, 'Nah, this is off.'
"After I warmed up, I went inside the locker room and just fell. I couldn't feel anything. All I felt was pain. It felt like someone was stabbing me like something was going down my entire leg. And it's the first time that I've ever felt that type of anything in my life. That's probably the worst pain that I've ever been in my entire life."
Some Jayhawks fans turned on the star quarterback, and when news broke that he was considering leaving, the situation became toxic. After the revelation, Daniels refuted all the claims and described the environment in Kansas.
"I never thought about hitting the transfer portal,” Daniels said. "For the first time in my time being a Jayhawk, I've seen people turn on me. It was kind of crazy because I'm like, I'm actually hurt. The injury that you don't see is probably the one that everybody's gonna be most skeptical about."
Jalon Daniels confirmed that he would be returning to Kansas next season and that he had begun rehabilitation for his injury, news that will significantly brighten the days of Kansas Jayhawks fans.
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