LSU Fans Booed Jayden Daniels’ Name on the Video Board, and He Earned It

Carlos Garcia September 8, 2026

LSU Fans Booed Jayden Daniels' Name on the Video Board, and He Earned It

Tiger Stadium made its position clear on Saturday night, and it did not require a single word.

LSU showed a montage of former players now in the NFL during its game against Clemson. When Jayden Daniels’ name appeared on the video board, the crowd booed it loudly.

Daniels was not in attendance. His name was enough.

How a Heisman winner became a villain in Baton Rouge

Daniels won the Heisman Trophy at LSU. He was the No. 2 overall pick. He is a starting quarterback for the Washington Commanders. Two years ago he could have run for governor in Louisiana.

Then he demanded that LSU stop using his name, image and likeness after the school issued his No. 5 to another player. The cease-and-desist became public, and the reaction was immediate and overwhelmingly negative.

The response has been widely criticized and, more damagingly, widely mocked. There is a version of this dispute that generates sympathy for a player protecting his brand. This was not that version.

Why the argument landed badly

Schools reissuing jersey numbers is one of the oldest traditions in college football. Number 5 at LSU has been worn by plenty of people. The idea that a jersey number in a program’s uniform rotation constitutes a former player’s intellectual property is a stretch that fans instinctively rejected.

There is a legitimate broader conversation about how schools profit off former athletes’ likenesses without compensation, and that conversation deserves a serious hearing. Daniels picked the weakest possible test case for it.

The optics did not help either. A player earning tens of millions in the NFL sending legal threats to the university that made him famous is a difficult story to spin.

The player wearing No. 5 had a quiet night

DJ Pickett now wears the number in question. The LSU secondary did not have much to do against Clemson in a 51-10 blowout.

That detail is almost funny. The dispute is over a number now worn by a defensive back who barely had to play in a rout.

Daniels will not respond, and he should not

He has stayed quiet since the story broke, and that is the correct approach. There is nothing to gain from engaging with a stadium full of people who used to love him.

Saturday night was the bill arriving. LSU fans do not hate Jayden Daniels. They are unimpressed with how he has handled this, and they took the one opportunity available to say so.

He has a long career ahead of him and the boos will fade. The lesson about picking fights with your own history probably will not.

Sources

Carlos Garcia

A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.