Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels has played his final game for the LSU Tiger football team.

He played with fire with his skill set and with a looseness that kept him smiling all game and in all situations.

And it is the latter of the two that LSU football fans should follow when it comes to the young man’s decision to forgo the ReliaQuest Bowl against Wisconsin in favor of preparing for the NFL draft.

Translation: Business decision.

Forever LSU! Thank You!💜💛 pic.twitter.com/4bWi2LleeQ

— Jayden (@JayD__5) December 18, 2023

Most fans I’ve seen on the message boards who support Daniels point to the obvious fact that JD does not need to risk injury in a “meaningless” bowl game when a top five draft pick and millions of dollars are waiting for him.

These fans are not wrong.

Then you have a dash here and there, not many that I’ve seen, of folks who want to dump on not only Daniels but the entire “Me Generation” that puts self over team. They say that Daniels not playing shows that it is all about Daniels and not about LSU at all.

These fans are not wrong either.

The fact of the matter is that none of this, well, matters. Ever since I’ve been alive and by extension a college football fan, coaches have expressed excitement about bowl season because it will allow them to work out and evaluate talent for next year, talent that may not have seen the field much during the regular season.

For some reason I remember this being very important to Gerry DiNardo, who fared well in his three bowl victories in 1995 (vs Saban-led Michigan St), ‘96 (Clemson), and ‘97 (rematch with Notre Dame). Of course the bottom fell out with the 1998 season and the greatest 4-7 team in college football history, but the point here is the extra reps new players get when a team earns a bowl bid.

Yes, bowls used to mean a lot more to fans and to players than they have since the BCS took over (even worse now with the playoff), but the diminished media focus on bowl season should only excite fans to see next year’s talent pool all the more than it did in years past, when players played in the bowl game because it was simply the norm.

Or, yes, when winning ten games meant something to them.

The norm has shifted. Big whoop. In the grand scheme of things, the ReliaQuest Bowl meant as much back when players played in it as it does now. Never before researching for this article did I know that the Hall of Fame Bowl, called that from 1986-1995 LSU lost to Syracuse in 1988 would eventually become the more prestigious Outback Bowl (1996-2022).

Yes, as a kid it did mean something to me, as it did to all fans. But it shouldn’t have. Such a vicarious emotional investment in players on a television screen never was healthy.

Moreover, did any of us really expect Daniels to be the loyal little Tiger cub when he left Arizona State for the SEC to improve his draft stock in the first place? Did Tiger fans bemoan his move back then? Did we defend Sun Devil Nation for their loss, or did we simply see it as a business transaction that got LSU another player that could be a bridge to Garrett Nussmeier and in the meantime give us a veteran presence as the program got its feet wet under Kelly?

I don’t mean to judge. I simply ask these questions because LSU fans cannot have it both ways, and it has taken a long time for me as a human being to realize these things, even beyond the sports world. Daniels was all about Daniels then, and he is all about Daniels now. Arizona State fans were the first to feel spurned, but they were silly for feeling that way too.

Playoffs and NIL have changed college football forever. Conference realignment will make it even worse. Get used to it. Let them go. There will always be more players. And they in turn will come and go too.

Worry more about yourself and your families. Get them to church. Smile about barbecues and Jesus more and less about LSU football wins.

(I’m speaking to myself too).

The point of bowls for coaches was always about practice and setting the tone for next year. In that regard, Daniels has done LSU a favor. With one easy-to-make decision, Daniels has simply chosen to do what even the most die-hard of fans should want—to allow the ever patient Nussmeier to finally take the reins of this team. To allow Rickie Collins reps with the 2’s and perhaps even the 1’s. To give quarterback recruits a chance to say what they all say when the backup is starting–

”I can win that job.”

This is what keeps a program alive, Tiger fans. This is what keeps top-shelf recruits eyeing their spot on the roster. Is Daniels’ decision selfish? Of course it is. Is it a product of a new social media-centered generation? Of course it is.

But it is no more selfish than me typing away this article on a WordPress website because I am paid to have an opinion, and no more selfish than a fan railing away on a social media message board against a young man simply old enough to walk away from his amateur (“amateur”) career and into his professional one. That’s it. That’s all there is to it.

Let him go. Farewell, Five.

Personally, my only hope is different from many others,’ and it is similar to an open letter I wrote to Joe Burrow four years ago, similar to an in-person conversation I had with 49ers running back Elijah Mitchell at a family get-together: The only thing you should concern yourself, JD, is your faith and your soul. You are about to enter a world of riches that Christ warns about in the Gospel, and you will be tempted early, often, and far more than you were at LSU. Make that your priority, young man. Then and only then will you know if you made the right decision.

In that regard you and I and every other fan with an opinion are on the same playing field, playing the same game, striving for the same victory—a triumph beyond this material world. Now being a top pick there would really be worth the smile.

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Jeff LeJeune is the author of several books, writer for RVIVR, editor, master of English and avid historian, teacher and tutor, aspiring ghostwriter and podcaster, and creator of LeJeune Said. Visit his website at jefflejeune.com, which is still in its beginning stages.