BATON ROUGE – Former LSU football quarterback Jayden Daniels has informed his former school his wishes for it to immediately stop using his name, image and likeness. In a letter obtained by the Daily Advertiser dated Aug 5 from his attorney Adam Kenner to LSU Athletics Director Verge Ausberry, Daniels and his camp is citing the "expiration of the contractual period during which LSU was authorized" to use the quarterback's NIL. According to the cease and desist letter, LSU's right to use Daniel's likeness, name, personal attributes and more expired 180 days following his departure from the university. JAYDEN DANIELS Jayden Daniels LSU stats: Why Heisman QB feels 'disrespected' over jersey dispute "LSU no longer possesses any contractual control authorization, license, consent or other right to use, display, reproduce, distribute, publish, transmit, advertise, promote, commercialize or otherwise exploit Mr. Daniels' NIL," the letter states. "This prohibition includes any use of Mr. Daniels' NIL in connection with accomplishments achieves during his tenure at LSU including without limitation any individual honors such as the Heisman Trophy." The letter further states LSU's receipt of it will be "deemed knowing and willful and will be pursued vigorously through all available legal and equitable remedies without further notice."
Daniels' representation told ESPN that the cease and desist letter is a direct response to LSU football allowing sophomore cornerback DJ Pickett to wear the No. 5 this season, the first to have won the jersey numbers since Daniels in 2024. "The Daniels' family is deeply disappointed and feels profoundly disrespected by LSU's decision to give Jayden's number to another player," the statement to ESPN reportedly said. "Jayden and his family had every reason to believe that his number would remain a meaningful part of his LSU legacy and would be honored and protected in recognition of his extraordinary contributions to the university. Pickett has been wearing No. 5 since fall camp opened. He wore No. 3 during spring practice. "DJ is in (5) and that was a situation that was promised to him in recruiting here for him to sign here," First-year LSU coach Lane Kiffin said earlier in fall camp. "I've done a lot of research on that with the family and the representatives and the people, so really I didn't have a decision to make. It was promised to the kid. It wasn't done for whatever. I'm not going to get into that. "I'm not going to judge something I wasn't' here for but when the kid is promised something to come to school, he should wear it. He should be honored what he was told so he's wearing it." While Tommy Casanova, Jerry Stovall and Charles Alexander have had their jerseys "retired" – LSU is planning to retire Bert Jones' No. 7 jersey this upcoming season – but the only number that can't be worn again by a football player is Billy Cannon's No. 20. LSU's other recent Heisman Trophy winning player, quarterback Joe Burrow, has not had his No. 9 jersey retired but no player has worn the number since 2019. Cory Diaz covers the LSU Tigers for The Daily Advertiser as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his Tigers coverage on Twitter: @ByCoryDiaz. Got questions regarding LSU athletics? Send them to Cory Diaz at bdiaz@gannett.com. This article originally appeared on Lafayette Daily Advertiser: Jayden Daniels' attorney informs LSU to immediately stop using his NIL