At the midway point of his final season, KU quarterback Jalon Daniels is on pace for his career-best year. Daniels, who is second all-time in Kansas football history in passing yards and passing touchdowns, is set to surpass many of his personal marks.
The Jayhawks are 4-2 this season, and much of that success is due to Daniels’ wealth of experience at the helm. He is doing exactly what head coach Lance Leipold wanted from him: to use his talent and leadership to steer this team toward a bowl appearance and to be competitive in the Big 12.
Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels is having a fantastic season in 2025
Daniels has 16 passing touchdowns this season. That’s two more than all of 2025 and only two fewer than his career high set during the 2022 campaign. With 1,497 passing yards, he’s less than a thousand away from his career-best 2,454, set last year.
Daniels is also on pace to set new personal marks for Touchdown Percentage, Yards per Attempt, Yards per Completion, and QB Rating.
The biggest concerns surrounding Daniels, entering this season, were his health and turnovers. After throwing only 12 interceptions in his first 25 games at KU, he matched that number in just 12 games last season. This season, he’s only thrown two.
He also tends to fumble, as evidenced by his coughing up the ball on the goal line against Cincinnati, which proved costly. He’s also thrown one of his interceptions in the end zone. Those errors aside, he’s been much better this season at protecting the ball than he was in 2024.
He’s also doing a great job with his legs. He has 239 yards and 50 carries this season and is on pace to surpass his career-best 439 yards, set last year. He has 1,280 career rushing yards and 20 rushing touchdowns, which illustrates just how versatile he’s been in his time at Kansas.
The Jayhawks have a daunting challenge in front of them this week when they play ninth-ranked Texas Tech on the road. Daniels will need to play his best, protecting the ball and making good decisions, for KU to have a chance. It’s not all on him, as the overall running game needs to improve, and the defense has to play like they did in the second half against UCF.
Michael Swain of 247Sports posted a graphic on X showing that Daniels is the eighth-highest-graded quarterback in college football so far this year.
Jalon Daniels is the 8th-highest graded QB in college football (minimum 100 dropbacks). It's been a fantastic first half of the season for the #KUfball QB.https://t.co/Uh2kKN8GIn pic.twitter.com/ClZSSExgHM
— Michael Swain (@MSwain247) October 5, 2025
This confirms what Kansas fans have always known: that Jalon Daniels is a terrific college quarterback. 2024 was a down year, but it is the exception to the rest of his career.
Starting with Texas Tech, Kansas has a much more demanding schedule in the second half than in the first, with games against Kansas State, Iowa State, and Utah among the schools the Jayhawks must face. Daniels must continue his incredible play and lead KU back to a bowl game. If he can match the numbers from the first six games, Daniels and the Jayhawks will be in fine shape.