By RON HIGGINS, Journal Sports
BATON ROUGE – When entering your post-graduate years of playing college football, you’ve learned a few things about the sport.
“I understand this is a business,” said new LSU defensive tackle Gio Paez, a sixth-year Wisconsin graduate who in late March transferred after the Badgers lost to the Tigers last January in the ReliaQuest Bowl. “But I wasn’t making crazy (financial NIL) demands (when transferring). I’m not all about that.”
Neither is new Tigers’ fifth-year senior wide receiver CJ Daniels, who graduated and transferred from Liberty in mid-January after leading the Flames to a Fiesta Bowl berth vs. Oregon.
Though unhappy Liberty head Jamey Chadwell told Yahoo Sports that LSU is paying Daniels $300,000 and providing him a car and apartment, that’s not necessarily why he’s now a Tiger awaiting the Sept. 1 season opener vs. USC in Las Vegas.
On his LSU recruiting visit, Daniels walked into the Tigers receivers (meeting) room (in the football complex) and glanced at a mural. It was filled with action portraits of LSU’s first-round NFL draft choices such as Ja’Marr Chase, Odell Beckham Jr., and Justin Jefferson.
“When I saw all those players, I was like `I want to be a part of that’,” said Daniels, who had a four-year Liberty career total of 106 catches for 1,954 yards and 21 touchdowns. “I wanted to go somewhere where I compete and grow every day.”
Paez and Daniels sought situations where they could develop untapped parts of their talents, become immediate starters and increase their NFL Draft stock.
The 6-3, 305-pound Paez, a Los Angeles native, played in 33 games with 6 starts (all last season) in five years for Wisconsin. He said he had no clue he would transfer, even before the bowl game in which he admitted he aimed a steady stream of trash-talk at his future LSU teammates.
But after the bowl, Paez wanted to become a well-rounded D-lineman. He felt it wouldn’t happen if he stayed with the Badgers.
“At Wisconsin, we were all about stopping the run,” Paez said. “I wanted to be able to transition to pass rushing, getting free from being blocked and being disruptive. That’s what (LSU D-line) Coach Bo (Davis) has helped us do. I’ve had a lot of great line coaches, but Coach Bo is definitely bringing out the best in me.
“He says it’s not a sin to get blocked, but it’s a sin to stay blocked. You take that philosophy to what I’ve done in the past of eating blocks and letting our linebackers flow, to now being encouraged to be disruptive and aggressive.”
Paez said it wasn’t long after entering the portal that Davis made initial contact.
“I just asked him to be authentic and straightforward,” Paez said Davis. “He’s done nothing but that.”
The 6-2, 205-pound Daniels, originally a three-star rated recruit from Lilburn (Ga.) Parkview High, entered the transfer portal just days after he finished his best college season.
“My phone blew up,” said Daniels, whose 55 catches for 1,067 yards and 10 TDs immediately got calls from Florida, Texas and Arizona among others. “LSU wasn’t even in my top schools until (offensive coordinator) Coach (Joe) Sloan called me.
“I’d see a few (LSU) games (on TV) last season. I knew with (Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback) Jayden Daniels and (first-round NFL draft choice receivers) Malik (Nabers) and B.T. (Brian Thomas), they were a very explosive team.
“He (Sloan) told me to come visit. They had a great plan for me. They’d already set in stone a lot of things I wanted to do (to improve).”
Daniels admitted he struggled in spring practice adjusted to Sloan’s offense.
“For me, it’s easier to learn the offense as a concept instead of learning a specific spot,” Daniels said. “The spring was definitely cloudy for me. You have to learn the plays here faster than I did at Liberty.
“But between (the end of) spring and (the start of) fall camp, I met every day with the coaches just to get everything down. It makes it easier for me to play fast.”
CAMP NOTES: LSU head coach Brian Kelly said Wednesday that the Tigers’ third practice in as many days was about pushing through fatigue in temperatures with a heat index of more than 105 degrees. “You’re trying to build a mindset with your team,” Kelly said after the Tigers’ 11th preseason practice. “Today was trying to really put our guys in stressful situations, both on offense and defense, and, you know, being able to, you know, handle those with the right balance of emotional control, execution, smart decisions.
“We’re going to have to win close games. We’re going to have to be mentally strong late in games, and we’re going to have to have that kind of mindset that when things get difficult we’re going to be able to overcome and win, and in particularly on the road.”
LSU has three more days of consecutive practices before taking off Sunday followed by the final six days of preseason practice leading into game week preparations for the season opener.
“We are getting close to moving day, like in golf (tournaments),” Kelly said. “These guys need to understand that over the next few days, we need to see who the guys are who can stack days together. Thursday, Friday and Saturday are kind of moving days for us. We need to see those guys who can stack days together.”
Contact Ron at ronhigginsmedia@gmail.com