The most talked about college teammate of Washington Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels from his days at Arizona State is San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Brandon Aiyuk.
There's another former Sun Devils teammate, Tampa Bay Buccaneers running back Rachaad White, that's starting in the NFL and will actually have the honor of facing Daniels and his Commanders teammates in the coming season.
Appearing on the Jim Rome Show recently White sat down to talk about his former teammate and the upcoming Week 1 matchup against Washington in Tampa.
"His first loss will come from me."Rachaad White, Tampa Bay Buccaneers RB
'It's crazy, (being) our first game, I tell 'em we got to put belt-to-ass, but that's just how it goes, you know what I'm saying? It's just good competition," White said about the idea of facing Daniels in Week 1 of the NFL season. "It's great competition. For him to be the first game of my third year of the new year that we are very excited about over here in Tampa. I can't ask for no better, so I tell now all the time that it's, I got to, like I said, put belt to ass and that. It's cool though. His first loss will come from me."
Of course, before White and his Buccaneers teammates can hand Daniels his first NFL loss the quarterback has to win the starting job, a position Commanders head coach Dan Quinn appears to be no hurry in to decide on.
"No great declarations other than like being true to who we are as competitors," Quinn said at the end of his team's minicamp when asked about Daniels being the starting quarterback. "There's no doubt that Jayden's making unbelievable progress here and we'll have a really fun camp, but he's earned that opportunity to go compete."
He'll be competing against veteran quarterback Marcus Mariota and White knows just as well that topping a veteran in your room isn't always the quickest process. When he entered the league Tampa Bay had Super Bowl-winning running back Leonard Fournette ahead of him, and he had to prove he was able to be a more impactful back before earning the starting job. So, like Quinn, he's not crowning Daniels ahead of time either, though he sees why there's excitement around his former teammate.
"It'd be really cool. I mean, of course, I can't bet, but if I could bet, I'll bet for him to have the odds to be the starter," White said of Daniels. "I got a lot of respect for Mariota and things like that. Guys like that. That has been around the league (and was) a top draft pick. But yeah, 'J5' is the guy, obviously they draft him second for a reason and they believe in him. You see all the reports and I see it and I talk to him and we talk almost every day. Most def every week, and I'm happy for him."
White will undoubtedly be one of the people celebrating Daniels' success when that starting job announcement comes, but the support will stop from the opening kickoff to the final whistle in Week 1.
There's no doubt from Daniels' reactions to the comments (in the Instagram post below), however, he won't be going into the contest ready to accept a first loss from White or the Bucs.
-1718871502-q80.webp "Morgаn Rіelly wаs а brіgһt sрot on а Mарle Leаfs bluelіne tһаt рresents сһаllenges")