On the field, Jayden Daniels is trying to navigate a lengthy return from injury after a disastrous 2025 season.

Off the field, he appears to be navigating something else entirely.

Daniels sent a cease-and-desist letter to LSU asking his former school to stop using his name, image and likeness. The Commanders quarterback was upset the Tigers allowed cornerback DJ Pickett to wear his No. 5 this season.

“I have a lot of gratitude for my time at LSU,” Daniels wrote on Instagram. “I’m proud of what my teammates and I accomplished there. Obviously there are issues to be worked out between my team and LSU and my hope is that it will get done privately. My sole personal focus is on the Commanders football. I realize the business of football is unique and I trust this can all be resolved.”

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Daniels won a Heisman Trophy at LSU, becoming the third player to win college football’s top award in Baton Rouge. His number has not been retired.

The last LSU player to win the award before Daniels, Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, also doesn’t have his number retired. But the Tigers have not allowed his No. 9 to be worn since he left in 2019.

According to first-year LSU coach Lane Kiffin, Pickett was promised the number during the recruiting process by the previous coaching staff.

Kiffin said he would honor that, even if it wasn’t his choice.

“I’ve done a lot of research with the family and the representatives and the people,” Kiffin said last week. “So really I didn’t have a decision to make. It was promised to the kid. I’m not going to judge something that I wasn’t here for.”

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The letter from Daniels’ attorney to LSU did not mention the number specifically. It focused on LSU’s use of Daniels’ likeness. It is not clear if there were any specific examples of LSU using Daniels’ likeness that were cause for concern.

Further reports surfaced later in the day of Daniels’ strained relationship with LSU. That included Daniels wanting his copy of the Heisman Trophy back from the university, according to LousianaSports.net. His family felt “deeply disappointed and feels profoundly disrespected by LSU’s decision to give Jayden’s number to another player,” ESPN reported.

“Jayden made it clear that he did not want his number given to another player, and he believed his wishes would be respected,” a spokesperson for Daniels said in a statement to ESPN, which first reported the dispute. “His Heisman Trophy-winning season and everything he accomplished on and off the field cemented his place in LSU history. To see his number given to another player is incredibly disappointing and feels like a failure to honor the significance of what Jayden accomplished at LSU.”