Daniels sends cease-and-desist to LSU over No. 5 jersey
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- Attorney Adam Kenner sent a cease-and-desist letter to LSU athletic director Verge Ausberry on Aug. 5, obtained by ESPN, alleging LSU violated Daniels' NIL rights by issuing his No. 5 jersey to another player.
- DJ Pickett, a sophomore cornerback who was named a freshman All-American in 2025, switched from No. 3 to No. 5 — the first player to wear that number since Daniels left LSU for the NFL — prompting Daniels' family to say they felt 'profoundly disrespected.'
- First-year LSU coach Lane Kiffin told reporters Aug. 5 that Pickett had been promised No. 5 when he signed with the Tigers in December 2024 as the No. 2 cornerback in the Class of 2025, and that honoring a recruiting promise was not his decision to undo.
- Former coach Brian Kelly, fired Oct. 26, 2025 after a 34-14 four-year run, told ESPN he had previously declined to issue No. 5 to Pickett because Daniels was not on board, citing the precedent of Joe Burrow's No. 9 going unworn since 2019.
- LSU's published jersey-retirement policy states that any number retired after Jan. 1, 2007 can still be worn by a current athlete at the head coach's discretion — only Billy Cannon's No. 20 is permanently off-limits in football.
- The cease-and-desist letter cites Daniels' LSU contract, which permitted school NIL use for 180 days beyond his final college game, and warns that any further use after notice will be pursued 'vigorously through all available legal and equitable remedies.'
- LSU declined to comment when reached by ESPN on Wednesday, and sources told ESPN the school had not yet responded to the letter.
Why it matters: The dispute exposes a gap between LSU's formal jersey-retirement policy — which leaves such calls to the head coach — and the informal expectations of star athletes like Daniels, who won the program's third Heisman in 2023. Kiffin's stated position that honoring Pickett's December 2024 recruiting promise was not his call to reverse effectively binds the new coach to a commitment his predecessor made to avoid. For Daniels, the cease-and-desist escalates from a fan-and-alumni grudge to a formal NIL claim tied to a contractual 180-day window that LSU may have already exceeded.
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