Can Jayden Daniels stop LSU from using his jersey number, NIL?

Can Jayden Daniels stop LSU from giving his old No. 5 to another player? Almost certainly not. However, he might have considerably more control over how LSU continues to use his name.

That distinction is at the center of an unusual dispute between the 2023 Heisman Trophy winner and his former school. Daniels’ attorney sent LSU a cease-and-desist letter Aug. 5 demanding it stop using the former quarterback’s name, image and likeness after LSU gave sophomore cornerback DJ Pickett the No. 5 jersey.

A spokesperson for the Daniels family told ESPN the family was “deeply disappointed” and “profoundly disrespected” by the school’s decision. Pickett said LSU promised him No. 5 when it recruited him, an account both current head coach Lane Kiffin and former coach Brian Kelly confirmed Thursday.

The number and NIL disputes, however, are separate legal issues. Experts told The Athletic that Daniels has little claim to control who wears No. 5, but he still controls the commercial use of his identity. His cease-and-desist raises the more complicated question of when LSU’s continued use of his identity crosses into a use that requires his permission.

The Athletic spoke with six attorneys and experts in sports law, intellectual property and NIL to answer those questions.

Can Daniels stop LSU from giving No. 5 to another player?

Wearing a number — even while winning the Heisman — does not ordinarily give an athlete a continuing property right to it. LSU controls its uniforms and assigns its numbers.

“Absent an agreement, nobody can own a number,” said Gabe Feldman, director of Tulane’s Sports Law Program and the associate provost for the school’s NCAA compliance.

It would be “entirely implausible” for Daniels to claim ownership of No. 5, said Nima Mohebbi, a partner at Sidley Austin who handles complex commercial litigation.

A number can help identify someone. A hypothetical video game could still evoke Daniels by combining his number, physical characteristics and other identifying details, even without using his name. That’s starkly different from another Tigers player wearing No. 5.

Alan Fertel, chair of the sports, arts and entertainment law group at Weiss Serota Helfman Cole + Bierman, raised another possible argument: Daniels could claim No. 5 became a part of his personal brand and reissuing it “diluted” that association.

However, experts interviewed by The Athletic generally agreed that would not give him the right to control LSU’s roster numbers.

The number explains the conflict’s root, but the legal right Daniels is asserting concerns his identity.

Does LSU’s right to use Daniels’ NIL have an end date?

“NIL” is college-sports terminology for a longstanding legal concept: the right of publicity, generally governed by state law, which protects against certain unauthorized commercial uses of one’s identity.

Jim Johnston, a partner at Davis+Gilbert whose practice includes intellectual property, advertising, media and sports, said the right remains whether someone is in high school, college, the pros or no longer competing at all.

What changes is what rights an athlete has licensed to someone else and for how long.

Adam B. Kenner, Daniels’ attorney, wrote that LSU’s contractual license to use Daniels’ NIL extended until 180 days after his final college game. Kenner says that provision appeared in Daniels’ agreement, not as a universal NIL rule.

Post-contract “tail periods,” as described by Jason Belzer, an adjunct professor at Rutgers Law School who works extensively in NIL licensing, are not unusual. Feldman said they can give a licensee time to remove existing advertising or sell remaining merchandise.

However, without details of Daniels’ underlying agreement, it is unclear what LSU’s license covered or whether any rights survived those 180 days. And even if that license expired, it would not mean LSU could never use Daniels’ name or image again. His right of publicity protects against commercial uses; it does not allow him to erase himself from LSU’s history.

Jayden Daniels quarterbacked LSU in 2022 and 2023, winning the Heisman Trophy in 2023 after throwing for 3,812 yards and 40 touchdowns with 1,134 rushing yards. (Kevin C. Cox / Getty Images)

What can LSU still do with Daniels’ NIL?

It can use any facts without treading into commercial uses of Daniels’ identity.

“A team tends to have the inherent right to refer to the fact that somebody played for them, the fact that somebody may have had accomplishments, is in their record books,” said Kevin Paule, a shareholder at Hill Ward Henderson who has handled NIL matters and commercial litigation.

Historical and informational uses of photographs and footage can similarly receive broad protection, Feldman said. For example, a display celebrating LSU’s Heisman winners would stand on much firmer legal ground than an advertisement built around Daniels’ celebrity.

However, directly commercializing Daniels is different. Officially licensed LSU jerseys bearing Daniels’ name and No. 5, Johnston said, would require rights to Daniels’ identity.

Belzer similarly distinguished a jersey with Daniels’ name from a generic LSU No. 5 jersey, which would be less tied to the former quarterback. It’s unclear what separate licensing rights, if any, govern Daniels jerseys currently for sale.

Using Daniels to sell tickets, recruit or promote the current team falls into grayer territory, Mohebbi said. The more LSU documents its history, the stronger its position. The more it uses Daniels as a commercial selling point or implies his endorsement, the stronger Daniels’ potential claim.

“It’s not what is used,” Johnston said. “It’s how it is being used.”

Feldman noted that owning a photo or video of Daniels also doesn’t necessarily settle the issue: Copyright in the content and Daniels’ publicity rights are separate. Once again, it’s a question of how and why.

That makes Kenner’s broad demand that LSU cease further “use, display, publication, distribution, promotion or commercialization” of Daniels’ NIL more complicated than saying its license expired.

What does the cease-and-desist do?

A cease-and-desist letter is a demand from Daniels’ attorney, not a court order. LSU can disagree. If Daniels wanted to force the school to stop using his NIL, he would have to sue and potentially seek an injunction.

The letter could still matter if the dispute reached that point. Johnston said it establishes that LSU has been expressly told Daniels objects to further use of his NIL, which could matter in a claim that the school knowingly violated his rights even afterward.

However, as Feldman pointed out, the letter does not identify a specific use of Daniels’ NIL that LSU allegedly made after its contractual license expired. This makes it difficult to assess the strength of any current legal claim.

What is LSU’s policy on retiring jerseys and numbers?

Under the school’s current policy, retiring a jersey honors an individual athlete but “does not preclude a current student-athlete in that sport from wearing the jersey number,” at the head coach’s discretion. Retiring a number, by contrast, takes it out of circulation entirely.

Winning a Heisman is among the accomplishments that can qualify an athlete for consideration. Athletes must have completed competition at LSU for a minimum of five years before they can be nominated.

No LSU player has worn 2019 Heisman winner Joe Burrow’s No. 9 since he left, though it hasn’t been formally retired. Pickett had been promised No. 5 while being recruited by Kelly, but Kelly chose not to issue it to him as a freshman after Daniels objected.

“We didn’t want to issue No. 9, so you can’t treat one differently from the other,” the former head coach said.

Kiffin chose differently, saying LSU should honor its recruiting promise to Pickett.

Under LSU policy, the school has discretion to do so. LSU has retired five football players’ jerseys — Billy Cannon, Charles Alexander, Jerry Stovall, Tommy Casanova and Bert Jones. Still, Cannon’s No. 20 is the only number permanently retired and thereby removed from circulation. The other retired jersey numbers may still be worn.

How unusual is it to give out a Heisman winner’s number?

A review of the past 15 Heisman winners shows that 11 of their college numbers are being worn by at least one player in 2026.

Indiana has already reissued 2025 winner Fernando Mendoza’s No. 15. Alabama players wear the former numbers of Bryce Young, DeVonta Smith and Derrick Henry, while Oklahoma has reassigned those of Kyler Murray and Baker Mayfield.

The exceptions illustrate the different ways schools handle star players’ numbers. Colorado retired Travis Hunter’s No. 12 and Louisville did the same for Lamar Jackson’s No. 8. Burrow’s No. 9 at LSU and Caleb Williams’ No. 13 at USC are not being worn in 2026, though neither has been retired.

No universal custom requires a Heisman winner’s number to remain untouched.

Could the Daniels dispute change future NIL agreements?

Potentially, but the underlying issue is not new. Sports organizations have long negotiated post-contract uses of athletes’ identities. Belzer said the rise of shorter-term school NIL agreements could make athletes more conscious of preserving rights that extend beyond these deals.

The Daniels dispute could give schools and college athletes another reason to specify which rights, if any, survive after an agreement ends.

That would not necessarily mean giving a school perpetual commercial rights to an athlete’s identity — it’d mean defining the boundaries before a dispute arises over where they are.

For Daniels and LSU, those boundaries remain less clear. The school controls who wears No. 5, and Daniels retains rights in the commercial use of his identity. The fight that began when LSU exercised the former is now testing the limits of the latter.

— Matt Baker contributed to this story.