It’s easy to see what’s next, and forget about what’s reality.

Don’t confuse the issue everyone. Jayden Daniels is the quarterback at LSU.

Now it’s time to back it up — and get LSU into the Playoff in 2023.

As impressive as backup Garrett Nussmeier was throwing the ball against Georgia in the SEC Championship Game, there is no quarterback controversy at LSU.

The quarterback who gives the Tigers the best chance to return to the SEC elite is Daniels. From 3 years wandering in the desert at Arizona State, to a season of revelation at LSU.

“I’m kind of shocked by the transition to that program and that league,” an NFL scout told me of Daniels. “I have scouted him for 3 years because he’s such an intriguing talent. He looked like a much sharper version of his freshman season, when he played his best football.”

Daniels is a better thrower now. A better leader. A better teammate.

He has embraced all things coaching and motivation from LSU coach Brian Kelly, and OC Mike Denbrock — and his best days are ahead of him.

Everything at LSU of late is compared to the 2019 season, which is understandable because it’s the greatest single season in the modern era of college football. But it was also rare — and comparing any other team or season is mental gymnastics.

But — and this is critical to the current state of the quarterbacks at LSU — there are those on staff who believe Daniels can make a significant jump in 2023 like Joe Burrow did in 2019. Multiple scouts I’ve spoken to believe the same thing.

They’ve watched a player who, conceptually, didn’t practice and play within any structure at Arizona State for the first 3 seasons. He freelanced, and he made it up as he went along.

He was dynamic and dangerous because he could take a broken play and turn it into an explosion play or touchdown with his legs. It wasn’t so much his arm that defenses were concerned with — but more his ability to put defenses in uneven matchups against a dynamic athlete when breaking containment.

Defenses eventually adjusted and changed rush angles and coverage, and Daniels had to make plays with his arm. That’s when it all fell apart.

It was processing, it was confidence and it was consistency in preparation. All of it changed at LSU, while working with a head coach with a history of developing quarterbacks and an offensive coordinator with a history of working alongside Kelly doing the same.

It didn’t immediately click. And the process was frustrating and maddening at times for a player who had all of 1 summer to build trust and chemistry with teammates — many of whom, because of LSU’s transition under Kelly and the roster turnover, had never played with each other.

So when it looked like a fire drill in a season-opening loss to Florida State, Kelly never panicked. When it hit rock bottom in a 27-point home loss to Tennessee, Kelly never wavered.

He pushed Daniels, forced him to thrive amid the uncomfortable. You can’t take off after 1 read, you can’t avoid difficult throws.

There’s profit in dump downs, but there’s greater value in making more difficult throws.

To be fair, it’s easier to coach that way when you’re at rock bottom in Year 1, and pretty much everything will be looked through the lens of the transition season.

The best thing that happened to Daniels and LSU was Daniels reverting to old form early in the season — and then getting coached out of it because LSU had hit the point of forced change or watch the season go into the tank.

The 5-game winning streak after the loss to Tennessee — including wins over Florida, Ole Miss and Alabama — made it very clear who was the quarterback moving forward.

Kelly said in early November that Daniels was playing at a high level and with confidence, and the offense and team were responding.

An ankle injury against Texas A&M — and hurting it again against Georgia — isn’t going to derail the last 2 months of development for Daniels. Nor will Nussmeier’s big numbers when the game was already out of hand.

Why would Daniels walk away from that, and from a team that will again hit the transfer portal for impact players and also land a top-5 recruiting class?

Why walk away into the unknown of the NFL, where Daniels’ evaluation in 1 season at LSU has gone from undrafted free agent to intriguing prospect?

“He’s a Day 3 pick right now. I don’t think there’s any question,” another NFL scout told me. “But that doesn’t mean he can’t move much higher. He has the physical tools, and that rare ability to hurt you with the run game. It wasn’t long ago that Jalen Hurts stayed for another year and improved, and Joe Burrow stayed for another year, too.”

Don’t confuse the issue, everyone. Jayden Daniels isn’t Joe Burrow — but he absolutely can be Jalen Hurts.

And that would be more than enough to get a surging LSU program to take the final step of development.

Then we’ll really see what’s next.