By all accounts, Thursday should have been a joyous day and a very Merry Christmas in the LSU kingdom.

But that’s not the way college football works anymore. It’s never that simple.

In short, there’s always something …

Still, recruiting seemed to have gone well, or at least without any major incidents, and there’s the promise of more holiday cheer on the way today and beyond when the transfer portal starts delivering 10-12 more stocking stuffers and further bolster the roster.

Yet maybe the best news came from within when LSU quarterback Jayden Daniels announced on social media that he planned to return for another senior year of college.

I didn’t think this was actually a real shocker.

Daniels is a very good college quarterback. LSU doesn’t get anywhere near the SEC Championship game without him for this surprising bounceback season. Without his legs, a very raw LSU offensive line wouldn’t have had the time to develop into something.

Good leadership, too, and he seems like a fine young man to boot.

But, although I’m no Mel Kiper (and don’t wannabe), nothing about Daniels or his game really seems to scream out “First-round draft pick!”

I could be wrong.

Plus, maybe the chance to be that rare five-year college starter was too tempting to pass up.

Remember, though new to the Tigers, he’d already started for three years at Arizona State before transferring to LSU.

Yet he still wants more. Good for him. Must have really taken a serious liking to the Bayou State.

If you’re thinking he must have run out of years, you’re so stuck in the 2010s.

Best I can tell, anybody who played during the 2020 COVID season gets a lifetime exemption on eligibility. OK, not really. It only seems like the bottomless breadsticks special.

The NIL, your old friend Name, Image and Likeness, may well figure into this as well.

Still, this is, or should be, really good news for LSU, which now — even in the age of the portal and the opt out — has a dangerous chance to bring back all 11 offensive starters for next season, not to mention for the looming Citrus Bowl.

So rejoice, Tigers. Celebrate. Feel free to pop corks and dance in the streets.

And …

Of course there’s a catch.

Daniels hadn’t yet logged out of his Twitter account with his news when the fretting began among Tiger fans.

Great to hear, yeah, but …

What about the other quarterbacks in waiting? It appears to be a deep, talented room. But what if they get itchy feet?

What will backup Garrett Nussmeier’s reaction to this development be? He wasn’t around in 2020. His eligibility clock is clicking, although I’m sure if he asked real nicely, the NCAA would grant him an extra 5-6 years.

And don’t forget Walker Howard. He’s back there waiting his turn too, showing promise.

It doesn’t help the fan anguish any that Nussmeier showed real promise when forced into duty in the SEC title game after Daniels was injured. Something like 294 yards and two touchdowns in one half.

Welcome to fandom in the Portal Age.

In the current climate, fans aren’t allowed to feel good about what they have for fear of losing what they might have because of it.

That lure of that portal is always out there, open for business. Some dang-fired tampering coach will ever be on the lookout, ready to kidnap your future.

Not to suggest anybody is hitchhiking out of Baton Rouge. Every situation is different.

But get used to it.

Quarterbacks are most susceptible. Any other position, even if you’re not starting, if you have something to offer they’ll find something for you to do.

Not so at quarterback, where conventional football wisdom frowns on dual ownership.

Next Man Up might be halfway to somewhere else when his time comes.

And you know what you do then?

You play the portal too.

LSU certainly needs no introduction to it. The Tigers know how to play that game.

It’s the new reality.