BEREA — There was a time, a long time ago, when Dorian Thompson-Robinson and Jayden Daniels were in the Pac-12 at the same time.

"Oh man, yes I was," Thompson-Robinson, the Browns' second-year quarterback, told the Beacon Journal on Wednesday.

At that time, between 2019-21, Thompson-Robinson was rewriting the UCLA record books. Meanwhile, at Arizona State, Daniels had arrived as the next big thing at the quarterback position.

Thompson-Robinson's Bruins got the best of Daniels' Sun Devils in the first two matchups before Daniels outdueled Thompson-Robinson in the 2021 meeting. Thompson-Robinson averaged 201 passing yards in those three games, while throwing four touchdowns, while Daniels averaged 259.3 yards while throwing six TDs.

"Those were always fun games," Thompson-Robinson said. "Two very competitive quarterbacks. He always made the games difficult for us, especially on defense. I know we definitely had to score a lot of points when we played him."

Thompson-Robinson won't be Cleveland's starting quarterback Sunday when he'll look across the field and see Daniels for the first time in the NFL. However, Thompson-Robinson's Browns teammates will certainly get a full glimpse of the No. 2 pick from April's draft as he continues his revelatory rookie season for the Washington Commanders.

Daniels has firmly positioned himself as the frontrunner for the Offensive Rookie of the Year award four games into his career by turning the Commanders offense into one of the league's most potent. Its potency comes from the various ways last year's Heisman Trophy winner has hurt teams.

The rookie's 82.1% completion percentage is nearly 10 points higher than the second-ranked quarterback, Seattle's Geno Smith (72.3%). He's third in passer rating at 107.4, second in rushing yards at 218 and has led the Commanders to scores on a league-best 68% of their possessions (23 of 34), including a league-best 16 in a row.

"There's always extra pressure when you're playing a dual quarterback like that that can run and can throw," Browns rookie linebacker Nathaniel "Bookie" Watson told the Beacon Journal. "At the end of the day, you just have to do your job and be in the right spot at the right time. We just look forward to hanging with him."

Watson knows what he's talking about when it comes to Daniels. The former Mississippi State standout got a full view of the star quarterback during their final two seasons in college after Daniels transferred from Arizona State to LSU.

Daniels threw for 210 yards and a touchdown, while rushing for 93 yards and a score, in a 21-13 win in Louisiana in 2022. The next season, in Starkville, he threw for 361 yards and two scores, while rushing for 64 yards and two more touchdowns, in a 41-14 Tigers win.

"My time playing him in college, he became a way better passer the second year I played him," Watson said. "There's really something that you don't see. You kind of see it now, but people don't understand. They just think he's all legs and can't throw, but he can really throw the ball."

The Browns' sixth-round pick, who was signed back to the active roster off the practice squad on Wednesday, did have his share of success against Daniels. He had 1.5 combined sacks in two games along with a pass defensed.

Watson said the Daniels he saw his final season in college was a much more developed player than the one he saw the previous season.

"He wasn't throwing really deep balls then," Watson said. "The next year he came back throwing slot fades and everything. He's scrambling like crazy and then throwing the ball. So, really, what he's improved on is scrambling and still keeping his eyes down the field instead of when he scrambles, he looks down to tuck the ball."

Thompson-Robinson said he believes part of Daniels' ascension came with the move to LSU where, "he started playing that competition, seeing different defenses, things like that." That allowed him to see a speed even more closely aligned to what he's since seen in the NFL than in the Pac-12.

However, where Thompson-Robinson — who was a fifth-round pick in 2023 — can truly see the parallels between himself and Daniels is the benefit of the extra college reps. Like Daniels, Thompson-Robinson spent five seasons in college due to the extra COVID season granted.

Thompson-Robinson said that experience aided him when he was thrown into fire as the Browns' starting quarterback a year ago. He can see it helping Daniels this season as well.

"I think just as many reps as you can get," Thompson-Robinson said. "I learned a lesson coming into high school into college and not having that many reps coming out of high school, and that hurt me. Then coming into the league with a bunch of reps kind of helped me get acclimated a lot sooner to the game and the speed of it and how to go about your business outside of gameday.

"I think that's kind of what's really helped him is kind of getting a routine and kind of getting his feet wet early on. I think it's helped him a lot."

Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Browns duo experienced Commanders QB Jayden Daniels in college