USM head football coach, players speak after losing MJ Daniels

HATTIESBURG, Miss. (WDAM) – One week ago, USM football player MJ Daniels was killed.

For the first time since his death, Head Coach Will Hall and some of Daniels’ teammates spoke about losing the player with a million-dollar smile.

“Man, if you know MJ, you know MJ always smiling,” says teammate, Dylan Lawrence.

“He was a great guy, he always had a smile on his face,” says teammate, Micheal Caraway.

“He never made your day worse; his smile was beautiful,” says Hall.

MJ Daniels was described as not only a good teammate but also a good friend.

“He was somebody that you could rely on to have your back no matter what,” says teammate, Elijah Sabbatini. “Ever since we stepped foot on campus, that was my dog. Like we were two peas in a pod, no matter what, you couldn’t see us without each other.”

While this loss has been hard on the team, many players say they’re moving into next season with MJ in mind.

“With us losing our brother, I feel like it’s kind of making us come in tight,” says teammate, Rodrigues “Dreke” Clark. “Just knowing the worth of brotherhood, and knowing you could lose somebody just like that, it’s making us bond and become closer so we can win this championship for my boy.”

“It brought us way closer as a team. It’s a flame to our fire like we’re doing it for a reason now… only for #11,” says Caraway.

“Everything MJ wanted to do, he wanted to be the best,” says teammate, Hayes Puckett. “He wanted to win a conference championship, so I think it’s only right that we do everything in our power to do that for him and come together as a team and get this done.”

As far as practices go…

“We never stopped, for several reasons,” says Hall. “Number one, MJ wouldn’t have wanted us to stop, and number two, I would be a hypocrite if we stopped because we preach every day to these young men life is hard.”

The head coach goes on to say he is proud of his players for remaining strong during this time.

“There’s events that are going to happen that you can’t control,” says Hall. “The difference between successful people and unsuccessful people: Successful people handle ‘hard’ better. And our kids are handling ‘hard’ so well. And that don’t mean they’re not hurting, that don’t mean we’re not grieving, that don’t mean we’re not leaning on each other and carrying each other’s burdens because this is extremely hard, but they are.

Every Southern Miss fan out there could be proud of these kids because they are handling ‘hard’ as well as any group I’ve ever seen in my life.”

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