Clay Bignell knew MJ Daniels for only a few months but had glowing things to say about him after Friday’s Southern Miss football preseason practice.
Hired as the defensive coordinator and safeties coach from Eastern Illinois in December, Bignell spoke with reporters for the first time on the loss of Daniels, who was shot and killed on June 11 in Hattiesburg.
Daniels, 21 and from Lucedale, transferred to Southern Miss from Ole Miss in 2023. He played cornerback last season but had switched to Bignell’s group as a safety in the spring.
“I loved him immediately,” Bignell said. “He was a guy that just knew the game so well, so like you were talking and having a conversation on a different level than a lot of different guys. And that dude was just instinctual. It’s just a guy that you love to coach, and you just keep building, molding and looking forward to that and then obviously it’s just terrible what happened. I loved being around the kid every day. Infectious smile, infectious personality and loved the game. Definitely going to miss the hell out of him.”
Four teenagers were arrested and all charged as adults with capital murder in connection to the shooting. They are currently going through their preliminary court hearings and were denied bonds.
One of Daniels’ best on-field traits was his athleticism, a part of why he moved to safety. He played in all 12 games last season and made 28 tackles with four pass breakups, forced two fumbles and tied for a team-high with three interceptions.
MORE: Why Will Hall, Southern Miss football are ‘thankful’ to find Zay Franks’ season-ending injury
Bignell said Daniels’ death has challenged the team’s depth at safety, where he was expected to be a starter. Three safeties — Elijah Sabbatini, Ques McNeal and Sentario Willis — are all working back from torn ACLs sustained last season that kept them out of spring practice.
“You never have a plan for that,” he said. “That’s as hard a deal as you can do and obviously it affects everybody around here. As a football player, that dude was an unbelievable football player, too, for us. So, it’s been a process, too, because in my room at safety, I’ve got a lot of guys that didn’t practice in the spring because they were injured. So, I’ve got a lot of bodies right now getting a lot of reps.
“Same thing like that we talked about with will linebacker, I’m going to find the best two safeties to be on the field at the same time, whether it’s pairing and then try to rebuild that depth of the third and fourth guy that I can trust. It’s just keep building it from there.”
Highlights from Southern Miss football practice
Friday was Southern Miss’ first preseason practice with shells, meaning the players wore helmets and shoulder pads for the first time. Full pads can’t be worn yet, so tackling wasn’t allowed during the scrimmage periods.
-
Tate Rodemaker threw an in-stride 40-yard touchdown pass to Ti Mims
-
Redshirt freshman linebacker Tre’Mon Henry sniffed out a jet sweep and wrapped up the rusher for a big tackle for loss.
Sam Sklar is the Southern Miss beat reporter for the Hattiesburg American. Email him at ssklar@hattiesb.gannett.com and follow him on X @sklarsam_.
This article originally appeared on Hattiesburg American: Southern Miss football: Clay Bignell shares memories of MJ Daniels
Hattiesburg American
