Southern Miss football coach Will Hall clearly remembers his last conversation with MJ Daniels.
It was over text just the same day that Daniels was tragically killed.
"He had some schoolwork that he had to do," Hall told reporters on Tuesday. "I texted him and said, 'I know I'm on you hard about this schoolwork, but you know I love you.'"
Daniels responded, "I love you too. It's going to get done. Don't worry about it."
Sure enough, Daniels took care of the work that needed to be done.
"That was our last conversation," Hall said. "He was on his way to get his degree in December.
"I love him and miss him every day."
As Hall explained, Daniels' three biggest loves were hunting, fishing, and football. In fact, the junior safety would text Hall about hogs that his family was cooking and give his head coach deer meat from hunting trips.
It was part of what made Daniels' personality so unique, which can be described as both determined and uplifting, that culminated in his signature smile.
"One morning, he was in a tizzy," Hall recollected. "He was like, 'Coach, all of our dogs got out at home. Can I go home and help my daddy round up the dogs? I'll come back, and I'll still get my workout in and get my classwork done.
"He came back, got his workout in, and got his schoolwork done. That was just him. He was a guy you could count on and depend on."
It's now been almost a week since Daniel's death, who was shot in Hattiesburg. Despite still dealing with the grief of losing a teammate, the Southern Miss football program has not stopped its summer workouts.
"We definitely want to honor MJ and go back to work at 100% just for MJ," said teammate Dylan Lawrence, who is also Daniels' second cousin. "But yeah, it has been hard for us guys. We've been trying to stay together and be as one just for MJ. I'm just at a loss for words. We are just trying to stay strong.
"This tragedy right here is crushing me, and I think it's crushing the team, and we're trying to get through this together."
Although Lawrence was just a year older, the duo grew up together.
"Growing up, of course, MJ was younger than me, so MJ was always around with my little brother," Lawrence said. "So I kind of always took MJ in as my little brother with everything that I did… I'm sad to say I'm sorry that my brother has to watch over me, and I can't watch over him."
Elijah Sabbatini, who was teammates with Daniels at both Ole Miss and USM, will be an honorary pallbearer at the upcoming funeral on Saturday.
"I've just been thinking about all the positive ways that he's impacted people myself," Sabbatini said. "We had planned on coming to work out after practice, and we were just trying to get better with him. That's all he did for me, which was just make me a better person and a better player."
As difficult the past few days have been for the program, it's never been a thought to question or stop the program's offseason workouts because of the tragedy, but rather, it's been the reason to carry on.
"We always try to talk about living with the end in mind and how we want it to look when it's over," Hall said. "Anytime you are trying to accomplish something, how do you want it to look when you are through working on it? You have to think about that with life, too. If MJ wanted to be remembered for a competitor that lifted others up that, had a beautiful smile and always brought joy to people, then he lived well.
"He never made your day worse. His smile was beautiful, and you could always count on him when the going got tough. Shoot, it's something I think we all hope people would say about us."
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