Teen Pleads Guilty in Death of Southern Miss Football Player MJ Daniels

A 16-year-old has pleaded guilty in the shooting death of University of Southern Mississippi football player MJ Daniels. 

Nytavion Shaw, one of four people charged with second-degree murder in the case, entered a guilty plea on Tuesday, October 1, according to court records viewed by The Associated Press. 

Shaw, a native of Laurel, Mississippi, indicated Marcus “MJ” Daniels, 21, was shot to death during an attempted robbery. Daniels was killed June 11 while sitting in his car outside his apartment in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. 

The sentencing date for Shaw, who was charged as an adult, has not been announced. He faces 20 to 40 years in prison.

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Bond was denied in June for the other three individuals charged in the murder, who range in age from 16 to 18 and also face assorted charges of attempted carjacking, felony eluding and grand larceny auto. 

Daniels was the starting cornerback for Southern Miss last season after transferring to the school following two years at Ole Miss. He was expected to be the team’s starting safety for the 2024 season after moving to the new position in the offseason. 

“We are deeply saddened by the loss of MJ Daniels,” Southern Miss head coach Will Hall wrote via X after Daniels’ death. “His smile was infectious and lit up the room. Please keep MJ’s loved ones and our Southern Miss family in your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time.”

After his death, Daniels’ mother, Adrian Jackson, said she was first made aware of the shooting via social media. 

“I saw his car roped off,” Jackson told the Hattiesburg American in June about arriving on the scene. “At first I was walking toward his car and then I started running. My husband and the police stopped me from running toward the car and I just kind of broke down.” 

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Jackson said of her late son, “He was the life, the legend. He loved people. He loved to laugh.”

Days after her son was killed, Jackson and her family gathered to clean out Daniels’ apartment.

“I started getting really dizzy,” Jackson recalled. “I left my husband and my daughter to clean up the room. I really couldn’t do it. I would walk in like maybe every five or 10 minutes just to look and see what progress they were making and I’d go back out. It was hard.”

Jackson added, “I’m not going to say it gets easier, but I guess it’s getting closer to accepting that he’s gone.”