Ole Miss safety Daijhan Anthony made critical plays in win over LSU
The Ole Miss defense gave up a third of a mile in yards (637), 33 first downs and 49 points, but one defensive player – Safety Daijahn Anthony – made, arguably, the two most important defensive plays of the 55-49 win over SEC foe LSU last Saturday night.
With 4:44 left in the first quarter and the Tigers driving to the Rebel 25 with Ole Miss holding a 7-0 lead, LSU QB Jayden Daniels rolled wide right and just as he was reaching the Rebel sideline he was blasted by Anthony on a clean hit that jarred the ball loose that fellow Reb Safety Trey Washington pounced on.
“That hit felt good,” Anthony smiled. “I want to do it again this week.”
With 5 seconds to go in the game and LSU on the Rebel 26, Daniels scrambled to avoid a torrid rush by DE Cedric Johnson and threw a dart into the Ole Miss end zone that Anthony, a transfer from Liberty, deflected just before it reached an LSU receiver for the would-be winning score.
“I read the quarterback and saw where he was going to throw it. I broke toward that receiver and jumped as high as I could to deflect the pass,” he said. “I was praying he wasn’t going to catch it.”
The Ole Miss defense had a tough night, but it ended well with two big defensive stops to allow the Rebel offense to come back from a 49-40 deficit with 8 minutes to go in the contest.
“Those last two stops we had showed what we can do if we execute the way we are supposed to,” Anthony noted. “We just have to remember all the hard work we have put in, trust the person next to you to do their job, do your job and execute.
“We did that on their last two drives, for the most part, and we got two stops that we had to have.”
Related: Ole Miss’ Jaxson Dart honored by SEC after self-described ‘legacy’ win over LSU
Enough with the celebration. Anthony, who has 20 tackles, an interception, a forced fumble and four passes broken up so far this season, knows what faces the Ole Miss defense this Saturday and knows they have to put forth a better effort.
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“There are a lot of things we can correct and perfect,” continued Anthony, who has proven to be one of the more physical players in the Rebel secondary. “We’ve got to watch a lot of film and we need to have great practices Tuesday and Wednesday. That’s the fun thing about the SEC – every game is a big game so you have to learn from the game before, get better and move on.
“The offense learned a valuable lesson at Bama and came out strong against LSU. Now the defense needs to learn from LSU and come back strong against Arkansas.”
Anthony played against Arkansas last season at Liberty. He knows all about Arkansas quarterback K.J. Jefferson from Sardis, MS.
“Jayden Daniels is fast and K.J. isn’t as fast, but he is powerful and hard to tackle,” Daijahn closed. “We have to wrap up this week better than we have been. One person can’t bring him down easily – it will take every defender rallying to the ball every single play.
“Rocket Sanders is a good running back too, so there is another big threat we have to make sure we do a good job on. They play a physical brand of offensive football and we need to be prepared to match that physicality.”
There will be plenty of action in another SEC clash Saturday night and you can bet Daijahn Anthony will be in the middle of the scrums.
He likes it where the action is.
