Versatile defensive back Daijahn Anthony, the Bengals' most impressive rookie this side of Mount (Amarius) Mims, has it covered all like a cornerback and communicates it like a safety.
Virginia Pair, his grandmother who consistently predicted NFL greatness for him, died a few weeks before she could make Anthony's first spring game at Liberty University. Stage 4 cancer appeared in a sudden September there wasn't football.
She wrote a letter to everyone in the family, and Anthony plans to read his before he makes what promises to be his busy NFL debut Saturday (7 p.m.-Cincinnati's FOX 19) in the Bengals' preseason opener against the Buccaneers at Paycor Stadium.
"I read it every game day," Anthony says. "My grandmother died March 5, 2021. On my mother's (42nd) birthday. It was spiritual, that's how our family sees it. That was her youngest daughter."
Those two strong-willed guardians of the family kept Anthony away from the Northside's slippery slopes in Richmond, Va. Because he loved basketball early, his mother Latasha drove him to all the basketball training. Virginia, a home health worker, never missed one of his football games in high school and college, despite caring for four grandchildren and her own daughter, who was battling Lupus.
"I had just turned 11," Anthony says. "My mother passed on Sept. 17 and my birthday is Sept. 9. I learned a lot from her. She taught me how to be a young man. My grandmother every day talked about me going to the pros. Supporting me. My grandma was at every game of my life."
Anthony asked his family not to call during training camp so he can be "locked in." He will be welcomed with open arms by about 20 family members at Paycor on a trip led by his father.
Travis Anthony says it is all, "Unreal. Really Unreal." When he saw that his son had intercepted quarterback Joe Burrow in a recent practice, he thought, "Get the ball and get him to sign it."
"I'm a big football fan. I was a big fan of Buffalo. Not now. The Cincinnati Bengals," says Travis, 43, who stuck with the Bills even though Andre Reed didn't. "Joe Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase. They're superstars.
"I told him, 'Listen, you've got the opportunity to go to the Super Bowl as a rookie. Joe Burrow is (one of) the only ones who has beaten Patrick Mahomes in the playoffs. He's got to stay humble and work out as they do. The interceptions in training camp, it doesn't surprise me. He can cover. He's had production. That's how he got there."
Anthony got there in the seventh round, where the Bengals took him because they were taken with his ability to play all over the secondary, as well as his magnetic personality and perpetual smile that were gifts from the women who raised him.
His college adviser calls him "The Mayor," who never met a stranger. Even before camp started, he was in the Cincinnati community with his own back-to-school event. He reached out to the non-profit Holden Hands and took three children shopping and then to lunch, vowing to do it for many years to come.
Kristie Beitz — Liberty's senior associate athletics director and Anthony's adviser he still speaks with regularly — saw the Cincinnati news clip. It reminded her of his weekly visits to read to the students at R.S. Payne Elementary School in Lynchburg, Va., and how he related to the kids who are underdogs like himself.
"I play with a lot of passion because I don't play the game for the outside stuff. I play the game of football because it changed my life," Daijahn Anthony said. "It helped me get through some of the toughest times. Football and the brotherhood and my teammates. I just say I'm a passionate football player. My grandmother and football (kept me focused). She always pushed me to be great and always supported me."
Bengals fans should get plenty of chances to see that passion on display Saturday. After a whirlwind camp featuring three interceptions in the first nine practices and a spot in the first-team dime package, Anthony and Jordan Battle may play into the second half once starting safeties Vonn Bell and Geno Stone leave after the first five snaps or so.
The Bengals usually keep six cornerbacks and four safeties for the final 53-man roster. But with safety and special teams ace Tycen Anderson mending quickly and the versatility offered by Anthony and rookie cornerback Josh Newton, a 5-5 split could be in the offing.
NFL Draft boards have an expansive talent in a small world. Anthony's teaming with Battle, last year's third-rounder from Alabama who was probably the Bengals' Rookie of the Year in a productive class. When he made the move from Liberty to Ole Miss, Anthony says he had about 40 offers in the transfer portal and opted for the Rebels largely because defensive coordinator Pete Golding had coached at Alabama.
"He had won the Nattys (the national title), he's coached the best DBs and I just wanted to learn from him and he told me was going to get me to the NFL playing safety and that's what he did," Anthony says. "He showed the film of Brian Branch, Jordan Battle, Trevon Diggs. You have got to be able to do more to get to the NFL. He showed me all these DBs playing corner and playing safety. I took that to heart. If they can do it, I can do it, So I went and did it."
Don't bet against Anthony's heart, which is precisely what Beitz told then-head coach Hugh Freeze when he wanted to know if he could count on Anthony to be eligible for the 2021 opener after transferring from Division II Shepherd University.
"Kristie, do you think he's going to earn all of these credits to be eligible? Would you bet on him?" recalls Beitzof her conversation with Freeze. "And I said I would take all of my chips and I would slide them across the table and I bet everything on him."
Beitz cashed in quickly: Anthony went from walk-on to scholarship player before he played a down at Liberty after he earned 23 academic credits in the summer.
"That's quite a feat for someone to do in 16 weeks, which was a fall or spring semester," Beitz says. "But to do it in a condensed period of time in the summer, that is significant to be able to do that."
Beitz watched with both awe and fear as Anthony dealt with his grandmother's cancer. Virginia had wanted him to leave Richmond, which is why out of high school he went to Shepherd in West Virginia. But when she became sick, he chose to transfer to Liberty, two hours away in Lynchburg.
His aunt, Michelle Adams, always a steady influence in his life and face at the games, was there as usual. With three younger siblings at home, Anthony felt the pressure to help: There were stretches where he left practice, drove home and then turned around at 2 or 3 in the morning to drive back and do it all over again the next day.
"We're a very tight-knit family," Adams said.
I have to be there for them, Anthony told Beitz. She understood what had really turned into the ultimate struggle.
"You have an opportunity before you where you can live out your grandmother's legacy of loving people well, by taking care of what you have to do here at school," Beitz said. "Imagine the pressure. Torn between what he felt like he needed to do for his family, and what he needed to do so that he could help his family in the long run."
The two-season stint at Liberty in 2021 and 2022 turned out to be the best for everyone because it translated into one more final big move into the SEC. Anthony believes interceptions against Arkansas and BYU and a good game at Ole Miss raised his stock.
Last season in his new spot at safety, he led that same Ole Miss team with three interceptions and earned a slot in the East-West All-Star game, where he met the Bengals scouts. His Alabama versatility, his Mayoral personality and Jessie Bates III-like instincts were circled draftable.
"His mother and then his grandmother and his aunt, who were right in there with him, they made sure that he knew right," Beitz said. "He knew how to treat people, he knew how to love fiercely. He knew how to be competitive, but more than that, he knew to never quit."
As his dad says, "It takes a village." His parents have also been influential in Daijahn's life as he rebuilt their own relationship. Travis Anthony has been another one of the comforting faces in the crowd since eighth grade. Few teams travel like the Pair-Anthony family. Daijahn says 60 family members were the norm at Liberty games.
"We had to work through some issues, but we worked them out together," Travis Anthony said. "For him to be at the point where he is now is great. But the point where we are in our relationship is awesome. I told him as long as we have each other and our family, we can make it through. He makes me so proud every day."
Kristie Beitz was at his draft party because she went to see him play. That's who Auntie Michelle and his cousin invited. Anybody who came to his games. Daijahn Anthony figures there were about 90-100 family members between Mom and Dad's side and 15-20 friends.
Anthony could barely hear head coach Zac Taylor on the phone telling him it was the most fired-up crowd he had heard on his nine draft calls to that point. It didn't surprise Beitz. She glimpsed a Bengals jersey a cousin had brought with his name.
It also didn't surprise Beitz that The Mayor told Taylor, "Love you," before hanging up the phone.
"He changed my life," Daijahn Anthony says. "For you to give me that opportunity, it changed my whole family life. It just means so much more to me. "
Another family reunion looms. Daijahn's two-year-old son is coming to that one. Jordan is the only one who can get through on the phone during training camp. But he'll be here in a few weeks.
We know his dad is big on dates. He's destined to play in his first NFL regular-season game at Paycor on Sept. 8. The next day is Daijahn Anthony's 24th birthday.
"Birthday weekend," Travis Anthony says. "A lot of the family is coming up."
They always have.
