OXFORD – If he’s being honest, Ole Miss junior wide receiver Cayden Lee didn’t watch a ton of college football over the weekend. Like several of his teammates, Lee instead took the opportunity to take a much-needed breather in the midst of the chaotic college football season.
The No. 4 Rebels (5-0, 3-0 SEC) were off last weekend, their last action coming in a 24-19 win over LSU on Sept. 27. Ole Miss held practices in preparation of the upcoming slate, which includes back-to-back road games at No. 10 Georgia and No. 6 Oklahoma on Oct. 18 and 25, respectively. Up first, however, is the first ever meeting between the Rebels and Washington State this weekend at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium at 11:45 a.m. The game will be broadcast on SEC Network.
Lee and a few of his teammates, like senior safety Wydett Williams Jr. and sophomore defensive tackle Will Echoles, made trips home to see family and friends with the weekend off. Watching the slate of college football games wasn’t on Lee’s itinerary.
“I’ll be honest, not really. I kind of just … take a little break away from it,” Lee said. “But obviously you see the updates that are going on.”
SEC teams get two bye weeks during the season; the Rebels’ second is the week between the Florida and Mississippi State games. Lee went home to Kennesaw, Georgia in the Atlanta area with his free weekend, while Williams and Echoles went home to Lake Providence, Louisiana and Houston, Mississippi, respectively. While Lee’s high school team, Kennesaw Mountain, was on a bye, Williams and Echoles were able to catch games at their old stomping grounds. Williams played at General Trass High School in Louisiana, while Echoles played at Houston High School.
The trip home was especially meaningful for Williams, who grew up watching LSU games and was part of a defense that surrendered just 254 yards of offense to the Tigers. Williams said he took pictures with fans at the General Trass game and wants to serve as an inspiration for others in his hometown, which has a population of less than 3,500, per Census Reporter. General Trass defeated Bastrop 32-30.
“It was a lot of people wanting to take pictures and things like that with me. My main thing is just influencing the youth, especially where I come from,” Williams said. “We have small schools, and kids have big dreams. And I just want to be an example to those kids who want to grow up and play sports or do anything, just to be an encouragement and give a helping hand and talks and stuff like that, just so they can take that next step in life.”
Echoles, meanwhile, got to see Houston High School defeat Amory 40-33. He took pictures with fans as well but admitted he prefers not sticking out in a crowd when possible, which can be tough as a Division I athlete. Houston has a population of less than 3,800, according to Census Reporter, and is a “small town with big dreams,” Echoles said.
“I love my hometown, so just going back and seeing everybody, I like doing stuff like that,” Echoles said. “So, it was a good experience.”
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