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OXFORD — Throughout last season, coaches and program insiders raved about the progress wide receiver Cayden Lee was making.
It didn’t always show up in the postgame statistics, but the buzz never lessened.
Late last season, the 5-foot-11, 175-pound speedster from Kennesaw., Ga., began to break through. He started the Rebels’ Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl win over Penn State and finished the season with five receptions for 114 yards and two touchdowns.
Months later, as the Rebels begin preparations in earnest for the 2024 season, Lee is poised to play a much bigger role.
“I feel like right now just the expectations have just increased another level just because of the guys they brought in the room,” Lee said Monday, referring to transfer portal additions Juice Wells and Micah Davis. “I mean, we have one of the best — arguably, in my opinion, the best — receiving room in the country. So it's just day in and day out. You gotta be on your best foot forward, you gotta have great practice, and you gotta keep stacking days.”
Lee said he’s “a totally different player” this August compared to a year ago, “just because my work ethic has just increased another notch. I've always worked hard, but this year I just took it to another level. Mainly just getting my body right off the field, staying in treatment room, getting extra catches on the jugs machine, and just getting my timing down with the quarterback. So I just have taken my game to a whole new level.”
Ole Miss opens the season on Aug. 31 at home versus Furman, and the Rebels are a consensus College Football Playoff contender. The passing game, Lee said, figures to be an even bigger part of Ole Miss’ attack this fall.
“I mean, with the guys we have in the room, it's unstoppable,” Lee said. “I mean, you can't double anybody because they'll just go to somebody else. So the passing game is definitely going to be a big part of our offense.”
Lee said that Peach Bowl start, necessitated by an injury to Jordan Watkins, was a confidence-builder moving forward. He’s tried to use it as momentum heading into this campaign.
“I mean, it was just great to just play in my home state,” Lee said. “I’m from Georgia, so it was just great to play there. I had a lot of family there, and it just took my game up another level, which is why I worked so hard in this past offseason.”
Practice notes: Ole Miss worked in shoulder pads and helmets on Monday morning.
— During the 15 minutes of media access, the Rebels had one period of what appeared to be team drills. During that time, the Rebels’ offense consisted of quarterback Jaxson Dart, tight end Caden Prieskorn, wide receivers Micah Davis, Noreel White, Ayden Davis and Tre Harris, and offensive linemen Diego Pounds, Nate Kalepo, Gerquan Scott, Julius Buelow and Preston Cushman. Running back Ulysses Bentley IV and wide receiver Cayden Lee figured prominently in the rotation during that period available to media.
The defense during that period consisted of defensive lineman Jayden Ivey, Walter Nolen, JJ Pegues and Suntarine Perkins, linebackers Khari Coleman and TJ Dottery, and defensive backs Chris Graves Jr., Yam Banks, Louis Moore, John Saunders Jr. and Richard O’Bryant. (As noted Friday, the point of this isn’t a depth chart but rather a look at the Rebels’ staff likely trying to deepen the number of players who can and will play meaningful snaps this season.)
— Scouts from the Jacksonville Jaguars, New England Patriots, Detroit Lions, Indianapolis Colts and Seattle Seahawks were in attendance Monday.
— Wide receiver Jordan Watkins remained in a black (signifying no-contact) jersey on Monday but he was with the offense during the period of practice available to media.
— Defensive linemen Princely Umanmielen, Kam Franklin and DeeJay Holmes Jr., were in black jerseys but working with the regular unit in the period of practice available to media.
— Linebacker Chris Paul Jr. and defensive backs Brandon Turnage and Jerrell Stinson were in black jerseys. Paul was working with the linebackers and Stinson with the defensive backs during the period of practice available to media. Turnage, however, was working with Ole Miss training staff.
— Wide receivers Juice Wells and Jordan Smart and tight end Hudson Wolfe were in black jerseys and working with training staff during the period of practice available to media.
Rebels open at No. 6: Ole Miss debuted Monday at No. 6 in the Associated Press Top 25, the Rebels’ highest season-opening ranking since 1970, when Johnny Vaught’s Ole Miss team began the season at No. 5.
Ole Miss received 1,189 points, some 71 behind Alabama and 33 more than No. 7 Notre Dame.
No. 2 Ohio State, No. 3 Oregon, No. 8 Penn State, No. 9 Michigan and No. 10 Florida State rounded out the top 10.
Other Southeastern Conference teams in the poll include No. 1 Georgia, No. 3 Texas, No. 5 Alabama, No. 11 Missouri, No. 13 LSU, No. 15 Tennessee, No. 16 Oklahoma and No. 20 Texas A&M. Other SEC teams receiving votes included Kentucky and Auburn. None of Ole Miss’ four non-SEC opponents — Furman, Middle Tennessee, Wake Forest and Georgia Southern — received any Top 25 votes.
“I mean, at the end of the day, it's just all talk, as Lane Kiffin likes to say, rat poison,” Lee said. “So you don't feed into it too much. But it's definitely talk inside the building. It's just everybody's standards raise another level, and our goal is a national championship at the end of the day, so we just have to keep working to get there.”
More expectations concerns: Kiffin was asked about the No. 6 ranking on Monday. He said it didn't add any more pressure to him personally, noting that no one could more pressure on him than he already does internally. However, he admitted the lofty expectations and rankings must be addressed.
“I do get concerned, obviously,” Kiffin said. “I talk extensively to our players because I think that does come at them nonstop nowadays, you know, because of phones and so, yeah, that's a big concern of mine. And we talk about it all the time as that continues to come, whether it's individual, you know, this guy's supposed to be the No. 2 receiver or he's on this watchlist and all that crap doesn't mean anything.
“Or another dangerous one is these mock drafts that are usually totally inaccurate. So, yeah, I'm trying to work on those things all the time with these guys because now there's more of it than we've ever had here for sure. You know, with the preseason rankings, with position ratings and or with mock draft things. And we're supposed to have this many people drafted, which is way more than we've ever had. It's a lot to guard against.”
