Twenty-two Names to Know for the Ole Miss Season: No. 22 Cayden Lee
OXFORD, Miss. – As we lead up to week one in Vaught-Hemingway Stadium for the kickoff of Ole Miss football’s 2024 season, The Rebel Walk team will highlight one player each day. We’ll break down who they are, how they got here and what we expect from each. Today, we take a look at sophomore wideout Cayden Lee.
When Ole Miss head coach Lane Kiffin got Kennesaw, Georgia native Cayden Lee to commit in 2022, not many thought they would see the smaller wideout ready to make an impact by year two — but he is. Lee, just a sophomore, turned heads in his spurts of playing time during the 2023 season which made tons of Rebel fans believe he might be the next great Ole Miss receiver in line.
Fast forward to the fall camp of 2024, and Lee is continuing to impress as he looks to have a breakout season.
How did Cayden Lee get to Ole Miss?
Lee was a four-star prospect coming out of Kennesaw Mountain High School where he was the 36th-ranked wideout in the country and 26th in the state of Georgia. The speedy pass-catcher hauled in 162 career receptions 2,640 yards and 29 touchdowns, doing most of that during his senior and junior years in high school.
Ole Miss adds four-star wide receiver Cayden Lee to the signees on early signing day. Great pickup for Lane Kiffin and the Rebels!
Our @MissKYUS2011 has more. ⤵️ https://t.co/t1tqdeqyeQ
— The Rebel Walk (@TheRebelWalk) December 22, 2022
The then-future Rebel earned first-team All-Region honors as a senior as he led the 7A-Division of Georgia football in receiving yards and touchdowns. In 2021, Lee was also a member of the All-State team, garnering many other honors throughout his varsity career.
On December 21st, 2022, Cayden committed and signed his letter of intent to play football for Ole Miss. Less than a month later, Lee enrolled early at Ole Miss where he would participate in spring camp which ultimately gave the speedster a leg up in the race for the next WR1 in Oxford.
Career Outlook
Bursting onto the scene in week one of 2023 against Mercer, Lee caught a touchdown late in the game from Spencer Sanders to mark the milestone of his first career touchdown grab as a Rebel. It was a 33-yard reception for the true freshman as he flashed his speed to get behind the defense for the long ball.
Newcomer TD Connection 🤝@SpenceSanders ➡️ @Cayden_X_Lee pic.twitter.com/fiXfEO2hVB
— Ole Miss Football (@OleMissFB) September 2, 2023
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Although Lee competed in 10 games for the Rebels in 2023, his freshman year only consisted of five grabs for 115 yards and two touchdowns. However, throughout the season, the freshman impressed coaches, teammates and fans enough to keep expectations high for what is to come for the young Rebel in the future.
Late in 2023 against ULM, Lee hauled in his second touchdown grab of his freshman year. It was another pass from Sanders, this time a receiver screen that the Georgia native decided to take 51 yards to the house, making defenders miss as he left many others in the dust.
What was better by Cayden Lee of Ole Miss:
The run after the catch?
The hair? pic.twitter.com/LhkuGgr3Qs
— SportsTalk Mississippi (@SportsTalkMiss) November 18, 2023
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Heading into 2024
Lee has impressed many people throughout his career at Ole Miss, but it was not until this past offseason that everyone began to catch on to the hype surrounding the rising sophomore. Rightfully so, teammates and coaches began to rave about Lee throughout the 2024 spring camp as well as the summer offseason.
Just over a week ago at the Ole Miss football media day, I sat down with wideout Jordan Watkins, a player Lee gets compared to frequently. When I asked Watkins who he thinks will break out this year he said, “I think Cayden Lee will have a tremendous season. I expect you will be seeing a lot more of him this year.”
Watkins also answered the question on how his game and Lee’s are similar, replying that the sophomore receiver had just been doing a great job of soaking in the knowledge and techniques while being around him and wide receiver Tre Harris.
I would expect to see Lee in the starting lineup at some point for the Rebels, maybe even this fall. However, with Watkins entering his ‘Last Dance’ season, Lee will look to be a star in the slot for the Rebels soon.
So far in ’24 Fall Camp…
Over the last two weeks since fall camp has begun in Oxford, Lee has been right in the mix of the Ole Miss offense. The media is only allowed a certain amount of practice viewing, but during that time Lee has looked outstanding in his drills while also getting plenty of reps alongside the likes of Watkins, Harris, Caden Prieskorn and Jaxson Dart.
On Thursday, offensive coordinator Charlie Weis Jr. took the podium and was asked the question of who he thinks will be a break out for his offense in 2024. Former highly touted receiver Ayden Williams is expected to take the year-two leap, as well, with Lee, and Weis seems to agree. “I think with both guys we have seen a huge jump in learning the system…both of them have had a really good start to camp,” Weis Jr. said.
Cayden Lee’s career is just getting started in Oxford, and the 2024 season could be the year that the hype turns into an impact on the gridiron for the sophomore Rebel!
Kameron Wicker
Kam is an undergraduate at Ole Miss, currently pursuing a degree in Journalism. Even though he’s from Delhi, Louisiana, that didn’t stop Kam from growing up a diehard Ole Miss fan. He’s a sports guru who watches and follows all sports at all times. He lettered four years in football and baseball in high school and is an avid Saints, Pelicans, and Astros fan. In his free time, you can find him watching sports or at the rec participating in them.
