Should the Ole Miss Rebels Involve Caden Prieskorn More in the Offensive Game Plan?

The Ole Miss offense may be missing a key receiver this week, opening opportunities for tight end Caden Prieskorn to show off his offseason hype.

Sep 28, 2024; Oxford, Mississippi, USA; Mississippi Rebels tight end Caden Prieskorn (86) catches the ball over Kentucky Wildcats defensive back Kristian Story (4) for a first down during the second half at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images / Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

The Ole Miss Rebels are out to a 5-1 record to start the season. However, since SEC play began, the offense has seemed to slow down, and someone that has been less involved than people anticipated is tight end Caden Prieskorn.

Prieskorn was very hyped up by coaches and fans coming into this season as a returning veteran who was expected to play a bigger role in this year's offense.

However, this season Prieskorn has seemed to be overlooked in the game plan, even in big games. While he was looked for in the most crucial moment of the season so far against Kentucky on 4th and 7 for a gain of 42 yards for a shot at game-winning field goal, Jaxson Dart just has not seemed to look his way.

Prieskorn started the season hot with a three-catch game in Week 1 against Furman which included a long catch-and-run touchdown where he stiff-armed his way into the end zone following a great juke. That mark of three catches has been his season-high, and he has yet to find the end zone again.

The following week, Prieskorn went for another three catches on three targets, this time for just 48 yards.

Once the Rebels went on their first road trip to Wake Forest, Prieskorn's touches seemed disappear, only recording a catch on his only target of the game for six yards.

In their return to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium over the next two weeks, Prieskorn converted a two-for-three ratio for a combined 50 yards, 42 of which came off of one catch against Kentucky.

That brings us to last week where Prieskorn was only targeted twice, recording 13 yards on his lone reception, despite the loss of top receiver Tre Harris in the first half.

This is an interesting factor heading into this week against LSU as there has been no clear indication on if Harris will be ready to go for Saturday. This could make Prieskorn a lively candidate for more targets, alongside Juice Wells, Jordan Watkins and Cayden Lee, who have been taking the majority of the remaining work load in the receiving game.

Last season, Prieskorn battled some injuries but played in 10 games, gaining 30 receptions for a total of 449 yards and four touchdowns with and average of 15 yards a catch. He also had a big game in the Peach Bowl against Penn State where he racked up 10 catches for 136 yards and two touchdowns on his way to win Peach Bowl MVP.

The Peach Bowl gave a lot of people a glimpse of how good Prieskorn could really be, which is why his popularity and hype for the 2024-25 season jumped the way it did.

Prieskorn is also spoken very highly as a locker room guy and a leader of this Ole Miss team.

While there is still a lot of time left in the season, the SEC defenses have seem to steady an Ole Miss offense that looked unstoppable in the first four games of the season, which could lead to some game plan changes to involves guys like Prieskorn in hopes of opening up other aspects of the offense.