With coaches and teammates leaving for LSU, the Rebels’ defensive leader never questioned where he wanted to be.
Will Echoles planned to spend that Sunday morning in the woods.
Instead, the Ole Miss defensive tackle received word that a team meeting had been called. Lane Kiffin was leaving for LSU, Pete Golding was taking over the program and the Rebels’ historic season had suddenly been turned upside down.
“I was planning on deer hunting in the woods that morning,” Echoles recalled Tuesday. “A team meeting got called to announce Coach Golding as the head coach.”
The full weight of Kiffin’s departure did not hit Echoles during the meeting. That came the following morning when he arrived at the weight room and noticed several familiar faces were missing.
“It didn’t really hit me until the next day when I went to the weight room and Coach Savage wasn’t there,” Echoles said. “That’s when I realized there were coaches that weren’t there anymore.”
Kiffin did not leave Oxford alone.
Several assistant coaches and support staff members eventually followed him to Baton Rouge. Four Ole Miss players also made the move, including defensive end Princewill Umanmielen and linebacker TJ Dottery.
Echoles acknowledged that Ole Miss players felt pressure to follow Kiffin. For the Houston, Mississippi, native, leaving was never a serious option.
“Nah. Not me,” Echoles said. “I told my mom that I liked it here, and this is where I was supposed to be.”
That might have been the strongest statement from Echoles’ press conference.
Kiffin recruited and helped develop him, but Echoles’ connection to Ole Miss was never tied to one coach. He wanted to represent his home state, remain beside his teammates and finish what the Rebels had started.
Everything around him changed, but Echoles did not.
He stayed and helped Golding lead Ole Miss through the College Football Playoff. Now, less than a year later, Echoles will face the coach who left and several former teammates who went with him.
There is no public bitterness toward Umanmielen or Dottery. Echoles said their relationships remain strong despite both defenders now wearing LSU’s purple and gold.
“I still see P-Will and TJ,” Echoles said. “They’re my boys.”
They might still be his boys, but those friendships will be placed on hold Saturday night.
No. 8 Ole Miss will host No. 7 LSU in a matchup carrying major SEC and College Football Playoff implications. The Tigers are 2-0 and enter Oxford averaging 48 points and 586 total yards per game.
LSU has been especially effective on the ground, rushing for 456 yards and eight touchdowns through two games. Quarterback Sam Leavitt has thrown for 574 yards while accounting for nine total touchdowns.
That places Echoles directly in the middle of the game’s biggest matchup.
Ole Miss cannot allow LSU to establish the run, control the tempo and keep its entire playbook open. Echoles and the Rebels’ defensive front must win inside, create negative plays and force Leavitt into obvious passing situations.
It will be a physical challenge, but the emotional side of the matchup will receive most of the attention.
Saturday will mark Kiffin’s first return to Vaught-Hemingway Stadium since leaving Ole Miss. The storyline has dominated the week, but Echoles understands that anger and emotion will not slow LSU’s offense.
Execution might.
Ole Miss does not have to settle every argument about Kiffin’s departure. The Rebels do not have to prove who won the breakup. They only have to win the football game.
Echoles already made his decision when the program was surrounded by uncertainty. Coaches left. Teammates transferred. He stayed because Ole Miss was where he believed he belonged.
Everything changed around Will Echoles.
His commitment to Ole Miss never did.
Kickoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. CT Saturday at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. The game will be televised nationally on ABC.
