Caleb Odom has spent the better part of two seasons learning a position he didn’t grow up playing. On Saturday, he’ll get a chance to show what that work was for.
Odom, a 6-foot-5, 240-pound junior from Carrollton, Ga., has become one of the most reliable pieces of Ole Miss’s passing attack heading into the Rebels’ 11:45 a.m. CT kickoff against Auburn at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium (SEC Network). He leads all Ole Miss tight ends with 26 catches for 326 yards and two touchdowns — second on the team in receptions and receiving yards behind only Deuce Alexander — while averaging a healthy 12.5 yards per grab.
It’s a long way from where he started.
A receiver learning to block
Odom arrived at Ole Miss in 2025 after one season at Alabama, and the film said “receiver” more than it said “tight end.” His first season in Oxford produced 19 catches for 197 yards and two touchdowns — most of them from space, not from a three-point stance next to the tackle.
That changed this offseason, when Odom got his first uninterrupted stretch locked into one position in his Ole Miss career.
“Just really being able to hone in and have my mindset on one thing… knowing if we’re in those 11 personnel packages, that I’m gonna be a tight end, it’s been really beneficial just being able to hone in on my footwork and hand placement — things that make a good tight end a good tight end. Because you’ve got to be able to block those guys, for sure.”
The result is a player who can line up attached to the line, in the slot or split out wide — a mismatch problem for defenses that have to decide whether to treat him as a blocker or a receiver on any given snap.
“It’s really helped me and made me be more versatile. People can look at me not just as a big wide receiver who may or may not get open. You know, they can put me anywhere on the field and I can block like an offensive lineman, a tight end, stuff like that.”
That versatility fits what first-year offensive coordinator John David Baker wants. Baker, who coached tight ends for four years before taking over the Ole Miss offense, has built a system that leans on multiple-tight-end sets.
“I ultimately think that his system is obviously maybe a little bit more catered to the tight ends. But I also just think it has to go with what he said, you know, just really playing that tight end role.”
The Texas lesson
Odom’s production has been steady rather than spectacular — he caught four passes in four consecutive games through the Missouri win, then added five catches for 59 yards in the loss at Texas. His two scores have both been red-zone work, including a 10-yard grab from Trinidad Chambliss in the first quarter of the 31-3 win over Missouri on Homecoming.
Against Texas, though, Odom was part of the story of what Ole Miss left on the field. The Rebels spotted the Longhorns a 24-3 halftime lead before clawing all the way back to tie it at 24, and Odom was open more than once early without getting the ball. A third-and-9 connection between Chambliss and Odom came up short — a play that caught the coaches’ eyes on film even in failure.
The tight end room knows the margin now.
“I think it’s easy for us. I think that PG and the coaching staff do a great job of just really making sure that once Sunday comes and we watch that film and we do the walkthroughs, do the corrections that everything else from now on, we’re flipping that page. We’re looking straight ahead.”
That was Odom’s line after the LSU win in September. It applies more urgently now: Ole Miss is 5-2 and 3-2 in the SEC, ranked No. 12 after falling from No. 7, with No. 3 Georgia coming to Oxford next week.
What Auburn presents
Auburn (4-3, 2-3 SEC) arrives with a defense coordinated by D.J. Durkin, and Odom’s head coach has been clear that Auburn’s record undersells the problems it poses.
“I think Durkin’s always done a really, really good job everywhere he’s been. Obviously, a lot of familiarity with the system. I’ve gone against it several different times.”
Auburn leads with sophomore linebacker Elijah Melendez — 57 tackles and four sacks on the season — and the Tigers have already shown they can wreck a good team’s afternoon: they beat then-No. 1 Georgia 27-17 in Athens on Oct. 17, their first win there since 2005.
For Odom and the tight end group, that means a bigger role in the run game and in protection. Kewan Lacy has been ruled out after dislocating his shoulder against Texas, which pushes Makhi Frazier to the top of the depth chart and puts more on the blocking responsibilities of Odom and Luke Hasz. Golding said the plan is a committee — Shekai Mills-Knight, JT Lindsey and Joshua Dye all figure to get carries — but the edge-setting and second-level work will fall heavily to the tight ends.
It’s exactly the unglamorous half of the job Odom spent his summer on.
What’s at stake
Four of Ole Miss’s final five games are in Oxford, where the Rebels have won 15 straight. Auburn is the first of them, and it’s the last soft landing before Georgia, Oklahoma and Mississippi State.
For a program that has controlled its own destiny through two losses, Saturday is about steadiness — protecting home field, getting Chambliss back in rhythm after a three-interception night in Austin, and giving the tight ends the kind of day that makes the offseason worth it.
Odom’s own framing has been consistent all year, whether the opponent was Charlotte or LSU.
“We came in with a game plan. Us as an offense and especially just like me, I come in thinking, you know, doing the stuff that the coaches tell me to do every week.”
The coaches have been telling him to do more each week. Saturday is the next installment.