Most of what came out of the Ole Miss podium Tuesday was players politely declining to make the week about Lane Kiffin. Will Echoles did that too. But somewhere in the middle of a seven-minute session, the defensive tackle was asked about the explosive plays this defense has surrendered through two games, and he answered it like a fourth-year player who has already had the conversation in private.
“Everybody be on the same page, from the front end to the back end. Pass rushing and coverage goes together. So we just got to all be on the same page. We got one goal. I’ve had some conversations with some guys on the team, just about locking in more and doing their job.”
That is not a complaint and it is not a callout. But it is a returning starter confirming, on the record, that somebody in that room needed to hear it — three days before the biggest home game in more than sixty years.
He said the same thing a second way later, and it is the sentence to carry into Saturday: “We all on the same page. It’s going to be hard to beat us.”
He never considered LSU. He was already signed.
The first question was the obvious one, and the answer took about four seconds.
“No, I didn’t. It was never a thought in my mind, honestly. I know this is where I wanted to be at. And I was already signed here before all that even transpired or all the drama went on. So Ole Miss is where I wanted to be at.”
He has kept the friendships. Asked about the former teammates now on the other sideline, he named two by the names he calls them: “I still got a good relationship with P. Will and TJ, honestly. Those are my guys. Last year we built a brotherhood, so they never left.”
He was in a deer stand when the program changed
Asked to describe those days after the Egg Bowl last November, when nobody in Oxford knew what was happening, Echoles gave the best scene anyone has given all week.
“I’m going to tell you, it was crazy, because I was actually — I was deer hunting. I was supposed to go that morning, and they called a team meeting up in here, and that’s when they had announced PG as the head coach.”
He did not dwell on Kiffin’s exit. What he volunteered instead is the part almost nobody outside the building has talked about: it was the strength staff leaving that actually got him.
“What really had got to me was like when the strength and conditioning staff left. Like Coach Savage, Nick Savage — that was my guy. Like freshman, you spend most of your time with him in the facility. So that kind of hurt, because I didn’t know he was gone, honestly, until like the next day.”
If you want to understand why this locker room has been so hard to rattle, start there. The coach nobody talks about on television is the one these players see every morning. Echoles had good things to say about the replacement, Paul Constantine: “Paul does a great job with preparing us, especially with our bodies. He’s done a great job of the recovery aspect. And it’s not just so much like heavy lifting. With him coming from the NFL to the college, he’s been able to transfer some things from the NFL over to college.”
The scouting report on LSU’s offense: he has already played it
This is the practical value of having a defensive lineman who has spent his whole career practicing against this scheme.
“It’s a lot similar to our offense, honestly — with the QB run game, the stretch aspect with the running back. And the tempo. We run tempo here with JDB and Trinidad now. So I’ve been exposed to that my whole college career. I’m kind of used to it now.”
Then the key, stated plainly: “The key to that is just going to be winning on first and second down and getting them to third and long.”
On LSU quarterback Sam Leavitt, Echoles laid out the assignment the way a defensive line coach would: “We got to have proper rush lanes. We got to control the pocket, make him deliver throws accurately, and just contain him with his legs, and make tackles. He’s going to be a hard guy to tackle.”
He said the staff has compared Leavitt to South Carolina’s quarterback — he reached for the name and did not quite land it — and finished with the tell: “Can run the ball. So it’s going to be a lot of plus-one run games. So we got to use all 11.”
Plus-one run games means the offense can always account for one more defender than the defense has, because the quarterback is a runner. “Use all 11” is the answer. That is the whole LSU problem in two sentences, from a guy who has to solve it.
“I think it’s going to top Georgia”
Asked for the craziest game he has been part of, Echoles went back to his freshman year and the Georgia game in Oxford — “just the atmosphere and the experience, watching them guys go out there and compete. It was amazing.”
Does Saturday top it? “I think it’s going to top Georgia. Honestly.” And then, unprompted: “This game kind of like personal, I’d say.”
A reporter tried to walk him into calling it a get-back game. He would not go. “I wouldn’t say that. Honestly, they got a great team over there. We got a great team here … It’s just really just two big-time teams, top-10 matchup, a very anticipated game. And whoever make the most plays, make the most contested plays, win the game.”
“Are you ready for the 19th?”
Like every other player who came to the podium, Echoles cannot go anywhere in Oxford without hearing about Saturday. “I hear it almost every time I go out — asking us, are you ready for the 19th? Stuff like that. But at the end of the day, it’s a game that we got to go win, our first SEC game of the season. So it’s a great way to give a good impression at the first game.”
Asked what it would mean to help deliver Pete Golding a win in this particular game, he stayed on the same message he had been on all session. “PG, he’s a resilient guy. He just wants us to go out there and play to the best of our ability. And like I said a while ago, if we go out there and we’re all on the same page and compete, it’s going to be hard to beat us. I feel like we all got our head on straight, offense and defense. So we just got to go out there and play.”
One personal note: he wants a bigger share of Saturday than he has had. “These past two games have kind of been slow for me. I know what I like — I like the double teams or whatever — but I’m trying to get in my groove and just go play freely.” He said he is adjusting his habits this week to make sure of it.
No. 8 Ole Miss hosts No. 7 LSU on Saturday, September 19 at 6:30 p.m. CT at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. The game is on ABC, and ESPN’s College GameDay is in Oxford.
Quotes from Will Echoles’ LSU preview press conference, Tuesday, September 15, 2026. Photo: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images.