Will Echoles has 18 tackles, four tackles for loss and a sack and a half through six games. Pro Football Focus grades him the highest-rated player on the Ole Miss defense over that stretch, with 14 pressures. PFF had him leading the Power Four in pressures and defensive stops last season. Texas has allowed 17 sacks. Ole Miss has allowed five.
Locked On Ole Miss host Steven Willis argued that Echoles is the hardest Rebel to block because there is no weakness to attack. Willis said draft boards already place him ahead of every other Ole Miss player, and that a lineman is left catching him until the ball gets out.
Patrick Kutas, who blocks him every day in practice, called him Tuesday “a very large human that moves very fast” who is “all maxed out” in the attributes a lineman has to beat. Makhi Frazier said a back has to read his keys quickly because of how fast Echoles comes off the ball. John Fourcade’s verdict Monday: “That kid’s a beast.”
Willis built the case on three games. Against LSU, Echoles was charted with seven pressures and a sack, and Ole Miss won. Against Florida he rushed 17 times without a pressure, and Florida ran for 302 yards. Against Missouri he had a sack and two pass breakups, and Missouri ran for 39. “It kind of felt good getting home,” Echoles said afterward.
Texas has run for 282 yards on 98 carries over its last three games, under three yards a carry, and converted eight of 36 third downs. Willis argued that is where Echoles decides Saturday: hold Texas on first and second down and the rush gets loose, with Kam Franklin and Blake Purchase beside him. Kickoff in Austin is 6:30 p.m. CT on ABC.
Photo: Makhi Frazier, October 17, 2026, at Vaught-Hemingway Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Petre Thomas-Imagn Images.
Adapted from the October 21, 2026 episode of Locked On Ole Miss, hosted by Steven Willis, part of the Locked On Podcast Network. Watch the full episode.