OXFORD ― Jill Prieskorn felt her husband's presence.

Physically, Jerry Prieskorn wasn't there for Ole Miss football's Peach Bowl game against Penn State at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Dec. 30. He'd died in October following a battle with colon cancer. But everything Jill knew about her husband told her this was the kind of thing he wouldn't miss.

"I just sensed he was there," Jill told the Clarion Ledger. "Obviously, it’s just a feeling, this thing that comes over you when your kid’s doing well. Jerry did everything as far as football."

When Caden Prieskorn was young, he and his two brothers filled the family's dining room table with their football gear, pads and jerseys strewn across the space. That was the family's base of operations before peewee football practice, where Jerry would help the brothers into their pads.

Using those moments with his dad as a foundation, Caden has blossomed into a 6-foot-6, 255-pound force. Determined to play collegiate football, he walked on at Memphis as a lanky quarterback. There, he added the weight required to become a star at tight end, transferring to Ole Miss after the 2022 season.

In Atlanta, he concluded the hardest season of his life with a 136-yard, two-touchdown performance against an elite Nittany Lions defense on a national stage. Ole Miss won 38-25.

"I think football saved Caden," his wife, Cali, said. "As hard as that was, I think that if he didn't have football, I just think that it would have been completely different."

How Caden Prieskorn is just like his father

Jill's FaceTime calls are often greeted by the image of a Little Tyke basketball hoop on the other end. It's one of the go-to toys for Mac, Caden and Cali's three-year-old son.

Mac, Caden said, has already developed strong style preferences – jerseys are his shirt of choice. When the family drives past a football field, Mac asks to stop. Onlookers will occasionally see him bobbing around on the sideline of an Ole Miss practice.

"I feel like he kind of is around it so much, he’s already fallen in love with it," Caden said. “That’s how I was."

Already, sports weave the connective tissue between father and son. If the trend continues, the same will be true of Prieskorn and his daughter, Romy, who was born in May. The kids acquired a bit of internet fame, thanks to Cali's efforts. She has over 400,000 followers on TikTok, where she shares videos showing the intersection of family life and football.

As a youngster, Caden watched Jerry use sports to construct the foundation of their relationship. If they weren't playing football, they could probably be found on the golf course or shooting hoops.

"He just kind of lived by that," Caden said. "And that's how I learned it."

In the game of life, Caden said Jerry became his best friend. When Caden left for Memphis, he called his dad every day. The conversations, usually 30-to-60 minutes long, covered everything from Caden's siblings to his football career to the local sports teams. From Lake Orion, Michigan, the Prieskorns are loyal supporters of the Lions and the Pistons, Jill said.

Through those discussions, and from Jerry's example, Caden learned what it means to be a father.

"Just doing the things that are supposed to be done every day," Caden said. "Constant. Give a consistent effort each day and don’t worry about anything else and lead by example."

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The Prieskorn family's special moment

After lighting up the stat sheet at Memphis in 2022, Prieskorn entered the transfer portal. In January, he committed to Ole Miss, and he and Cali – unmarried at the time – made the move to Oxford.

Shortly after their arrival, they received devastating news. Jerry's health had taken a turn for the worse. It became apparent that he didn't have much time left.

So Cali approached Caden with an idea: marriage.

"I was like, 'Caden, this is your dad, as much as I want him at your wedding, I want him to make it to one of his kids’ weddings,'" Cali said. "How amazing is it to see one of your kids be able to take that step in life?"

On April 15, the day of Ole Miss' 2023 spring game, Caden and Cali got engaged. In July, the were married at The Jefferson in Oxford. And Jerry was in attendance.

"Very strong, how he was able to get down there and be there and be in the moment," Jill said.

"It was so amazing. Just so happy he was able to get down there, just to be there. Because you don’t get to see him – obviously, with football, you don’t get to see him that much. You talk, but’s just a different – you just don’t have time. Even when you go on game days, you go but you don’t have a lot of time because they’re practicing and film and all the other stuff that goes along with it. It was a beautiful wedding. It was definitely challenging, but Jerry was able to do it."

The celebration brought happiness to a family that had struggled to find reasons to smile.

And it allowed Jerry to finally experience the community that was caring for his son. Enduring bi-weekly chemotherapy after his cancer diagnosis in October of 2022, the wedding marked Jerry's first visit to Oxford.

"I’ll never forget when we were on the field, because he actually got to see the field, he said ‘this is the best move you could have made,’” Caden remembered. "That meant a lot to me. I kind of stick by that."

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Prieskorn's impact at home and on the field

When Ole Miss coach Lane Kiffin lost his father, Monte, in July, he found an unexpected companion in Prieskorn.

Someone who knew what he was going through, even at a much younger stage in life.

"You never know how players can help coaches," Kiffin said. "He lost his father, I guess 10 months ago now. Watching him go through that, and then turn around and help me with the same situation. He's awesome. Their whole family's awesome."

Prieskorn, who will turn 25 soon, contributes to a family atmosphere inside the Ole Miss practice facility, Kiffin said. It's an overplayed descriptor Kiffin hesitates to use, pointing toward the way it's employed disingenuously by coaches across the country as they try to sell players on their school. With this group, though, Kiffin said it feels real.

When he comes home after long hours at the Manning Center, Prieskorn does his best to create the same feeling.

He grew up learning from example. Now it's his turn to lead.

"He gets it from his dad," Cali said. "They’re both really good. Jerry and Caden both, if you ever need anything, they’re gonna be right there, they’re gonna listen, they’re gonna help you in any way that they can. If anybody needs help, you know, they’re gonna be that person you go to."

David Eckert covers Ole Miss for the Clarion Ledger. Email him at deckert@gannett.com or reach him on Twitter @davideckert98.

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This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: How loss and fatherhood define Caden Prieskorn's Ole Miss football story