Caden Prieskorn opens up on the loss of his dad, how Walker Howard helped him through it

Caden Prieskorn has had to deal with a massive personal struggle: The loss of his father, Jerry Prieskorn.

And while the Ole Miss tight end and his family felt the greatest burden of the grief, Prieskorn quickly learned he was not along in his struggle to move forward. One of his closest allies turned out to be teammate and backup quarterback Walker Howard.

The bond grew between the two as Howard had dealt with a similar loss, and at an even younger age.

“Because he kind of had a similar loss when he was — he lost his mom when he was eighth grade, ninth grade, I’m pretty sure, to cancer,” Prieskorn said. “So he kind of helped me through it. He’s seen it, he’s seen what cancer’s done to his mom, seeing it with my dad. So he kind of knew, he’s been through it, so he kind of helped me. He was a big one that helped me.” 

But there will be adjustments to living life with his father.

Notably, Prieskorn will now go without the regular calls he’d make to his dad after practices.

“Yeah I think about him every day. Like today, after practice, I thought about him,” Prieskorn said. “Because every time I’d have a practice, I’d call him. Every time. I’d tell him what I did wrong, what I did right, what I need to get better at.” 

As Prieskorn spent time away from the team and then tried to manage to mental balance of giving space to his grief while also being a football player, he felt the love and support from the rest of his teammates, too.

Sometimes it was just a simple message, and other times it was more weighty, and the permission Prieskorn needed to take his own time, not necessarily focused on football, to process his loss.

“They were awesome,” Prieskorn said. “Just like, encouraged me. Sending me stuff. And they just, just saying to do what you need to do to like get away — if you need to get away or anything. I feel like they just saw me still be positive and come to the building even when everything wasn’t going my way.” 

And for an athlete who’s set to star on the gridiron this fall, Prieskorn will never forget the lessons he learned from the man who set him on a path to being the player he is.

“Any time we wanted to go to the gym, go to the golf course, throw the football, he was always taking us. Because that’s what he loved to do,” Prieskorn said.