Cayden Lee: Are leaders emerging in recruitment of 2023 WR?

DACULA Ga. – September is quickly approaching for football players in the Class of 2023 like Atlanta (Ga.) Westlake’s Cayden Lee.

That will be the day he begins to find out which programs are really going to be after him hard moving forward. In the meantime, Lee has already started forming his own list of favorites.

This summer the 6-foot, 180-pound wide receiver took unofficial visits to Alabama, Georgia, Florida State and Clemson.

Lee plans to get to a few games in the month of September but hasn’t arranged plans of when and where yet.

Potential leaders for Cayden Lee?

Alabama and Clemson haven’t offered Lee, yet. Clemson is one of the programs first out of Cayden Lee’s mouth when talking about schools that stood out this summer.

“They’re awesome, they have a great history with receivers and they’re a winning program as always,” Lee said. “You don’t want to go somewhere that’s not going to win.”

Lee feels an offer could be coming at some point from the Tigers. They’re one of the top three schools Lee hears from the most regularly.

Georgia is the school recruiting Lee the hardest at the moment. He enjoys every trip he makes to Athens. The pitch isn’t just about football.

Lee feels Georgia has his best interests off the field in mind when recruiting him.

“Georgia is on me the most right now, I have a great relationship with all the coaches there, so that’s been awesome,” Lee said. “It’s not all about football. They want me to come there to get a good education. They actually want me to be there.”

Lee has Georgia connection

Cayden Lee has his own Georgia connection already. He trains with Georgia’s only player to have 1,000 yards receiving in a single season, Terrance Edwards.

Edwards hasn’t gone about trying to sell his alma mater to Lee. In fact, the two haven’t talked much about Georgia at all.

“It’s funny, because he isn’t talking to me about them at all,” Lee said. “He wants it to be my decision and he doesn’t want to influence me at all. Of course, if I ask him a question, he’ll answer it.”

Edwards trained a few current Georgia wide receivers. He’s tutored Jermaine Burton, Arik Gilbert, Justin Robinson and Dominick Blaylock among others at other schools around the country.

Lee hopes to be the next in line.

He enjoys Edwards’ coaching style. Lee credits Edwards’ “hands on” approach for a big part in turning him into a polished young wide receiver.

Cutdown coming?

Cayden Lee doesn’t have a date in mind, and he doesn’t want to limit himself to one. He feels a cutdown of his list could be appropriate after the 2021 season concludes.

This fall he will make a few trips to games and access each program fully before potentially cutting his list down a bit.

“I’ll be looking for who talks to me the most and wants me to come there and offers the best opportunity,” Lee said. “You don’t want to go to a place that has 50 receivers that are just like you.”