Illinois’ Williams accepts his fate
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (BVM) — Isaiah Williams has always wanted to be a quarterback, but ever since opportunities for him to play college football began arising when he was in high school, people told him that he wasn’t quarterback material.
Williams, a 5-foot-10, native of St. Louis, is a former four-star prospect coming out of Trinity Catholic High School. He had scholarship offers from many of the nation’s premier programs, but they were all to play wide receiver or defensive back. Williams wanted to be quarterback, including at Alabama, Clemson and Oklahoma, but he took a scholarship offer from Illinois, as the Illini offered him a chance to play quarterback.
Now a redshirt freshman, Williams has accepted his fate as a wide receiver after spending two years as a backup to Brandon Peters. Williams gave one last push at being a quarterback in the spring with new head coach Bret Bielema and offensive coordinator Tony Petersen holding a competition between him and Peters. But spring football made it clear to him that it was time to try something different.
“It’s kind of like I’ve got a God-given gift of my feet,” Williams said. “I kind of just talked with Coach B and we came up with a decision to try it out. I tried it out, and I loved it. From there I was like, ‘Man, this is something I need to do for me and my future and also to help the team.’”
Williams has always received praise for his work ethic, leadership abilities and dedication to his craft, and he promises to not let the position change affect his personality inside the Illinois locker room.
“It’s tough, but I’m on board,” Williams said. “It was hard for me, but it’s something that’s good for me at the same time. I love what I’m doing now, so that same passion I had at quarterback, I’m going to take to the receiver room. That same leadership I had at quarterback, I’m taking to the receiver room. Everything I did at the quarterback position I’m going to do even more at the receiver position.”
In his two years as a quarterback with Illinois, Williams completed 29 of 73 passing attempts for 431 yards with four touchdowns and three interceptions. In the run game, his quick, agile feet helped him run for 405 yards, including an Illinois school record 192 yards by a quarterback in his first start at Rutgers on Nov. 14.
Bielema has a philosophy that he won’t ever force a player to switch positions. He believes that if a player should move, he will suggest it, and if the player wants to try, he can. But this was a different situation.
“I said to him, ‘Let’s roll at quarterback and see where we go,’ and literally never had another discussion about it,” Bielema said. “There was one day in the spring where he wasn’t being him. I saw a guy who was never being happy. He’s a guy who is happy every day I’m around him. We had a brief conversation and I said, ‘Let’s continue to roll to see where we’re at.’ After the spring game on that Monday night, he and I had a conversation on Tuesday and he said ‘let’s jump in this world and see where we go,’ and the rest has been history.
“When the opportunity came for us to sit down and talk together — it wasn’t like I summoned him in and said let’s do this or anything like — I think I just laid out what’s in front of him and he’s the one who eventually said, ‘Coach, I want to do it.’”
Williams has dove head first into wide receiver drills this summer. He said he catches around 500 passes every day and has started to study film of NFL receivers in an effort to learn more technique, but he’s still really hard on himself.
“I know my best days are ahead of me,” Williams said. “I know everything is going to work out well for me. It’s just like no matter what comes next, I don’t know what is coming next, but I’m going to be ready for it. I’m going to keep my head high. I’m really just one of those guys that keeps working hard and eventually good days are going to come. That’s just how I look at this.”
Williams knows his days of being a quarterback are behind him, and that might not always be the easiest thing for him. However, he’s put all of his energy into helping Illinois as a wide receiver, but also has goals of helping himself reach his future football goals.
“I want to be a leader of this team,” Williams said. “I want to start. I want to make All-Big Ten. You name it, I want everything. I’m not switching just to be average.”
The work that Williams has put in this summer has already helped his transition, and he even says it feels natural at times for the former quarterback.
“It was like it was natural,” Williams said. It was easy. Everything was just flowing. It was great. I loved it. From there I was like, ‘This is what I need to do. This is what’s best for me and best for the team.’ It’s no more about what I want to do, but what I’ve got to do.”
