Where there's a will, there's a .... Williams

As I went through the recaps of the Division 1 College Football games every week this season (actually it was more like every other week), it was impossible not to notice it - there sure seemed to be a lot of teams with a player with dreads named Williams on their rosters. Heck, there were 8 such teams in the SEC alone. So, out of curiosity, just as I did near the end of the 2010 season after noticing a lot of players with dreads named Harris, I went through my entire notebook to find out just how many Williamses with dreads there actually were. The result was almost astonishing.

When I did my "Harris Family Reunion" post in 2010, I was really impressed that there were at least 16 Harrises with dreads on D-1 teams. But that number is completely dwarfed by the three dozen players with dreads named Williams this season.
Just as amazing as the fact that there are that many is that only two of them have the same first name. Let's meet all of them right now. From Aeris to Yeovanti, and including the top scorer of the bunch - Donovan of Sam Houston State (photo above) - here's the Williams 'family' 2014 and the number of TD each of them scored this season.

• Aeris Williams - Mississippi State FR RB
• Arthur Williams - Florida State FR DT
• Arthur Williams - Maine SR WR - 3 TD
• Brandon Williams - Texas A&M JR RB - 3 TD

• Breyon Williams - Presbyterian JR LB
• Brison Williams - South Carolina SR CB/S - 2 TD
• Bryan Williams - Georgia State SOPH S
• Cadell Williams - Cornell SR G
• Christian Williams - Georgia Southern FR C/G
• Courtney Williams - Central Michigan SR WR - 3 TD
• Damian Williams - Georgia State SOPH CB
• Darrel Williams - LSU FR RB - 3 TD

• Deion Williams - Duke JR LB
• Donovan Williams - Sam Houston State JR RB - 9 TD
• Erik Williams - Bethune-Cookman SR DE
• Everett Williams - Minnesota FR LB
• Germod Williams - Texas State SOPH S
• Jhavon Williams - Connecticut SOPH CB
• Jordan Williams - Tennessee SR DT
• Josh Williams - Arkansas SOPH LB
• Justin Williams - Michigan State FR CB
• Keigan Williams - Georgia Southern SOPH WR
• Kennedy Williams - Utah State SOPH RB

• Keon Williams - Delaware State SOPH G
• Kevin Williams - Norfolk State  JR DT
• Marshawn Williams - Virginia Tech FR RB - 4 TD
• Mike Williams - Clemson SOPH WR - 6 TD
• Miles Williams - Cal Poly FR OT
• Ricardo Williams - Marshall JR DE
• Richard Williams - Savannah State SOPH RB - 4 TD
• Rodney Williams - Syracuse FR S
• T.V. Williams - Kentucky FR WR
• Terran Williams - Western Kentucky SR LB

• Tim Williams - Alabama SOPH LB
• Tyler Williams - Akron SR WR
• Xavier Williams - Northern Iowa SR DT
• Yeovanti Williams - Jacksonville JR WR

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Unless they saw him with his helmet off, South Carolina fans probably didn't realize that Brison Williams had begun growing partial dreads this season. After being greeted by Coach Spurrier on senior day, Brison went out and got 2 INT against South Alabama, including his 2nd pick 6 of the season.

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The only two of the 37 Williamses with the same first name are the Arthur Williams (left photo above) who redshirted as a freshman at Florida State this season and the Arthur Williams who made 3 TD catches for Maine this season, including two against Villanova (one of them in photo on right) in Week 6.


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The 3 M's - Marshawn, Mike, and Miles all were key contributors for their teams. Mike Williams earned a spot on my all-America with dreads team thanks to his 1,000+-receiving yard season for Clemson. Despite weighing just 250 pounds, Miles Williams was the starting left OT for Cal Poly during their 7-5 season. And Marshawn Williams (above), the only one of the three with dreads long enough to see when his helmet is on, would have led Virginia Tech in rushing in his freshman season had he not missed the Hokies' last 3 games due to a torn ACL suffered in Week 12.

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Hopefully at this point next year we'll be talking about two RBs with sick dreads that made house calls for Mississippi State. Joining Ashton Shumpert on the Bulldogs' depth chart will be 215-pound Aeris Williams, a 4-star recruit who redshirted this season.

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Ricardo Williams recorded 3 TFL (but no sacks) as a reserve DE in his first season for Marshall after a transfer from the U. I haven't decided yet, but I'd say Ricardo's got a great chance to make my dread all-America team.

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Xavier Williams would have carried more swagger if that was an "X" instead of an "S" on his Superman t-shirt while warming up to face North Dakota State on Nov. 8. Xavier dominated on the FCS level, and now we'll see if he's good enough to play on Sundays: http://wcfcourier.com/sports/college/uni/football/uni-football-johnson-williams-take-the-next-step/article_3b2af62a-b882-5c85-81aa-64626f676b6c.html

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And those are just the Williamses I know of. I didn't check the rosters of every team, so very possibly there could be a couple more.

Although there are twice as many Williamses as there were Harrises 4 years ago, the Harrises hold the upper hand when it comes to touchdowns. Nine of the Harrises combined to put 57 TD on the board back then, compared to only 37 TD by the Williamses in 2014. RB Mike Harris (11) and WR Marcus Harris (10) led the way, combining for 21 TD for Murray State in 2010. Marcus (now an ex-dread) has come very close to making an NFL roster on a couple of occasions (and may yet make it in the future); but so far only two of the Harrises have made any house calls on Sundays. WR/KR Dwayne Harris (10 TD for East Carolina in 2010) has 5 career TD so far for the Dallas Cowboys; and RB DuJuan Harris (6 TD for Troy in 2010) has 4 TD in his career for the Green Bay Packers so far. Hopefully in a couple of years at least of couple of these Williamses will be doing things in the NFL too.