Photo by: Mississippi State Athletics
Williams Sets the Standard
July 28, 2021 | Football, Joel Coleman
Mississippi State wide receiver leads by example on and away from the field.
STARKVILLE – It was early on in the Mike Leach tenure at Mississippi State. The MSU head coach was installing his famed Air Raid offense prior to last season, trying to make it stick in the minds of his Bulldog receivers.
Coaches can talk and instruct until they are blue in the face, but it sure helps to have an example to point to; someone to show the rest how it's done. For Leach, receiver Austin Williams quickly established himself as that guy.
"Austin put us in a position where early on…you could count on clips of things being done the right way at the right time and to illustrate a lot of points that helped speed up coaching because of the example Austin set," Leach said.
There Williams was, establishing early standards for the MSU version of the Air Raid. To those that know him, it was no surprise. Austin Williams is as dependable as they come.
Need some personal accounts? Go ahead. Ask the rest of the Mississippi State receiving group what comes to mind when they think of Williams.
"Consistent," Malik Heath says. "He's just consistent. He comes in every day, just ready to work. He has a pro mindset. I never see him drop a pass. I never see him get tired. For real."
What say you, Caleb Ducking?
"He's Mr. Reliable," Ducking calls Williams. "All day, every day, he's business. It's off the charts."
The Williams work ethic helped him excel last season under Leach. Williams caught 43 passes for 372 yards a year ago. He tied for second on the team in touchdown receptions with three. So sure were Williams' hands that he also became a reliable punt returner, getting eight returns and totaling 48 yards.
That's on the field. Very little changes in terms of Williams' consistency when he's away from the gridiron.
Williams puts an incredibly high emphasis on the 'student' part of 'student-athlete'. He's already earned two degrees from MSU, including an undergraduate degree and master's. He's on his way towards a third. He's been on the Southeastern Conference's Academic Honor Roll each of the last four years, has carried a 4.0 GPA throughout his entire college career and earlier this month, was chosen as a First Team Academic All-American. Williams was named a William V. Campbell Trophy semifinalist on September 29, by the National Football Foundation.The honor is awarded annually to college football's top scholar-athlete.
Williams is also a member of the watch list for the 2021 Wuerffel Trophy, an award given each year to the FBS player who best combines exemplary community service with leadership achievement on and off the field. With Williams, excellence seems to follow him wherever he goes.
Whether it's catching a pass or acing a test in the classroom, odds are, Williams is going to deliver. And when he does, he doesn't seem to be one looking for a pat on the back. There's apparently no expectation for praise to be heaped upon him. He simply wants to do his job as a student and as a football player, all the while being humbled to hear just how much his teammates look up to him.
"I just try to show up every day and just do my part," Williams said. "That's something I pride myself on is to be reliable and consistent. It's an honor to hear [what my teammates said]. I try to practice what I preach and I just have to keep on living up to it."
Now Williams admits there was a bit of a learning curve for him to get to this point. It's not as though he just showed up to Mississippi State as a freshman back in 2017 and started setting the world on fire. Quite the opposite in fact.
Back in April of this year, Williams had the chance to speak at a meeting of the MSU Foundation Board of Directors. He shared this account of his early days as a Bulldog:
"My first workout really set the tone for me at Mississippi State. We did these agility drills where it's changing directions and all this and that. You get paired up with another person and you go with them every single rep the entire day. So I'm at my first workout here and I'm just a freshman trying to figure out the ropes and get the hang of it. I go up to [look at the list to see who I'm paired against] and it says, 'Austin Williams versus [former MSU safety] Brandon Bryant.' I kind of squint and go, 'Alright.' [Bryant] is like a freak. He runs like a 4.3 [40-yard dash] and can bench or squat a house. I was like, 'Alright. Here we go. I've got to buckle up.' Moral of the story? I didn't win a rep. I lost everything that day. I'd given everything I had, I just couldn't do it. I couldn't hang with him. I went home and called my dad. I was just like, 'Dad, this hasn't ever happened in my life. I didn't win a rep today.' He was like, 'Son, this is the SEC. This is what you sign up for. This is the best conference in America. If you really want to be there, this is what you're going to have to do. You're going to have to work harder than you ever have and do whatever you can to make it.' That honestly set the tone for me. Just a blue-collar, hard-working mentality is what Mississippi State is. I just kind of fully embodied it. I wouldn't change that experience for the world. I look back at it all the time. I just think about where I am now from where I was and the development from that."
Now, some four years later, Williams stands as an MSU standard-bearer. Sure, some Bulldogs may be faster. Others may be stronger. But when it comes to doing things the Mississippi State way on the field, in the classroom and at all points in between, you won't find a better Bulldog than Williams. And he continues to set the tone for the players of the present, as well as the future.
"That's somebody when you first come in that will take you under his wing," redshirt freshman receiver Rufus Harvey said of Williams. "You can follow in his footsteps and you'll never go the wrong way."
Coaches can talk and instruct until they are blue in the face, but it sure helps to have an example to point to; someone to show the rest how it's done. For Leach, receiver Austin Williams quickly established himself as that guy.
"Austin put us in a position where early on…you could count on clips of things being done the right way at the right time and to illustrate a lot of points that helped speed up coaching because of the example Austin set," Leach said.
There Williams was, establishing early standards for the MSU version of the Air Raid. To those that know him, it was no surprise. Austin Williams is as dependable as they come.
Need some personal accounts? Go ahead. Ask the rest of the Mississippi State receiving group what comes to mind when they think of Williams.
"Consistent," Malik Heath says. "He's just consistent. He comes in every day, just ready to work. He has a pro mindset. I never see him drop a pass. I never see him get tired. For real."
What say you, Caleb Ducking?
"He's Mr. Reliable," Ducking calls Williams. "All day, every day, he's business. It's off the charts."
The Williams work ethic helped him excel last season under Leach. Williams caught 43 passes for 372 yards a year ago. He tied for second on the team in touchdown receptions with three. So sure were Williams' hands that he also became a reliable punt returner, getting eight returns and totaling 48 yards.
That's on the field. Very little changes in terms of Williams' consistency when he's away from the gridiron.
Williams puts an incredibly high emphasis on the 'student' part of 'student-athlete'. He's already earned two degrees from MSU, including an undergraduate degree and master's. He's on his way towards a third. He's been on the Southeastern Conference's Academic Honor Roll each of the last four years, has carried a 4.0 GPA throughout his entire college career and earlier this month, was chosen as a First Team Academic All-American. Williams was named a William V. Campbell Trophy semifinalist on September 29, by the National Football Foundation.The honor is awarded annually to college football's top scholar-athlete.
Williams is also a member of the watch list for the 2021 Wuerffel Trophy, an award given each year to the FBS player who best combines exemplary community service with leadership achievement on and off the field. With Williams, excellence seems to follow him wherever he goes.
Whether it's catching a pass or acing a test in the classroom, odds are, Williams is going to deliver. And when he does, he doesn't seem to be one looking for a pat on the back. There's apparently no expectation for praise to be heaped upon him. He simply wants to do his job as a student and as a football player, all the while being humbled to hear just how much his teammates look up to him.
"I just try to show up every day and just do my part," Williams said. "That's something I pride myself on is to be reliable and consistent. It's an honor to hear [what my teammates said]. I try to practice what I preach and I just have to keep on living up to it."
Now Williams admits there was a bit of a learning curve for him to get to this point. It's not as though he just showed up to Mississippi State as a freshman back in 2017 and started setting the world on fire. Quite the opposite in fact.
Back in April of this year, Williams had the chance to speak at a meeting of the MSU Foundation Board of Directors. He shared this account of his early days as a Bulldog:
"My first workout really set the tone for me at Mississippi State. We did these agility drills where it's changing directions and all this and that. You get paired up with another person and you go with them every single rep the entire day. So I'm at my first workout here and I'm just a freshman trying to figure out the ropes and get the hang of it. I go up to [look at the list to see who I'm paired against] and it says, 'Austin Williams versus [former MSU safety] Brandon Bryant.' I kind of squint and go, 'Alright.' [Bryant] is like a freak. He runs like a 4.3 [40-yard dash] and can bench or squat a house. I was like, 'Alright. Here we go. I've got to buckle up.' Moral of the story? I didn't win a rep. I lost everything that day. I'd given everything I had, I just couldn't do it. I couldn't hang with him. I went home and called my dad. I was just like, 'Dad, this hasn't ever happened in my life. I didn't win a rep today.' He was like, 'Son, this is the SEC. This is what you sign up for. This is the best conference in America. If you really want to be there, this is what you're going to have to do. You're going to have to work harder than you ever have and do whatever you can to make it.' That honestly set the tone for me. Just a blue-collar, hard-working mentality is what Mississippi State is. I just kind of fully embodied it. I wouldn't change that experience for the world. I look back at it all the time. I just think about where I am now from where I was and the development from that."
Now, some four years later, Williams stands as an MSU standard-bearer. Sure, some Bulldogs may be faster. Others may be stronger. But when it comes to doing things the Mississippi State way on the field, in the classroom and at all points in between, you won't find a better Bulldog than Williams. And he continues to set the tone for the players of the present, as well as the future.
"That's somebody when you first come in that will take you under his wing," redshirt freshman receiver Rufus Harvey said of Williams. "You can follow in his footsteps and you'll never go the wrong way."
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