UW football: Carriere-Williams fits in seamlessly.
MADISON – Dontye Carriere-Williams understood teams would, after studying the composition of Wisconsin’s secondary, view him as the most vulnerable member of the unit. Their plan would be straightforward: test Carriere Williams and break him.
“Absolutely,” the redshirt freshman cornerback said this week. “I mean, I knew going in that I’m the young guy and they’re going to go at me.”
Carriere-Williams, who has served as the third cornerback behind senior Derrick Tindal and redshirt junior Nick Nelson for UW’s first three games, isn’t easily intimidated.
“Teams are challenging him,” said defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard, who also oversees the secondary. “He is going to compete. That is the best thing I like about Dontye is that he’s not going to back down.
“We’ve just got to continue to push him and help him grow.”
With UW (3-0) preparing to host Northwestern (2-1) in the teams’ Big Ten opener Saturday at Camp Randall Stadium, the numbers illustrate how teams have targeted Carriere Williams and have avoided Tindal and Nelson.
After recording a season-high eight tackles in UW’s 40-6 victory at BYU, Carriere-Williams is tied for fourth on the team in tackles with 14. He has one of UW’s five interceptions.
Nelson has six tackles and has broken up two passes. Tindal has three tackles and has broken up one pass.
“He is making it hard for them to pick on him,” Tindal said. “We know you might not win every rep but he is winning most of his reps and that is what makes a great corner.”
Carriere-Williams has given up two long passes in three games.
He let his receiver get behind him and although he deflected the ball up into the air, surrendered a 40-yard gain in the fourth quarter of UW’s 59-10 victory over Utah State.
He allowed his man to cut inside on a post route and allowed a 35-yard completion in the second quarter of UW’s 31-14 victory over Florida Atlantic.
He gave up several completions underneath in the victory over BYU but wasn’t beaten deep.
“That’s not going to beat us,” Tindal said of the shorter routes.
Carriere-Williams didn’t appear to lose confidence despite being targeted frequently at BYU.
He got beat on a shallow out-cut for a 4-yard completion on third and 3 early in the fourth quarter.
“I don’t want them to complete nothing,” he said.
On the next play, Beau Hoge’s pass to the wide side of the field was too far inside and Carriere-Williams was in perfect position to record his first college interception. That gave UW the ball at the BYU 34 and led to the Badgers’ final touchdown.
“As a young corner, there’s going to be a lot of growing pains,” Carriere Williams said. “But one thing I have learned in these three games is that regardless of what happens on this play, it’s about the next play.”
Carriere-Williams, from Miami, probably could have seen spot duty last season but the coaching staff decided to hold him out and redshirt him.
Late in the season, thensenior Sojourn Shelton told reporters that of all the young defensive backs on the roster, Carriere Williams was the one to watch.
His prediction was accurate.
When Leonhard deploys three cornerbacks, Tindal works in the slot because he is more experienced and that position has more responsibilities. Nelson and Carriere-Williams work the perimeter.
Asked to describe the physical tools that have allowed Carriere-Williams to fit in seamlessly, Tindal smiled.
“He’s from Florida,” Tindal, from Fort Lauderdale, said. “He’s got it physically. He’s got the juice.
“He is very explosive. He is great at the line. He fits right in with me and Nick.
“It’s like you’ve got three good corners on the field at once and not every team has three good corners, where you can just depend on them.”