UW duo overcame obstacles
MADISON – When the Wisconsin players gathered for winter workouts not long after UW’s victory over Miami in the Orange Bowl, few people knew what to expect from cornerbacks Caesar Williams and Faion Hicks.
Williams redshirted in 2016 and played in just two games last season. He didn’t record a tackle.
Hicks, who enrolled at UW in January 2017, missed the ’17 season after suffering a shoulder injury during spring ball. Hicks didn’t return to practice until the second week of the season, and by then there was no need to rush him back so he redshirted.
So how did Williams and Hicks emerge as UW’s starting cornerbacks this season?
“To me it has just been their ap-
proach, the consistency that they’ve hit the field with,” defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard said earlier this week as UW prepared to host New Mexico at 11 a.m. Saturday. “Whether it was the weight room, practice field or training in the winter, training in the summer. They were very consistent and it has shown in their play.
“I think they’ve done a really good job of trying to figure out what is the fastest way to get better. Individually, what is the fastest way for me to get on the field? What is the fastest way for me to have that consistency and to play at the level I need to play at?
“That has been their approach of attacking those things every single day. A number of guys have done that but those two have stood out.”
Williams, 6-foot and 185 pounds, underwent surgery late in his freshman year for a “core” injury. He missed winter workouts, rushed back for spring ball before he was ready and struggled.
After playing in just two games last season, Williams realized he had to attack the weight room.
“What changed was I just got tired of being at the bottom,” Williams said. “You’ve got to work hard everywhere to get to where you want to go not just on the field.”
Williams’ goal was to develop into the strongest cornerback on the team and challenge the weight-room work of the team’s safeties.
“I realized I needed to take it up a notch,” he said. “My focus was to get stronger and getting stronger helped my game. …
“If you’re not strong enough, you’re not going to win.”
Hicks, 5-10 and 184, was a daily spectator at practice after suffering the shoulder injury in the spring of 2017.
He insists he used that time and ’17 preseason camp as an opportunity to study cornerbacks Derrick Tindal and Nick Nelson.
“I got a chance to really sit back and learn from a lot of guys,” he said, “watch what they did wrong and watch what they did right.
“Then once I got on the field it was pretty much like I was there already.”
Both Williams and Hicks performed well in the opener against Western Kentucky.
Hicks recorded one interception inside the UW 5 and recorded three tackles. Williams had one pass broken up.
When redshirt sophomore Dontye Carriere-Williams left the team just two days before the opener, it meant the top reserves were redshirt freshman Deron Harrell and sophomore Madison Cone.
Can Williams and Hicks afford to relax considering the backups lack experience?
Not for a second, they say.
“Just because you’re a starter, you can’t get lazy,” Williams said. “You can’t get complacent. …You’ve got to do what you’ve done to earn that starting role. You have to do that every day.”
Hicks added: “You can’t relax at all. You can’t have that mindset. My mindset is every day to keep pushing and keep pushing no matter what position you are in
“Because once you start relaxing, other guys can come up.”