Williams offers versatility to Stamps
Wide receiver seen returning punts and kicks
Terry Williams is willing to play just about anywhere on the football field.
The way training camp is going, he might get the chance.
The Stampeders have Williams listed as a running back on their roster, but he’s also seen time during training camp returning punts and kicks, and was described by head coach Dave Dickenson as being similar to Roy Finch in the sense that he could also be used as a receiver.
For his part, Williams seems perfectly happy with wherever he’s slotted into the lineup.
“I’ve been pretty much everywhere from wide receiver to running back to punt returner to kick returner and everything else,” Williams said. “My speed just brings a different element to the game, especially with the differences (between the American and Canadian rules), it’s to my advantage.”
For Stampeders fans getting their first glimpse of Williams on Tuesday night at McMahon Stadium, his speed will be what sticks out. At five-foot-nine and 203 pounds, Williams won’t be running over defending tacklers like Jerome Messam, but he might just be blowing right by them instead.
The 25-year-old joined the Stamps in mid-May after signing as an undrafted free agent with the NFL’s New York Jets last year. He’s still learning the intricacies of the Canadian game, but he is getting regular touches at practice and looks to be adapting well.
“The biggest thing for me as a running back is the motion ( before the ball is snapped),” Williams said. “In America, you can stay set, but out here, it’s constant motion, and you can move around as much as you want to until the ball is snapped.
“It makes the game more exciting, gives us more of an opportunity to really show our skills.”
EVERYONE’S IN
With a few notable exceptions — looking at you, Bo Levi Mitchell — it sounds as if the Stampeders won’t be sitting many players on Tuesday against the B.C. Lions.
Veterans will play a whole lot less than they would in the regular season, obviously, but Dickenson explained that he had no intention of exclusively making the team’s first pre-season game into a rookie-evaluation game.
“We’re going to get starters in there at times,” Dickenson said. “We’re going to get everyone in there who we think needs it, and there are still battles. Either veteran or rookie, it doesn’t matter. You’ve got to show me your compete level and go out there and play your best.”
CHALLENGING
The first game of pre-season doesn’t tend to lend itself to the most esthetically pleasing brand of football.
For Dickenson and his staff, though, the toughest part isn’t the actual football that will be played on Tuesday.
“The challenge for us is to make sure they’re prepared,” Dickenson said Monday morning at McMahon Stadium.