Williams growing into his voice as leader
Herman helping All-American tackle ‘play a more active role’ in locker room
AUSTIN — Connor Williams is 6-6. He weighs roughly 315 pounds and bench presses over 420. The UT sophomore is arguably the best left tackle in the nation and a future firstround NFL draft pick.
Williams doesn’t wear a snarling veneer to intimidate anyone. Doesn’t need to. His mountainous stature does that well enough without the need for theatrics.
To any would-be bully in search of a victim, Williams looks like the absolute worst choice.
Yet, despite his size, Williams grew up the chosen prey of teenage tormenters. They spewed venom, mocking his childhood speech impediment and doughy physique. He was picked last or not at all for schoolyard games and often ate lunch alone.
Their cruelty became his fuel.
Williams channeled whatever angst and anger he had pooled inside and unleashed it in the gym and on the field. Fat became muscle. Taunts turned to cheers. Bullies fell silent. Taking command
But, even as he grew into the man he is today — an All-American who opened freeway lanes for Longhorns 2,000-yard rusher D’Onta Foreman last year — Williams’ voice and demeanor remained mostly the same.
He’s always been an affable, “goofy” presence in the locker room, left guard Patrick Vahe said. But coach Tom Herman needed more. He needed to see — and more importantly hear — Williams turn into a commander.
It didn’t require an entire personality overhaul, just some cajoling on the part of UT’s coaching staff.
So, there Williams was at Big 12 media days, one of four players Herman selected for the trip to Frisco. He sat at an individual table and fielded questions from dozens of reporters for 90 minutes, looking at least somewhat comfortable as one of the program’s chosen voices.
“Me and Coach Herman sat down and talked about how I need to become a more vocal leader,” Williams said. “He told me summer would be hard, and we’d be up here all the time. I couldn’t be walking through the halls without an O-lineman beside me and, if I did, he’d kick me out. He sees the role I need to play, and I understand it.
“I think he sees that my word carries weight with the players, and he has confidence in telling me I need to play a more active role. It’s become more natural with the O-line, because I feel like we’ve become so close. We’re one big family.”
Herman hijacked the idea of implementing a “buddy system” from Ohio State coach Urban Meyer. The idea was to discourage isolation. It allowed teammates to observe and adopt the positive rituals of others while abandoning some of their own bad habits.
“It’s really easy for elite guys, elite workers, elite work-ethic guys to come in and do their own thing,” Herman said. “They’re self-motivated. But we’re not going to be as good a team as we can be if they’re coming in on their own, (without) the guys that are kind of fence-riders or guys we call maybe compliant but not convicted.
“I told (Williams) it’s his job as a leader on this team to make sure that you’re bringing somebody with you and you’re teaching that person, whoever it is that day, how you do things.” Perfect role model
The rest of UT’s offensive linemen couldn’t ask for a better model to shadow and learn from.
According to Pro Football Focus, Williams has allowed one sack in 23 career games. He graded as the No. 1 pass blocker and No. 3 run blocker last year. And after spending months toiling with strength and conditioning coach Yancy McKnight, he’s an even better version of himself.
Herman declared that Williams can “still do more” to completely shed his shell and become the kind of leader this floundering program needs in order to rediscover what it’s like to win. For now, the coach is satisfied with the progress he has seen.
“O-lineman are kind of a different breed,” Herman said. “Nowhere is the unit pride exemplified more than in the offensive line. As long as Connor is taking care of the O-line, I’m good, and he’s done a decent job of that so far.”
It wasn’t too long ago Williams didn’t know how to use his voice. Others had taken it from him. He has worked long and hard to discover just how powerful it can be.
Now, he has an entire team hanging on his every word. nick.moyle@express-news.net twitter.com/nrmoyle