Notre Dame’s 4-star talent hails from Mark Twain’s hometown
SOUTH BEND – No matter what Aneyas Williams achieves in his Notre Dame football career, the talented running back will never be the most famous product of Hannibal, Missouri (pop. 16,870).
“As far as my recruiting went, they didn’t know where Hannibal was,” Williams said in his first spring practice as a midyear enrollee. “But I was like, ‘You know Mark Twain?’ Then it started ringing a bell for people. That was funny.”
A four-star recruit who stayed committed to the Irish for more than a full calendar year, Williams should be back home in time for the 16th Annual Twain on Main Festival. That’s when Historic Downtown Hannibal honors its esteemed resident from 1839-53 and his travels out west as captured in the 1872 classic, “Roughing It.”
Not surprisingly, Williams has visited the Mark Twain Boyhood Home & Museum, but maybe not as often as you’d think.
“I’ve been to that once or twice,” he said. “Not a whole lot. The community is really good. The downtown area, there’s a lot. There’s so much to see with that Mark Twain stuff.”
Williams’ favorite attraction is the Mark Twain Cave Complex, about two miles south of town on Route 79. That’s where the former Samuel Clemens’ childhood signature was found on the wall of one of the show cave’s 490 passageways.
“I’ve been there about three or four times,” Williams said. “It’s a pretty cool place.”
Literally. The year-round temperature in the cave complex is 52 degrees.
At 5-foot-10 and 203 pounds, Williams is “an ascending guy” in his new football ecosystem, according to associate head coach Deland McCullough. Although McCullough also likes to remind the freshman that “This ain’t Hannibal High School.”
Williams doesn’t mind. Hailing from the hometown of America’s most celebrated humorist instills a certain level of humility.
“He is pretty funny,” Williams said, speaking at that moment of Twain and not necessarily his position coach
When it comes to Williams’ favorite Twain works, he reckons he’s more of an “Adventures of Tom Sawyer” fan than anything else, but he also shares an affinity for Huck Finn.
Mature beyond his years, Williams cited the old saw about how “NFL stands for Not For Long” in explaining how he was able to resist near-constant flip attempts from a slew of SEC and Big Ten suitors.
“It was pretty tough at times, especially just knowing where I could be and the position I want to be,” Williams said. “You have to ask yourself: ‘What school is going to put me in the best position later in life?’ Just loyalty to a program, and then just knowing the loyalty I’ll get back. Trusting this place.”
This modern-day “coming of age” tale is still in its early chapters, but it’s off to a promising start.