Williams showing he has plenty of potential

[Peter Ariz]

Ryan Williams has been through more than most during his football career. After winning a state title his senior year of high school in 2009 at local powerhouse Miramar, Williams headed to Memphis for his freshman year of college.

The 6-6, 225-pound QB started for the Tigers during his true freshman year, and transferred to Miami following that season in hopes of competing for a starting job.

“The maturity I have started as a freshman when I was at Memphis and started as a true freshman. I had to sit out a year when I came to Miami, but I was able to learn from Jacory (Harris) and Stephen (Morris) for a couple years,” Williams said.

Heading into his redshirt senior year at Miami, Williams was all set to be the starter before a knee injury in the spring forced him to sit out. This setback has only strengthened Williams’ mindset.

“To finally get the opportunity to play and then get hurt was kind of devastating, but it helped me learn a lot about myself,” he said.

One of the main attributes an NFL quarterback must have is likability within the team. This is a major strength for Williams.

“I have the ability to have a team trust in me and have the control over the offense that I can go out and win the game by making plays and elevating the level of others around me. I’m calm out on the field and make sure my teammates are making the right plays out there and make sure they can all look at me for support.”

Williams was a shining star in the Medal of Honor Bowl back in January, where he earned MVP honors after tossing for 115 yards and a touchdown.

“It was fun to get out there and meet some different people and you’ve got to learn different players really quick because we’re only out there for a week. I thought we did a good job of getting on the same page in that short period of time.”

What is an NFL team getting in Williams? He hopes to show that he still has a lot left in the tank.

“They are getting a winner. Somebody who can come in and win games. Hopefully they see the potential even though I have limited film, but I want to give them a good show at pro day. I have a lot of football left in me. My body isn’t beat up since I haven’t played as much and hopefully I can prove that.”

Miami’s pro day on April 1st will be a huge opportunity for Williams to show his skillset off to NFL scouts.

“I want to show that I can make that transition to the NFL smoothly and that I can make all the throws and my knee is fine. The knee is not a problem with anything and people will see that.”

Another factor working in Williams’ favor is his understanding of an NFL playbook. He was able to play for former Jaguars OC and current Michigan QB coach Jedd Fisch for two years at Miami.

“It was big to come in and run an NFL offense. He (Fisch) treated you as an NFL player and he gets you ready for that type of level. It will help my transition to the next level.”

Williams’ mentorship of true freshman QB Brad Kaaya this past season is an example of his ability to help his teammates perform at the highest level.

“We spent so much time together with Coach Coley. All through camp I was hurt so I was more of a coach all summer while he (Kaaya) was here. Even during the season we would work with him on the game plan and I would talk to him when he came off the field, so I think him having that support from the other quarterbacks was big for his development.”

 

[nyibis]

I would love to see him excel in the pros. I always felt he had the look and potential to equal Ken Dorsey. Sorry that his career at the U got sidelined.
Good luck Ryan.

 

[SFbayCane]

Despite all of the mountains of fail that Ive seen from al golden, this is the one that irks me most. The fact that golden blamed every single loss in 2014 on the offense yet refused to allow Ryan Williams to take a single meaningful snap is very telling of the type of man golden is. We all know the upperclassmen on the roster wanted Williams getting time. We also know that golden blamed the entire season on those seniors for not buying into his bull**** system. I have no doubt that golden withheld playing time from Williams because he felt he'd be losing to his own team.

I would absolutely love to see Ryan Williams become the next Luther Robinson.

 

[wherrera8]

Good luck to him! God Bless!

 

[nystateofmind]

Despite all of the mountains of fail that Ive seen from al golden, this is the one that irks me most. The fact that golden blamed every single loss in 2014 on the offense yet refused to allow Ryan Williams to take a single meaningful snap is very telling of the type of man golden is. We all know the upperclassmen on the roster wanted Williams getting time. We also know that golden blamed the entire season on those seniors for not buying into his bull**** system. I have no doubt that golden withheld playing time from Williams because he felt he'd be losing to his own team.

I would absolutely love to see Ryan Williams become the next Luther Robinson.

So you would've preferred an inferior talent start at quarterback simply because that's what the players wanted?

I get your point but I don't see how you could've started Williams after Kaaya had that breakthrough in the middle of the season.

 

[5Ringz]

Hope he ***king blows up just to add more **** to Golden's fail

 

[SFbayCane]

Despite all of the mountains of fail that Ive seen from al golden, this is the one that irks me most. The fact that golden blamed every single loss in 2014 on the offense yet refused to allow Ryan Williams to take a single meaningful snap is very telling of the type of man golden is. We all know the upperclassmen on the roster wanted Williams getting time. We also know that golden blamed the entire season on those seniors for not buying into his bull**** system. I have no doubt that golden withheld playing time from Williams because he felt he'd be losing to his own team.

I would absolutely love to see Ryan Williams become the next Luther Robinson.

So you would've preferred an inferior talent start at quarterback simply because that's what the players wanted?

I get your point but I don't see how you could've started Williams after Kaaya had that breakthrough in the middle of the season.

You are making the assumption that Kaaya had a great season. He was the QB of a team that went 6-7 and the coach blamed every single loss on the offense. Something doesnt mesh up here. Im certainly not of the opinion that a 5th year senior version of Ryan Williams was inferior to a true freshman Brad Kaaya. And the fact that golden did everything in his power to avoid us finding out for certain gives me fuel.

I understood Williams not looking good at UNC in 2012, but there are a lot of variables in play there. We were running an offensive system that was designed for Stephen Morris (i.e.: lots of long balls and deep outs). We never utilized the TE or the middle of the field under that system. The system we had in place in 2014 suited Ryan Williams much better and I have little doubt that he would have excelled in that system. But golden simply refused to give him a chance.

****, we were a 6-5 team playing a meaningless home game against a 5-6 Pittsburgh Panther team and golden wouldn't give Ryan Williams a few snaps on senior day. This guy is a piece of **** in my opinion. This argument is valid as far as I can tell. Please tell me what you see differently? What did Brad Kaaya do to actually win games for us this season?

Again - none of this is meant to be knock on Brad Kaaya. He is a good kid, hard worker and has a pretty good freshman year, but he was far from infallible and far from deserving of every single snap, especially given the team's record.....and goldens post game comments after every single loss.

 

[eleganttomcat]

Kids had it tough. I wanted Kaaya to get the nod over him since day one but wish nothing but the best for this guy. Hope someone gives him a shot and he makes the most of it

 

[SFbayCane]

And again, I really hate having to point out negative stuff about Brad Kaaya in an effort to support my argument that Ryan Williams should have started but...


Brad Kaaya was a freshman All-American. What does that award really mean? It means that Brad Kaaya had the best season of any (true or redshirt) freshman starting QB in college football. For those keeping score at home, there were 4 freshman QB's in CFB in 2014....FOUR! Brad Kaaya was given the award for having the best year of those five. ****, he had a 25% chance of winning the award from day one.

Sorry folks, I truly think a ton of things would have gone differently had Ryan Williams started. It could very well have kept golden off the hot seat. But then again, so could have a ton of other decisions that golden made incorrectly.


/end rant.....for now.

 

[Jassid82]

I guess this debate will go on for awhile..I do think RW would have been worth a couple more victories. Which ones? Not sure. Does it even matter? At the end of the day, if BK balls out this year, it was all worth it.

 

[CaneInHeelCountry]

Despite all of the mountains of fail that Ive seen from al golden, this is the one that irks me most. The fact that golden blamed every single loss in 2014 on the offense yet refused to allow Ryan Williams to take a single meaningful snap is very telling of the type of man golden is. We all know the upperclassmen on the roster wanted Williams getting time. We also know that golden blamed the entire season on those seniors for not buying into his bull**** system. I have no doubt that golden withheld playing time from Williams because he felt he'd be losing to his own team.

I would absolutely love to see Ryan Williams become the next Luther Robinson.

So you would've preferred an inferior talent start at quarterback simply because that's what the players wanted?

I get your point but I don't see how you could've started Williams after Kaaya had that breakthrough in the middle of the season.

You are making the assumption that Kaaya had a great season. He was the QB of a team that went 6-7 and the coach blamed every single loss on the offense. Something doesnt mesh up here. Im certainly not of the opinion that a 5th year senior version of Ryan Williams was inferior to a true freshman Brad Kaaya. And the fact that golden did everything in his power to avoid us finding out for certain gives me fuel.

I understood Williams not looking good at UNC in 2012, but there are a lot of variables in play there. We were running an offensive system that was designed for Stephen Morris (i.e.: lots of long balls and deep outs). We never utilized the TE or the middle of the field under that system. The system we had in place in 2014 suited Ryan Williams much better and I have little doubt that he would have excelled in that system. But golden simply refused to give him a chance.

****, we were a 6-5 team playing a meaningless home game against a 5-6 Pittsburgh Panther team and golden wouldn't give Ryan Williams a few snaps on senior day. This guy is a piece of **** in my opinion. This argument is valid as far as I can tell. Please tell me what you see differently? What did Brad Kaaya do to actually win games for us this season?

Again - none of this is meant to be knock on Brad Kaaya. He is a good kid, hard worker and has a pretty good freshman year, but he was far from infallible and far from deserving of every single snap, especially given the team's record.....and goldens post game comments after every single loss.

Always funny to me to see one poster call out another for "making assumptions" only to go on to post something totally based in assumption and half-assed opinion.

 

[CaneInHeelCountry]

And again, I really hate having to point out negative stuff about Brad Kaaya in an effort to support my argument that Ryan Williams should have started but...

Brad Kaaya was a freshman All-American. What does that award really mean? It means that Brad Kaaya had the best season of any (true or redshirt) freshman starting QB in college football. For those keeping score at home, there were 4 freshman QB's in CFB in 2014....FOUR! Brad Kaaya was given the award for having the best year of those five. ****, he had a 25% chance of winning the award from day one.

Sorry folks, I truly think a ton of things would have gone differently had Ryan Williams started. It could very well have kept golden off the hot seat. But then again, so could have a ton of other decisions that golden made incorrectly.


/end rant.....for now.

Actually, there were five true Frosh QBs in the ACC alone who got starts this year. Not sure how many in total across the country, but suffice it to say your claim is a bit off.

Kaaya was also ACC rookie of the year. Not rookie QB of the year, but overall rookie of the year. There were a few more than 4 other frosh getting significant PT in the conference, some of whom had pretty fantastic years of their own.

He also placed pretty highly in the UM single-season record books, stacking up **** well against some of our all-time greats. All in a slowly-paced offense that was, by all accounts on the board, hamstrung by poor play calling, poor player development and utilization, etc, etc, etc.

This is not to take anything away from Williams, but it seems pretty **** silly to act as though Kaaya had a mediocre year and to assume that Williams would have been as good or better.

 

[clg003]

Hope he ***king blows up just to add more **** to Golden's fail

 

[SFbayCane]

And again, I really hate having to point out negative stuff about Brad Kaaya in an effort to support my argument that Ryan Williams should have started but...

Brad Kaaya was a freshman All-American. What does that award really mean? It means that Brad Kaaya had the best season of any (true or redshirt) freshman starting QB in college football. For those keeping score at home, there were 4 freshman QB's in CFB in 2014....FOUR! Brad Kaaya was given the award for having the best year of those five. ****, he had a 25% chance of winning the award from day one.

Sorry folks, I truly think a ton of things would have gone differently had Ryan Williams started. It could very well have kept golden off the hot seat. But then again, so could have a ton of other decisions that golden made incorrectly.


/end rant.....for now.

Actually, there were five true Frosh QBs in the ACC alone who got starts this year. Not sure how many in total across the country, but suffice it to say your claim is a bit off.

Kaaya was also ACC rookie of the year. Not rookie QB of the year, but overall rookie of the year. There were a few more than 4 other frosh getting significant PT in the conference, some of whom had pretty fantastic years of their own.

He also placed pretty highly in the UM single-season record books, stacking up **** well against some of our all-time greats. All in a slowly-paced offense that was, by all accounts on the board, hamstrung by poor play calling, poor player development and utilization, etc, etc, etc.

This is not to take anything away from Williams, but it seems pretty **** silly to act as though Kaaya had a mediocre year and to assume that Williams would have been as good or better.

Aside from the five freshman QB's stat , those are all fair points. (Only the kid from wake started wire to wire - the others just got time, which is how I think it should have been handled with Williams & Kaaya.

Again, this is not a knock on Kaaya. I too think he has way more upside than Williams, but within the context of 2014, I would have used Williams a lot. Think back to when Petrino's first stint at UL when had the returning all league QB kid (the short fast kid with the deaf parents - name??) and the top HS QB in the country (Brian Brohm) as a true freshman. Petrino utilized both of those guys beautifully. It was masterful coaching on his part.

Our guy looked like he coached the entire 2014 season knowing full well that his job was never going to be in jeopardy. Oh well, I guess he was right.

 

[CaneInHeelCountry]

And again, I really hate having to point out negative stuff about Brad Kaaya in an effort to support my argument that Ryan Williams should have started but...

Brad Kaaya was a freshman All-American. What does that award really mean? It means that Brad Kaaya had the best season of any (true or redshirt) freshman starting QB in college football. For those keeping score at home, there were 4 freshman QB's in CFB in 2014....FOUR! Brad Kaaya was given the award for having the best year of those five. ****, he had a 25% chance of winning the award from day one.

Sorry folks, I truly think a ton of things would have gone differently had Ryan Williams started. It could very well have kept golden off the hot seat. But then again, so could have a ton of other decisions that golden made incorrectly.


/end rant.....for now.

Actually, there were five true Frosh QBs in the ACC alone who got starts this year. Not sure how many in total across the country, but suffice it to say your claim is a bit off.

Kaaya was also ACC rookie of the year. Not rookie QB of the year, but overall rookie of the year. There were a few more than 4 other frosh getting significant PT in the conference, some of whom had pretty fantastic years of their own.

He also placed pretty highly in the UM single-season record books, stacking up **** well against some of our all-time greats. All in a slowly-paced offense that was, by all accounts on the board, hamstrung by poor play calling, poor player development and utilization, etc, etc, etc.

This is not to take anything away from Williams, but it seems pretty **** silly to act as though Kaaya had a mediocre year and to assume that Williams would have been as good or better.

Aside from the five freshman QB's stat , those are all fair points. (Only the kid from wake started wire to wire - the others just got time, which is how I think it should have been handled with Williams & Kaaya.

Again, this is not a knock on Kaaya. I too think he has way more upside than Williams, but within the context of 2014, I would have used Williams a lot. Think back to when Petrino's first stint at UL when had the returning all league QB kid (the short fast kid with the deaf parents - name??) and the top HS QB in the country (Brian Brohm) as a true freshman. Petrino utilized both of those guys beautifully. It was masterful coaching on his part.

Our guy looked like he coached the entire 2014 season knowing full well that his job was never going to be in jeopardy. Oh well, I guess he was right.

My point is that it seems a bit disingenuous to preface your statements by saying "this is not a knock on Kaaya" and then proceed to diminish the kid's accomplishments.

To state the obvious, Golden's not Petrino, and we don't run Petrino's offense. AND you're talking about an instance in which petrino had the luxury of two top QBs.

Golden had one dude who'd been mediocre on the field (Williams) and one Freshman phenom (Kaaya).

 

[Ibis4life]

Ryan may well have had a great senior season, had he not blown out his ACL. You really think he was ready to take fifty to sixty snaps under game situations in September and October, just four to six months after reconstructive surgery?

 

[FSisco7]

Should've replaced Stephen Morris half way through the 2013 season.

 

[Calinative]

Ryan Williams should definitely have started or got a lot of PT in the Pitt game, and it's absolute BS that he didn't.
**** Williams probably should have started some games for Morris at the end of last year too.

But just because you have a Frosh QB doesn't mean you can't take him out. I watch Cal play because I know their QB (Jared Goff), and he was benched at some point during like 3-4 games. As a sophmore this year he threw like 4k yards and 35 tds to 8 ints, and is going to be one of the top qbs this year as a junior. My point is, just because a guy has potential, doesn't mean you start him no matter what, and leave him in every game.

 

[Cane Dynasty]

I feel bad for RW. He was really coming into form, when he got injured he was completing around 80% of his passes in spring ball.

 

[Ibis4life]

I feel bad for RW. He was really coming into form, when he got injured he was completing around 80% of his passes in spring ball.

Kid got a raw deal with the injury. I think we would have been a better team and had more wins with a healthy Ryan Williams playing all year. However, the flip side, I also think we will be a better team in 2015 with an experienced Brad Kaaya behind center.