Stanford WR CJ Williams Has Bold Goals For the Rest of the Season

Coming off of a character building win in Stanford's last game, the football program has been in their bye week before a tough test on the road against SMU this morning.

Stanford on SI had the pleasure of speaking to CJ Williams before the Cardinal took off to Dallas earlier this week. We talked about his bye week goals, his connection with quarterback Ben Gulbranson, and even season goals, including the bowl game Williams wants to play in most if given the opportunity.

First, Williams spoke on the bye week, and improvements to be made. “Yeah, for me, just being more consistent for Ben, for the team, for the offensive line. I don't want to leave anything on the table. And so I worked this whole week on being more productive for Ben and being more consistent, and obviously, being a vocal leader and being an imagery leader.

"A guy that they look at and they see you doing the right thing and making the play, so they're all confident, and this week, that's what it's all about. It's all been about us. Bye week, that's what it's been about, us not looking at anyone else. Just thinking about getting better.”

This weekend’s test will be a testament to their bye week work, and if the Cardinal can keep it close, clearly their bye week work has been a success.

With many injuries, Stanford has had trouble with their receiver depth. That’s until Williams and others truly stepped up early. “I came in here with the objective to be the featured guy in the offense. I'm grateful and thankful. I'm blessed that I'm one of those guys right now and I'm in that position.

"I think we have multiple guys who can feel that role, and that's why we're just such a selected group of guys. I think we're all very different, and stepping into that role. It's been good being a leader and being able to do those things.”

Speaking on his connection with Gulbranson, he expressed that “the biggest thing that you can notice about Ben is he's just a great guy, a great leader. He's really humble, and I respect that about him.

"So that was kind of my connection right there, us being two older guys, two leadership guys in the offense. That takes you a really long way. And just being two guys that’s on the cusp of just being right there, and just being those dominant guys in college football as a whole."

With an amazing recent game where Gulbranson went for 444 yards and two touchdowns, and Williams went for 130 yards, the duo’s connection is clicking heading into Stanford's final seven games.

Finally, he spoke on his goals for the upcoming season. “To finish the season strong, win as many games as possible, and for me, we wanna go play in a bowl game because that's fun football. That's really great football. It's the best time of your life being able to extend the football season with your brothers playing a 13th game, and be here until maybe even January.

"Keep living together, keep working out together. I mean, it's the best time of the year, right? So we want to get to a bowl game. That's my ultimate goal for this team and that's probably even past the NFL. That's my individual goal too, I want to leave this place better than I found it. I want to get to a bowl game. I mean, it's been a little bit since Stanford's been to one. That's the ultimate goal.”

On his bowl game of choice, he said “the pinstripe one. I want to play at Yankee Stadium. I've never been to New York, so that'd be a good time to do it.”

Williams has high hopes for the season, but that all starts with a win this weekend against SMU.