Grant Williams Latest to Crash Tennessee Class
As the University of Tennessee has been forced to move their classes entirely online for the remainder of the 2020 semester, many students have been surprised at just who shows up in their classes. The University has reached out to famous alumni and other celebrities with ties to the school to show up and crash the classes that students are taking. Some of the guests have included Peyton Manning, Josh Dobbs, Jon Gruden, and Drew Holcomb to name a few. On Wednesday, one of Tennessee's most recent star alumni added his name to the list, when Grant Williams crashed an online Tennessee class.
The first response from the class was, “This man is not in my class right now!” For many at Tennessee, this is likely a common response. Though Williams only recently left Knoxville, he is one of the biggest stars to have been on campus in recent memory. In fact, Williams is one of the most decorated Vols to ever play basketball in Knoxville, and firmly in the discussion of best players to ever suit up for the Orange and White. Williams was a two-time SEC Player of the Year, a First-Team All-American as a junior, an Honorable Mention All-American as a sophomore, twice a First-Team All-SEC selection, and a member of the All-SEC Freshman team in 2017. Williams lead the Vols as they had some of the most successful seasons in program history, including a month long stay as the number one team in the nation during his junior campaign. Williams ended his Junior season with Tennessee averaging 18.8 points per game, pulling in 7.5 rebounds per game, and shooting 81.9% from the free throw line. He declared for the NBA Draft, and was selected with the 22nd pick in the first round by the Boston Celtics. Williams was seeing his role with the Celtics grow with his minutes before the NBA season was paused by the COVID-19 outbreak.
Williams took questions from the class that ranged from whether the 6’7” big man felt small next to his friend and fellow Celtics' rookie Taco Fall to what he had been doing in his time in quarantine. Williams first responds that everyone felt short around Taco because he was 7’7”. He then shared that to start quarantine, he had been playing a lot of Call of Duty, which got a laugh from the class. Williams then said that, “That, and I have been watching a lot of film. I've been trying to learn, because I have to guard guys like Joel Embiid. I have to learn to guard guys like Al Horford, Joel, and Ben Simmons, so I've been watching a lot of film, then rewarding myself with some time to relax.” Williams went on to offer a message of encouragement to the Tennessee students during this trying time. Tennessee has made an effort to use their network to lighten the mood of their students with these classroom crashes. Kissing from the reactions, it would seem that Williams is the latest success. You can watch the classroom crash by Williams below.
