UW Football Primer: Cam Williams Ready to Assume Leading Man's Role
Cam Williams can't be faulted if he struggles with an identity crisis.
He originally emerged as a dual-threat high school quarterback in Bakersfield, California, good enough to throw 32 career touchdown passes and draw scholarship offers from Arizona and others.
Williams, who played both ways, posted a high school highlights video of himself playing safety, and quickly learned that's how the elite programs envisioned him as a college player.
As a four-star recruit, he took his first visit to Oregon and enthusiastically committed on the spot at the Ducks spring game in 2018.
Two months later, Williams had second thoughts and de-commited from Oregon. His list of suitors had multiplied several times over, and now included the likes of Oklahoma, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Florida and Tennessee.
A month later, he pledged his allegiance to Washington, choosing the Huskies over USC.
As a true freshman, Williams started five of the UW's first six games at free safety, had a two-interception game against USC, but gave up long touchdown passes against the Trojans and Stanford, and was replaced.
He returned to the opening lineup for the Apple Cup and Las Vegas Bowl, and finished the season strong. He received second-team Freshman All-American honors from Pro Football Focus along with UW cornerback Trent McDuffie.
Whew.
If anything, Williams shows he's highly adaptable and resilient.
The 6-foot, 200-pound defensive back will enter his second Husky season seeking football stability. No more shifting roles.
This is another in a series of profiles on prospective UW football starters. While spring practice has been canceled or postponed because of the pandemic, Husky Maven/Sports Illustrated will continue to provide uninterrupted coverage.
Two years ago, Williams declared he was an Oregon Duck. It sounded good at the moment. Like a lot of teenaged recruits, he got swept away by the first sales pitch he encountered.
"As soon as I got here, I fell in love with the place and I knew it's where I belonged," Williams told recruiting analysts.
That was April. By June, he had changed his mind. He had buyer's remorse.
"I just feel like I didn't give myself time to actually see all the schools," he said.
In July, Williams settled on Washington. He told how he liked the Husky coaches more than the others. He was firm on his decision this time.
"My relationship with Jimmy Lake and Chris Petersen was the biggest reason I chose Washington," he said of the Huskies' current and former head coaches.
Williams enrolled early and impressed the UW coaching staff right away. They put him with the No. 1 defense on the first day of spring ball. They singled him out for his athleticism and intense focus.
"There are a lot of our players who have been here for a couple years who can't show up every day with that urgency and that focused mindset," the since departed Petersen said of the safety.
Williams might have been thinking a little too much when the regular season began. He failed to move over and stop those two scoring passes during the regular season and missed some open-field tackles. He gave way to fellow freshman Asa Turner.
The fact Williams was back in the lineup at season's end showed he learned from his mistakes. He's No. 16 in the Apple Cup celebration shown in the video. Nobody was down on him. Least of all himself.
Whenever football resumes, Williams will settle for being the Huskies' free safety starter at all times. Every Saturday. Mistake-free. No longer a reserve. Hey, he's no longer a quarterback either.
SUMMARY: Even though he lost his job at midseason, Williams gets high marks for cracking the starting lineup as a true freshman. Only the great players do that.
GRADE (1 to 5): Williams gets a 3.5 for his early success. Long-term stability will bump him up.
