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From Disaster to Dominance: Landen Williams-Callis Eclipses 5,000 Yards, Erupts for 342 and 6 TDs in Epic Win

The Richmond Randle running back fumbled twice early, then single-handedly carried his team past No. 21 Iowa Colony in one of the wildest games of the season

Levi Payton

The most recruited high school running back in America, Richmond Randle junior Landen Williams-Callis proved why with an incredible performance against No. 21 Iowa Colony Thursday night.
The most recruited high school running back in America, Richmond Randle junior Landen Williams-Callis proved why with an incredible performance against No. 21 Iowa Colony Thursday night. / Landen Williams-Callis Instagram

There are 265 NCAA Division I football programs across the nation in 2025, and 62 of them have offered Richmond Randle running back Landen Williams-Callis a scholarship - more than any other high school football prospect in the country.

As a high school junior, that number sounds preposterous - and that’s because it is.

He should have way more.

Electric, fast, strong, shifty, elusive, smart and just really, really good at football, the four-star running back showed everyone Thursday evening in a 49-42 win why he’s probably, somehow, still underrated.

There are fewer than 200 running backs in Texas high school football history who have rushed for at least 5,000 yards in their career. When Thursday’s Week 5 matchup between No. 3 Richmond Randle and No. 21 Iowa Colony kicked off, there were 187 such players, to be exact.

Within 30 minutes, there were 188.

Being Him

A four-star recruit by ESPN, Rivals and 247Sports (he holds a five-star composite ranking on 247), Williams-Callis isn’t someone who just burst onto the scene. He’s been this guy dating back to his Little League days. But now, with more eyes on him than ever before, he is showing the world why he’s, as the kids like to say, him.

The three-year starter entered Thursday’s game against a loaded Pioneers team needing just 85 yards to break 5,000 for his career and 137 to already reach 1,000 for the season - both gaudy numbers considering it was only the fifth game of his junior year.

Early on, it was a disaster.

Just three carries into his night, the 5-foot-9, 190-pound back had lost two fumbles - both of which turned into touchdowns and a 14-0 deficit. When the Lions fumbled away a kickoff return and Iowa Colony capitalized with another TD to make it 21-0 midway through the first quarter, the Lions and their star seemed to be leaning heavily on the ropes.

But when he delivered the knockout blow in this heavyweight bout - his sixth rushing touchdown of the night with 1:14 left in the game - it was obvious the early miscues were nothing more than an Ali okey-doke.

Not gonna lie, he had us in the first half.

Shaking Off the Fumbles

Fumbles are never good. There isn’t an offensive coach on the planet who will praise a player for putting the ball on the ground in any circumstance. But it happens. The great Barry Sanders once went three years without a fumble before putting it on the ground on back-to-back fourth-quarter carries against the Arizona Cardinals on Sept. 17, 1995 - leading to touchdowns for the Cardinals and an eventual loss for Barry’s Lions.

Landen Williams-Callis Richmond Randle running back
Richmond Randle running back Landen Williams-Callis, the No. 2 junior in the country by Rivals, eclipsed 5,000 career yards and 1,000 yards rushing for the season in Thursday's epic 49-42 win against No. 21 Iowa Colony. / Tommy Hays

Fortunately for Williams-Callis, his came early - and neither was egregious or particularly careless - giving him time to atone. Both were at the end of long runs that crossed midfield and had defenders in a blender before a last-ditch punch at the ball forced it out.

Still, not good. Still can’t have it. And yet still, he responded to adversity.

Call It a Comeback

On the first play of the second quarter, the Lions forced a punt and immediately went to tempo on offense. Suddenly, Iowa Colony’s defense was on skates, and Williams-Callis punched in a 1-yard run to make it 21-7 with 10:36 left in the half.

The type of player who can change a program, Williams-Callis proved Thursday he can also change a game in an instant. The Lions’ next drive began at the Pioneers’ 5 after a bad snap on a punt, and Williams-Callis immediately punched it in for his second TD to cut it to 21-14 with 7:22 left in the half.

In that moment, you could sense squirming across the sideline. Williams-Callis had switched back from being human to being inevitability. Following an interception, a pair of runs set up a pair of passes that helped the Lions tie it at 21 just before halftime.

With a new game in hand to open the third quarter, that inevitability became reality. A 47-yard run early in the third put him over 5,000 career yards. A 3-yard touchdown run with 3:06 left in the third gave his team its first lead, 28-21.

On the first play after Iowa Colony tied it, Williams-Callis stuck his foot in the ground, made one cut and was gone. The untouched 40-yard scamper put the Lions back in front 35-28 with 7 seconds left in the third.

Iowa Colony tied it again on a 1-yard run by Carson White with 7:51 left. But on the Lions’ next play, Williams-Callis ran through a defender, escaped an ankle tackle, veered toward the sideline and left three defenders in the dust for a 69-yard score - just 17 seconds after the game had been tied.

And yet, he still had two more huge plays left.

Closing Time

Facing fourth down inside his own territory with the game tied 42-42, Williams-Callis lined up at quarterback. It was an unconventional look with just three down linemen and a tailback beside him. From the snap, the play looked busted. Williams-Callis immediately had two defenders in his face.

He rolled to his right, six yards behind the line, feigned a throw and then cruised up the sideline to convert a huge first down just before the two-minute timeout. Less than a minute later, he took a handoff on third down, broke an ankle tackle and raced 27 yards for the game-winning touchdown - his sixth of the night.

Texas high school football state championships: Richmond Randle vs. South Oak Cliff
Running back Landen Williams-Callis of Richmond Randle is now one of only 188 players in Texas history to surpass 5,000 rushing yards in a career - and he did it just five games into his junior season. / Photo by Tommy Hays

Unofficially, a night that opened with two fumbles ended with 342 yards and six touchdowns.

The Lions played 16 games last season on their run to a state championship, and if Thursday’s numbers become official, it would give Williams-Callis 5,257 career yards just five games into his junior year - and already 1,205 this season. He ran for 1,944 yards as a freshman and 2,108 as a sophomore.

It’s still a far cry from his cousin, former NFL running back Jacquizz Rodgers, who he often trains with. Rodgers ranks No. 9 all-time in Texas with 8,246 career rushing yards, a mark he set from 2004-07 at Rosenberg Lamar Consolidated.

It’s not inconceivable to think Williams-Callis could knock his big cousin down a spot, and his talent certainly shows signs of a player who will be running the football long past high school.

If he continues doing what he did Thursday - shunning adversity, running over, under and around defenders, staying healthy and winning - he’s as capable as anyone of getting there.

Landen Williams-Callis is Landen Williams-Callis.

He’s him.

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Levi Payton
LEVI PAYTON

Levi’s sports journalism career began in 2005. A Missouri native, he’s won multiple Press Association awards for feature writing and has served as a writer and editor covering high school sports as well as working beats in professional baseball, NCAA football, basketball, baseball and soccer. If you have a good story, he’d love to tell it.

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