Keiland Williams Looks Back At His First Training Camp
Posted by Matt Terl on August 19, 2010 – 3:01 pm
Running back Keiland Williams was signed as an undrafted free agent out of LSU after the 2010 NFL Draft. He entered training camp behind three multiple Pro Bowlers and a young guy who had been drafted by Mike Shanahan back in Denver, all of which made him seem like a longshot to make any impact at all. But Williams has had an impressive training camp, and he came out of the first preseason game with two touchdowns, 51 yards rushing on 11 carries, 1 catch for 7 yards, and another long reception negated by a penalty. At worst, he had clearly staked a claim to be this year’s preseason fan-favorite underdog running back. With training camp officially folding tents today, I caught up with Williams to see what he took away from the whole experience.
“Being on teams that I’ve been around,” Williams said, “with college, I feel like I’ve been around some pretty good teams at LSU. But I feel like how we come out and work, and how we prepare when we step on the field … it’s like it’s supposed to be done. Everybody knows their job and, you know, we come out here and we take care of business.”
I’m not sure, but I doubt that’s what an undrafted rookie running back would’ve said coming into last year’s camp. But I was less interested in Williams’s take on camp as a whole than in what he took away from it as an individual.
“The biggest thing for any incoming rookie on any level is just really learning the system and picking it up,” Williams said. “And, you know, Kyle [Shanahan] is a great offensive coordinator, and he has a lot of things that he throws at you and for the most part I feel like I picked up the system pretty well. I don’t have it completely, but I feel like, I mean, I’m where I need it to be. If they put me in a game, I can get it done.”
At LSU, Williams often found himself sharing time in the backfield, which is how he went from being a highly touted recruit out of high school to being an undrafted free agent coming into the NFL. And now he found himself in a crowded backfield again, likely on the bottom of the depth chart looking up.
“That’s something I really don’t worry about,” Williams said. “I go out and compete and do what I can do to make an impact. I mean, the LSU situation, I think people definitely noticed that I had talent, that I could play, but things didn’t really work out in my favor all the time. And, hey, that’s behind me. I have to move forward and just make the best push to make this team and be the guy here.”
When Williams says “be the guy,” he means The Guy, not just A Guy or Someone Who’s Happy To Be On The Practice Squad.
“I feel like I’m trying to compete to be the starting running back here,” he said. “I mean, I’ve been playing this game for a while, and to actually make it to the top level, the highest level you can possibly make it to, and then NOT wanna be the guy? Then I feel like you’re doing yourself an injustice. So I’m definitely trying to compete to be the starting running back.”
That said, his immediate goals for Saturday’s game are a little less lofty (and, probably, a little more immediately reachable.)
“I want to be sure I get better in the pass protection,” Williams said. “I mean, I think that’s something that’s gonna keep me on the field as well. And better in special teams, I wanna go out there and just be a little better in that. And of course continue to do the same things that I did last week.”
Williams also found time to have some fun in training camp, especially during the shows the rookies put on poking fun at the coaches and other players. “It was kinda nerve-wracking initially,” he said, “but after I got mine out of the way and was able to watch everyone else, you know what I mean, it was pretty entertaining. Actually, I probably had the lamest one. Perry Riley, Dennis Morris, Logan Paulsen and myself, we got up there and dressed up like different players and sang ‘Party in the USA’ by Miley Cyrus. And the best was Chad [Englehart], one of the first year strength coaches. He impersonated LaRon [Landry]. That was real entertaining.”
But the skits ended as a form of entertainment today. For the rest of the preseason, Williams is going to be expected to be entertaining — and productive — on the field if he hopes to achieve his larger goals.
For an awesome, much more detailed story about the rookie skits, I point you at the DC Sports Bog.
Tags: keiland williams, training camp 2010
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