The Redskins Blog

Williams Used Trusty ‘Rock’ In Tournament

(AP Photo)

Last week the Washington Redskins Charitable Foundation sponsored a rock-paper-scissors tournament hosted by Playworks.

Playworks’ overarching mission is to improve the health and well-being of children through physical activity to include rock-paper-scissors.

Knowing the benefits the timeless hand game has had on himself and his family, Redskins running back and seasoned rock-paper-scissors player Keiland Williams threw his name into the hat to see if he was the best rock-paper-scissors player that day, but more importantly, to promote peaceful conflict resolution in schools.

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Welcome Back Keiland Williams

(AP photo)

The Washington Redskins’ annual Homecoming festivities aren’t for another couple of games, but this week has proven to be a homecoming of sorts for at least two Redskins players.

On Monday, the team re-signed veteran tight end Chris Cooley, and today, the Redskins signed running back Keiland Williams, who last played with Washington during the 2010 season.

In a corresponding move, the Redskins released running back Ryan Grant.

Williams, who will wear No. 25 with the Redskins this time around, played 15 games in Washington in 2010, when he set career-highs in attempts (65), yards (261) and touchdowns (three). Williams is also a receiving threat out of the backfield, and has 49 career receptions for 380 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns.

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DY Breaks Down The Revamped RB’s

AP Image

By the end of last season, the Redskins running attack was spear-headed by fullback Mike Sellers, and running backs Ryan Torain and Keiland Williams.

Through the first two games, none of the aforementioned backs have seen offensive snaps, and Williams is no longer a member of the Redskins running back stable.

It’s amazing the difference nine months can make.

Two months ago, Darrel Young, Tim Hightower, and Roy Helu didn’t know each other.  Last Sunday, they rushed for a combined 172 yards, a feat that was accomplished only once all of last year.

Young, the bulldozer for the group, sees only one main difference.

“We believed,” he said simply.  ”All week we talked about if we get the running game going, it opens up everything else.”

And it certainly did.  The offense’s 455 total yards against the Cardinals exceeded every regulation four-quarter output from last season, and led the way to their second victory on the season.

Even though Young is usually blowing holes in the defense for his running backs to run through, he still has an assessment of how they run.

“Y’know, Hightower’s aggressive guy, you can’t coach what he does,” he explained.  ”And Helu–the things that we did coach, he did that–but the running style, that’s him.  We got two guys like that, and basically you got a two-headed monster.  You never know what you’re gonna get.”

Young made sure to note that the group got off to a “slow start” in the game against the Cardinals, and made no excuses for the performance. Read more »

Bobby Turner Talks About The Current Running Backs

Redskins running back coach Bobby Turner recently sat down with Larry Michael for Redskins Nation on Comcast SportsNet. Shortly afterward, Redskins.com intern Brian Tinsman wrote about Turner’s approach to finding running backs in the NFL Draft; now he explains what the coach has to say about the guys who are currently on the roster. (You can watch the entire interview in three parts here, here, and here.)

by Brian Tinsman
Redskins.com

Birds come in flocks, wolves come in packs, and running backs come in stables. Well, if that last one is true, then Redskins running backs coach Bobby Turner is the horse whisperer.

A coach long-renowned for getting the most out of his players, Turner didn’t mince words when he assessed the position with Larry Michael on Redskins Nation. Among other things, Turner addressed the need to add depth to the position this offseason.

But before looking ahead to the draft or free agency, he reviewed what the team already has.

Ryan Torain, the team’s primary back last season, has had a tough time staying on the field in his career. In his three seasons in Denver and Washington, Torain suited up for only 12 games, missing all of 2009 with injury.

“He has had a history, y’know, of being injured,” Turner said. “If he could have stayed healthy, better things could have happened to us.”

Turner has been Torain’s only running backs coach in the NFL, first with the Broncos and then following him to the Redskins. Over that time, Torain has had “a lot of freak things happen,” according to Turner.

Freaky indeed. In his rookie campaign in Denver, he dislocated and broke a bone in his elbow in training camp. After coming back midway through the season, he played only two games before tearing his ACL against Cleveland in Week 10, missing the rest of the season. He did not play at all in 2009 after being waived due to injury in training camp.

Despite only appearing in 10 games in 2010, starting eight, Torain gained a team-high 742 yards, at a 4.5 yard/carry clip. Not bad for a guy who started the year on the practice squad.

So what does he need to do to get better?

“Quite a few things,” Turner noted. “Number one is we’re never complacent, you know, we’re never content. We want to improve in every area.”

Turner cited a few specific spots where Torain needs to improve: Read more »

Clinton Portis Had A Good Game On The Sidelines

I’m starting with something positive. Call me Matty Sunshine if you want, but I heard exactly one positive story in the postgame locker room tonight, and I’m going with that one first. There’ll be plenty of negativity out there, and I promise I’ll get to covering some of that myself. But for right now, here’s the one nice story I heard from this absolute abomination of a game.

Keiland Williams would finish the night as the only player named on my Very Short List Of Good Things About This Game — with 139 total yards and 3 combined touchdowns — but he started it as the number two running back on a two-deep depth chart.

When Ryan Torain aggravated his hamstring injury during pregame warmups, that plan changed, and when the team came back into the locker room after warmups, head coach Mike Shanahan told Williams that he was going to be the guy.

That Williams had some success on the field is a small good thing, yes, but he was happy to share the credit, and that was the really nice story.

When I saw the inactive Clinton Portis pregame, he looked like this: Read more »

Keiland Williams Is Not Satisfied

Lost in the drama of how the game ended — along with everything else that was not about the benching of Donovan McNabb — was the fact that Keiland Williams actually acquitted himself pretty well. Between his work on third downs and his work in relief of the injured Ryan Torain, Williams rushed the ball 6 times for 25 yards and a touchdown, and added 3 catches, albeit for an unremarkable 3 yards. The stats aren’t all that notable on the surface, but Williams contributed when the team needed him.

So, in Tuesday’s open locker room before the team dispersed for the bye week, I asked Williams how it felt to score his first NFL touchdown. Read more »

Redskins Add Two RBs To Practice Squad

The Redskins announced today that they’ve signed two running backs to the practice squad, releasing linebacker Mike Balogun to make room. (The other space was vacated when Brandon Banks was signed to the active roster on Saturday.)

One of the faces is familiar: this marks the return of Keiland Williams, who was with the team through preseason and spent the first three games of the season on the active roster.

The other guy is Javarris James, who — if not entirely familiar — at least comes from a familiar school. James played his college ball at Miami, just like Clinton Portis (and Santana Moss, and Rocky McIntosh), and is also the cousin of former NFL running back Edgerrin James. So if pedigree means anything, James could be an interesting addition. (It doesn’t, necessarily, but it’s still worth noting.)

After the jump, a few of James’ college highlights: Read more »

Keiland Williams Gets News About His Job From ESPN

Keiland Williams found out that his job status had changed the same way that many of you did: by watching the news of Larry Johnson’s release scroll across the bottom of ESPN.

“My initial reaction wasn’t, ‘Oh, hey, I’m moving up the depth chart!’,” Williams said today. “It was more like, ‘Oh my god.’”

This wasn’t the first time Williams had been surprised by his role on the Redskins, though. Read more »

Keiland Williams and Ryan Torain Are Okay With Uncertainty

The Redskins preseason running back situation has simultaneously become clearer and muddier, despite how little sense that seems to make. Clinton Portis has demonstrated — both through what he has been able to do, and what the other backs haven’t — that he should be the unquestioned starter on this team. Larry Johnson disappointed somewhat in the Ravens game, but he’s eager to prove himself again and is asking for more playing time. Willie Parker is slated to be the starter and get the bulk of the work Friday night, which will go a long way toward clarifying where he winds up on the depth chart.

Keiland Williams and Ryan Torain, meanwhile, just have to keep doing the best they can and hope the chips fall their way, even though they currently have no idea what they’ll be asked to do Friday night, or how many opportunities they’ll get. And, really, they’re both fine with that.
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Keiland Williams Looks Back At His First Training Camp

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. Read more »