Five things you might not know about David Williams

The Broncos drafted Arkansas running back David Williams with their last pick in the draft. At 6-foot-1 and 229 pounds, Willams is a big back who could turn into an every-down player if everything breaks perfectly for him.

With C.J. Anderson out of the picture, who knows what the Broncos’ running back rotation will look like in 2018?

Here are five things you might not know about David Williams:

HE WAS A TOP-TIER RECRUIT OUT OF HIGH SCHOOL

Williams was a four-star recruit out of Philadelphia and ESPN’s 13th-best running back in the 2013 recruiting class, two spots behind Ezekiel Elliott. During his senior year of high school, he ran for 1,904 yards and 20 touchdowns, on just 195 carries, according to MaxPreps.com.

He was consistently the best player on the field, and he beat his opponents however he wanted to. He could run past them, around them or through them. He flashed vision and patience when he probably could have put his head down and ran straight at the end zone and put six points on the board that way. He bounced off of potential tacklers and threw nasty cutback blocks.

Check out the highlights:

HE ONLY HAD TWO 100-YARD GAMES IN COLLEGE

Despite dominating his high school competition and seemingly possessing all of the qualities you could ask for in a running back—he ran a 4.44 40-yard dash in high school—Williams never produced consistently in college.

He maxed out at 656 rushing yards during his senior year at Arkansas after totaling 794 yards during three seasons at South Carolina. He never averaged 10 carries per game in a season. Over the course of his career, he averaged a pedestrian 4.8 yards per game.

He only had one 100-yard rushing game and two 100-yard games if you include receiving stats.

Take a look at this line from an article published in The Herald last summer:

“Shortly after he was hired, USC running backs coach Bobby Bentley said he watched every carry Williams had and wondered if he was running with his eyes closed. It just didn’t seem like a guy with so much build, and speed should trip over the yard lines as much as Williams did.”

HE’S ALREADY FRIENDS WITH MULTIPLE BRONCOS

Shortly after being selected by the Broncos, Williams spoke exclusively with BSN Denver and shared that he already has connections in Denver

“It is crazy because I am actually close friends with De’Angelo Henderson,” he said of his fellow running back. “When I went to South Carolina, one of my best friends went to Coastal Carolina. I always went up there and hung out with them. It is quite crazy that me and De’Angelo have a great relationship and ended up on the same team.”

And that’s not all; he’s now also a member of the fraternity that is Philly-born NFL players.

“Will Parks and Zaire Anderson are from Philly,” he said. “We all grew up together, played little league together, high school against each other. It is crazy. It is my second home basically. I get to come in and be comfortable with guys that I already have a relationship with. They can show me the ropes.”

HE NEARLY TRANSFERRED TO UCONN

Williams graduated from Arkansas after his junior season and was granted a transfer by head coach Will Muschamp.

“I’m happy for David,” Muschamp told SEC Country. “David is a good young man. He did everything we asked when he was here at South Carolina. He came to me when the year was over, said he wanted a fresh start.

“He was graduating in May, and I totally granted his wish and opportunity. … He’s a first-class person. He’s a really good football player. I wish he was here, but at the end of the day, he wanted a fresh start.”

The running back initially committed to UConn, but eventually, Arkansas coach Bret Bielema wore him down.

According to Bielema, Williams repeatedly turned him down and even called the coach to say that his decision was final. But during the phone call, Bielema convinced him to keep his options open just a little longer and eventually convinced him to flip his commitment.

“I’m in the Bahamas in Cat Island set to go fishing at 8 in the morning,” Bielema told SEC Country. “I get a message from David that says, ‘Coach, we need to talk.’ So I stay out of the boat. [My friend] is mad at me. We’ve got about 50 marlin that are calling our name, and we’re trying to get on them. I let the whole boat go out and go, and I stay behind all by myself. Probably to this day one of the best decisions I made.”

KICKED OUT OF MUSCHAMP’S FIRST PRACTICE

Muschamp had plenty of kind words to say about Williams after the running back left, but the two had a contentious relationship that got off to a rocky start.

Williams was kicked out of his first practice before his junior year at South Carolina for what Muschamp said was a lack of effort. He only lasted the first hour before being sent off of the field to do conditioning.

The next day he had dropped from first to fifth on the depth chart.

Williams’ relationship with Muschamp had been tense earlier in the summer. Muschamp shared one example of his problems with The State:

“’The guy’s got some ability, but you know… it’s hard when you have to challenge somebody every single day of practice and every single meeting. It gets tiring for coaches,’ Gamecocks head coach Will Muschamp said after Wednesday’s practice. ‘I asked him the other day, ‘What have you accomplished since you’ve been here?’’

And what did he say?

‘I didn’t get a response,’ Muschamp replied. ‘Next question.'”