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PROVO — There was something different about Jamaal Williams in his first outing with the BYU football team this past spring after taking a year off following his withdrawal from the university.
He was still the same fun-loving Williams who burst onto the scene as an 18-year-old wunderkind, evidenced by winning the spring camp dance-off.
But he was more focused after missing the entire 2016 season, just 929 yards of BYU’s all-time rushing record.
“Keep your head down and go about your business,” Williams said during BYU media day. “That’s what I do. If people try to get in my business, I let them know they got to leave me alone.
“Right now, I’m just a silent dude.”
Jamaal Williams? Silent?
Believe it.
Williams’ year off helped him grow up more. He’s still a typical college student who plays video games, hangs out at local Provo skateparks, and he’s always got a smile on his face. But he also knows that time is running out on the 21-year-old’s college career.
Perhaps we owe some of Williams’ maturity to his mother Nicole, a former UCLA star sprinter who has become one of the world’s biggest BYU fans since he son first committed nearly five years ago.
“She’s always there, and always supportive of me no matter what I’m doing,” Williams said. “I’m grateful for here. You know which ones are your real ones when you go through low periods, and I had one of my lowest periods in my life already.
“I’m going to have more, but to have her there was great, and knowing she’s my mom and she loves me.”
Williams injects new life into a BYU run game that wasn’t completely anemic without him, either. He totaled 1,233 yards in 12 games as a sophomore in 2013, his last complete season before his junior campaign was curtailed by a knee injury.
Algie Brown stepped into the bulk of the missed carries in 2015, running for 709 yards and 11 touchdowns. But with Williams back in the mix and Washington State transfer Squally Canada eligible after sitting out a season per NCAA transfer rules, the bulked-up Brown can transition into a fullback role who can also tote the rock in new offensive coordinator Ty Detmer’s offense.
“It highlights the strengths of a lot of our guys,” Brown said of the new offense. “It lets our big linemen get out with a big push up front, and then guys like Jamaal can be downhill runners.”
Brown isn’t worried about a lack of touches in the backfield, either.
“Coach Reno (Mahe, running backs coach) knows the right places to put us, and the right times to put us in,” he said. “I follow his lead, and what he expects us to do.”
It’s not quite “Thunder and Lightning,” but Williams said the combination of Canada, Brown and himself can be a deadly combination when mixed with sophomore quarterback Tanner Mangum, who threw for 3,377 yards and 23 touchdowns as a freshman, or fifth-year senior Taysom Hill.
No matter who is dubbed the Thunder, the Lightning, or the “Shake N Bake,” Williams is just happy to be back on the field.
“I came back mostly for my team,” he said. “I wanted to show my teammates that I am down for them, that I’m loyal to them, and that I know they will always have my back.
“This season is really for them, to show that I’m committed — and for me to get a record, to work hard and show others what we can do.”
