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SALT LAKE CITY — With the season approaching quickly, KSL.com will be doing a countdown leading up to gameday against Southern Utah on Sept. 1. Instead of counting down memorable moments or historic players, however, we will be counting down the days by jersey number.
With 20 days to go until the season opener against the Thunderbirds, we will highlight the player that wears No. 20. With 19 days to go, it’ll be the athlete(s) wearing No. 19. This will continue in descending order with each corresponding player until the season has finally begun.
First up on the countdown is No. 20, Marcus Williams.
Williams has become a fan favorite in Salt Lake City following his impressive sophomore campaign. After playing in all 13 games as a freshman, he followed that up in 2015 by registering 66 tackles and led the team in interceptions with five, good enough for 20th in the nation, as a starter. The ballhawk of a free safety earned himself first-team All-Pac 12 honors, becoming one of most feared defensive backs in the Conference of Champions.
Because of all of that, Williams has risen up NFL Draft big boards and even ranks as the No. 1 draft prospect at free safety for the 2018 draft by CBSSports.com. The 6-1, 195-pound prospect has good size for the next level and if he can improve in his junior season the way he did between his first two, he’ll continue to gain national notoriety. So much so that the third-year player, who would be eligible to enter the NFL Draft after this season, might forego his senior year.
Despite a positive freshman season, Williams may have surprised opposing offensive coordinators in 2015, but don’t expect that this time around. Pac-12 coaches are well aware of who Williams is, and now, NFL coaches are following suit. If not for all of his tackles and interceptions, than simply because of his pure athleticism, which is evident on and off of the field.
If you haven’t seen the dunk heard around the world (ESPN included this video on its daily Top 10 plays), where Williams skies over a teammate to posterize him at the school’s Student Life Center, I highly suggest you check it out to see just how good of an athlete he is. You can check out the tweet from his freshman quarterback teammate Tyler Huntley below.
@famouslos32@WorIdStarComedy@WORLDSTAR@Babymagik23@EspnHam9 😫 pic.twitter.com/flEkBR0AC8 — SNOOP (@_SNOOP1) July 5, 2016
Expect the junior to lead a strong Utah secondary that returns much of the unit, and adds a healthy Chase Hansen at the strong safety slot, that led the Pac-12 in interceptions last season.
