Bowling Green State University Athletics
Williams Enjoys Blue-Collar Role
September 28, 2006 | Football
Sept. 22, 2006
By JACK CARLE, Sentinel Sports Editor - Being tabbed as a blue-collar player isn't an insult to Brad Williams.
In fact, Williams, a fifth-year senior defensive lineman for Bowling Green, embraces the assessment.
"I go to work and do the job," Williams said. "I like that part. I hope to do the job the best that I can."
"He's a hard-working blue-collar football player," said Mike Ward, BG's assistant coach who works with the defensive line. "He fights, he plays hard. He's a pretty relentless and tenacious football player."
Williams, 6-feet-3, 256 pounds, played defensive end last season, but has moved to defensive tackle this fall. He finished with 63 tackles, including 10 1/2 tackles for loss, in 2005. He's been in on 17 tackles in BG's first three games this season.
"He's a steady player. He does the right thing. He's not a mistake guy. He plays with great intensity," said BG head coach Gregg Brandon.
"He's a guy that you trust will do what he needs to do, do what you need him to do."
Williams said it's pretty much the same technique at either end or tackle.
"I'll do whatever I can to help the team, I don't have a preference," Williams said.
A former high school wrestler, Williams uses that experience to fight off blocks with good leverage and his footwork.
Williams played linebacker in high school, but during the recruiting process he got the idea he would be moved to the defensive line.
"The linebackers coach stopped calling and I started talking to coach Ward," Williams said with a smile.
"It's kind of an inside joke between Brad and I," Ward said. "Once we got the commitment from him and he signed the letter of intent he never spoke to the linebacker coach after that."
It wasn't a hard sell to recruit Williams at Bowling Green. He first saw the campus as a high school freshman when BG was recruiting his older brother, Jimmy. Jimmy was a four-year letterman for the Falcons and a starter on the offensive line.
Brad committed to Bowling Green after his junior year in high school:
"I wanted to be a part of the Bowling Green football family," he said, and "carry out the family tradition."
Brad and Jimmy went to different high schools, so getting to play with his older brother "was a great opportunity for me," Brad said.
The two spent two years together on the Falcons.
"My true freshman year, we were able to go at it (in practice)," Brad said. "I was a defensive end and he was on the line. Usually he got the best of me."
Jimmy was also there for Brad during the difficult transition period from high school to college.
"It did help out tremendously; it was someone I could talk to, because there were so many emotions," Brad said.
The two brothers will see each other this weekend as the Falcons entertain Kent State for Family Weekend. Kickoff is at 1 p.m. in Perry Stadium.
Jimmy will be attending the game along with his wife, Kasey (Freeman), who was a soccer player at Bowling Green.
Brad's father, who doesn't miss a game, and his mother, who cleared her work schedule to be able to attend BG's games this season, will also be in the crowd.
The chance to spend time with his family is important to Brad in the midst of his final season.
"It's crazy ... I remember the first day of camp. It feels like I blinked and I'm here now," he said.
