At one point, Bryan Williams barely was physically able to walk to class. On Saturday, he had two end-zone interceptions, leading Georgia State to a 28-0 win over Charlotte.
Williams is every bit of what one would consider a seasoned college veteran. He’s the first Panther to spend six seasons on the roster. The safety required a redshirt season in 2013 for back surgery, and he injured his back to miss the following season as well.
“Just grateful and blessed,” Williams said. “The two injuries I had were the same injuries really, just happened over two years. Lower back injury. Sometimes I wasn’t able to walk, go to class. To be back on the field playing football is just a humble and grateful experience.”
In his second full season as a starter, Williams has thrived. His two interceptions Saturday doubled his career total.
“He’s a very intelligent football player,” GSU safeties coach Chris Collins said. “He does a really good job of getting us lined up out there. Free safeties have a lot on their plate in terms of communication, all that stuff. Continuing to harp on that piece of it. He’s learned a lot in these practices, ballgames, as far as tempo. Experienced guy – he’s been here forever. But again, very intelligent back there, wants to be great and loves to be coached hard.”
Williams’ picks ensured the first shutout in GSU history. The Panthers held Charlotte to 273 yards of offense – a quick rebound from a 56-0 loss to Penn State the week before.
“I just trust my instincts, my fundamentals,” Williams said. “Just made a play on it. The second one, I should’ve knocked it down, that’s what the coaches tell me. But at the end of the day I caught it. … I should’ve knocked it down, but we got to move on from that now.”
Williams was a backup when the Panthers played in their first and only bowl game in 2015. So he’s set lofty goals for his final season.
“I really want to win the Sun Belt championship,” he said. “That’s something I’d really embrace. But as a team, we have to take things day-by-day, week-by-week, to give us the opportunity to play good on Saturdays.”
GSU opens Sun Belt play in two weeks at Coastal Carolina. The team would be playing its second home Saturday, but Memphis had to cancel so it could face conference-opponent Central Florida (the initial meeting was prevented by Hurricane Irma).
Still, Williams and the Panthers are taking a positive approach.
“We have a lot of banged-up guys in the training room,” Williams said. “Get them back healthy. It also gives us the opportunity to watch Coastal Carolina for a week, get a jump on them. With this being a Sun Belt game, this game starts our conference championship run, so it’s a huge game for us. Yeah, we wanted to play, but we have extra time to get healthy and time to prepare for Coastal Carolina.”
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