ATHENS — When the only house you’ve ever known burns to the ground and the fans of the school you attend are part of the reason your family was able to rebuild, you tend to not get bent out of shape over a position change.
That’s not the only reason Shawn Williams was OK with moving from his familiar strong safety position to inside linebacker last week. But it helps.
“Everything’s OK now,” Williams said of the fire, which destroyed his family’s home in Damascus in July 2010. “People helped raise money to help my family buy stuff. We’ve got a little trailer house right now. Hopefully I can help build them something [else] in a couple of years.”
UGA helped draw attention to a fundraising effort organized by the Bank of Early, and the Bulldog Nation came through with donations. That helped Joe and Charlene Williams rebuild their lives on the same spot of land in Early County they’ve always lived.
“It was good to know I had that support behind me and people trying to help my family,” Williams said.
Williams is paying it forward on the football field. A starter at strong safety the first two games of the season, Williams answered the Bulldogs’ call to serve as a fill-in at inside linebacker, where injuries sidelined both starters. He started at “Mo” linebacker against Coastal Carolina last week.
Not coincidentally, Williams was named Georgia’s defensive captain for this week’s Ole Miss game. He played well enough in his first start at linebacker last weekend, but that’s not really why he’s a captain for the first time in his career.
“The reason I wanted to make him a captain is he identifies with what our team is,” said Georgia defensive coordinator Todd Grantham, who nominated Williams for the weekly award. “When you look, here’s a guy, going all the way back to last year, he’s totally bought into our system, to what we’re doing. He tries to do it our way. He’s a physical player. He wants to be not only on defense, but on special teams. Those are the kind of guys you want to have and I thought it was important to reward that.”
Williams, a 6-foot-1, 220-pound junior, thinks of himself as a safety and prefers to play safety. In fact, he actually practiced at safety Wednesday, and coaches are being cryptic about their plans for him this Saturday at Ole Miss.
After stating early this week the Bulldogs planned to keep Williams at linebacker, Richt couldn’t say for sure Wednesday what Williams will play this week.
“I’m just not in the habit of wanting to tell everybody what our intentions are prior to the game,” Richt said after practice Wednesday night. “It has nothing to do with anything other than trying to prepare for a game and not telling the enemy what you’re doing. So I don’t have a real good answer for that one right now.”
The point with Williams is he can play anywhere.
A starter at strong safety the first two games of the season, Williams last week moved down to the “Mo” linebacker position meant to be occupied by Alec Ogletree. Ogletree was lost to a broken foot in the first half of the first game of the season and starting “Mike” linebacker Christian Robinson went down with an ankle injury a week later.
Inside linebacker was the one position other than offensive line the Bulldogs absolutely could not afford an injury. They’ve had two.
“Here’s a guy that, because of our need, basically switched positions to make our team better,” Grantham said. “And that’s the whole purpose. You want to do things that make your team better and he did that. He showed up and he was physical, and those are the kinds of guys you want on your team.”
Williams did nothing against Coastal Carolina that would lead one to believe he’s the next Ray Lewis. He finished with a modest three tackles and a tackle for loss while playing just over a half against an overmatched opponent.
But for the Bulldogs it was more about how Williams went about his business before, during and after making the transition that was endearing. He was asked to make the switch on a Monday, practiced three days at the position and started on Saturday.
“They just kind of threw me in there,” said Williams, who is fifth on the team with 13 tackles and has two quarterback pressure. “I took it as a challenge, like this is something I can do if I put my mind to it. And that’s what I went out there and did. I just went out and played hard and made plays.”
To those familiar to his exploits at the Blakely-Early County Recreation department, Williams’ actions come as no surprise. Williams spent his entire childhood shifting from sport to sport and position to position.
“Damascus might have two stores, no traffic lights and four stop signs,” Williams said. “It’s really small. My life was based around sports. I was always playing some sport — football, basketball, baseball — getting ready to play one. That’s all I knew.”
He had to drive 30 minutes from his rural home to get to Early County High, where his athleticism and willingness to hit were quickly identified. He played linebacker exclusively his freshman and sophomore years and some even after shifting to safety.
“I was about 180 [pounds] and could run and hit,” Williams said. “I didn’t have that much help around me and I was kind of a do-it-all guy.”
Obviously, he still is.
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