Utah's Joe Williams, out of retirement, has new outlook, hasn't lost a step
During those first few weeks of retirement, Joe Williams hadn’t just been contemplating post-football life. He’d been living it, reaching out to contacts in various industries — from broadcasting to social work — trying to set up job interviews.
“I was just turning into a regular middle class working citizen,” Williams told USA TODAY Sports. “It did open up my eyes to see the other side of the coin, what possibly could be the rest of my life.”
Williams had retired from college football Sept. 13, three days after his Utah team beat BYU 20-19,and nine days after his 23rd birthday. He’d made the decision after conversations with his fiancée, Jasmine, and family, and after mulling it over for months — even back in spring ball, he wasn’t sure his beat-up body could make it through another full season. He wasn’t sure he wanted to, either.
By Week 2 of the season — and two lost fumbles and 75 total rushing yards later — Williams was ready to call it quits. He was at peace with his decision.
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Over the next month, Williams and Jasmine would go to home games and sit in the friend and family section. They’d tune into college football on TV on Saturdays, too. Williams watched his teammates go down, one by one, with injuries.
During Utah's 36-23 win against Arizona on Oct. 8, Armand Shyne, the leading rusher, tore an ACL. The Utes were suddenly down to a walk-on and a freshman they had planned to redshirt — that was it for the Utah rushing attack, and there was still more than half a season to play.
Utah head coach Kyle Whittingham said he’d never coached a team with so many injuries, and he’d planned “to look at any and all available options because we are in a pretty desperate situation.”
A couple of former teammates called Williams to joke around. I hope you’re ready to run these gassers today, they said. It’s time for you to put those pads back on.
Williams then received a phone call from running backs coach Dennis Erickson, who wanted to seriously gauge his interest. Would Williams be interested in coming back to the team?
“Really, the reason that he came back was for the team, not for anything else,” Erickson said. “When we got in that pinch, when we got all those guys hurt — and still do — we reached out to him to see if he had any interest. When he did decide to come back, the players wanted him back. He'd been a very good teammate with all those guys, all the time he was here. He had to be mentally ready to do it, which he was.”
Williams’ teammates welcomed him back; the leadership council voted unanimously to reinstate him.
The next challenge? Getting back into Division I football shape.
Williams had spent his brief retirement in decent enough shape. He’d rested his body a bit, helping some of his lingering back, shin and knee pain, but also went for runs. But Williams was not in the kind of shape those grueling 6 a.m. workouts put college football players in; instead, he’d been focusing his attention on the sociology bachelor’s degree he’d be getting in December, and job searching.
Quickly, his body was tested. In his first game back — a 19-14 win against Oregon State on Oct. 15 — Williams carried the ball 34 times for 179 yards and a touchdown.
“When he came back, it was amazing that he was in decent shape and actually was feeling a lot better than he felt when he left, physically,” Erickson said. “We went in the Oregon State game with a plan not to run him a bunch, but we ended up running him over 30 times. He looked good.”
Erickson could tell Williams was tired in the second half of the Oregon State game. But he also knew, during the following week, that Williams had started to get his legs back. His conditioning still wasn’t where it needs to be, but it was getting there.
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Still, no one could have predicted this Saturday’s performance against UCLA at the Rose Bowl: A program-record 332 yards on 29 carries, and four touchdowns. It was one of the greatest offensive performances in school history, and better yet, Williams had enjoyed himself tremendously.
“Joe ran really well, but he'll be the first to say, our offensive line totally dominated,” Erickson said. “They gave him places to go and he was able to break some things. We’d missed that, the long run, which we did against UCLA. One thing about Joe, he's fast. He can run 500 meters. Once he gets in the open, he brings something to the field that we didn't have with all these guys hurt. He's running better than he ran during two-a-days and in the first two games. I don't have an answer for you (as to why). I certainly don't want to tell everybody — they'd all be taking a month off.”
For now, Williams is back to Plan A: See how far football can take him. He’s lived a month of Plan B — that post-football life — and he knows he’s ready for it when the time comes. But 511 rushing yards in two weeks and being part of a 7-1 Utah team that leads the Pac-12 South — and hosts unbeaten and No. 4 Washington this week — has changed Williams’ perspective for the time being.
“I’m back to seeing where football might take me, eventually, next spring or summertime, with an NFL team,” Williams said. “But right now I'm just taking it day by day and game by game. I'm not trying to rush myself into thinking what my future can look down the line."
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