Mykel Williams moving on from spring setback with improved mental side

ATHENS, Ga. — There aren’t instant impact players like Mykel Williams all that often. A Freshman All-American last season, Williams was thrust onto the scene right away upon his arrival in Athens. That was quite okay for the five-star freshman, but the now sophomore has the potential to have an even bigger impact this season.

“I really feel like I’ve grown the most in, like, my anticipation of plays. The way Coach Scott teaches us and develops us, you kind of know what’s going on before the ball is snapped,” Williams said on Wednesday. “Now with me being out (in the spring) and I’ve just been sitting and watching and viewing different people, I can hear a call the o-line makes and I know which way they’re moving. It’s like my anticipation of the game has gotten better.”

That should be scary for opposing teams to hear. Williams finished first on the team in sacks with 4.5 last season including a pair in each of the College Football Playoffs contests. To think that his anticipation has gotten better on top of the already elite physical traits, there’s reason why expectations are through the roof for 2023.

“Number one, he’s an extremely hard worker, but he’s not had extra work in the spring and fall because he wasn’t able to go,” Georgia head coach Kirby Smart said about Williams. “I guess it was a couple days in the spring, I don’t know how many practices he got in the spring before we made the decision to go ahead and have his surgery done. Once he had that, he was in the healing stages. He wasn’t able to start ramping up until about mid-July. It’s still a conditioning process for him. He has really good toughness, he has really good effort, I think the biggest thing for him right now is, can he play enough snaps, stamina-wise, without the training that some of our guys would have had over the summer? So we’re trying to increase his ability to play more snaps, because we certainly need him to play as many as he can.”

Williams won’t go up against many offensive lines as strong as Georgia’s this season. He said so himself, and knows he’s getting better every day because of the competition against them in practice. Furthermore, the Bulldog defensive line as a whole is improving as a result.

“We’ve got the best o-line in the country, so it’s always the best work,” Williams said. “I feel like we’re not going to play nobody as good as our o-line — well, I ain’t going to say that. Sorry. But I feel like our o-line is the best in the country.”

“I love our room,” he added on the defensive line unit. “I feel like we’ve got the talent in the room to be one of the best if not the best in America. I just can’t wait to showcase it.”

In a group that includes veterans like Nazir Stackhouse, Zion Logue, Warren Brinson and Tramel Walthour, Williams is on the younger side of things. And while he might be the most talented, he’s not afraid to try and learn a thing or two.

“Man, it’s been great. Warren, Tramel, Zion Logue, Naz, they gave me, like, great insight. Especially coming in as a true freshman, those guys really helped me upgrade and build my game,” Williams said.

“How he teaches, how he develops, to me, he’s the best in America. There’s no question,” he added on defensive line coach Tray Scott. “Like, any drill we do, he can show you film on it from 10 years ago. He’s got film on everything. Like, it’s how he teaches and how he breaks the game down, it makes it slower to you.”

As Smart said in his comments on his All-SEC defender, Williams was out this past spring in the aftermath of a surgery on his foot. It repaired a pain he had been having for quite some time and allowed him one of those valuable chances to learn.

“I feel like mentally the aspect of me growing mentally I have grown a lot because I couldn’t do the stuff physically,” Williams said. “I had just been taking notes and watching and learning tendencies and talking with the o-line coaches, really … I wouldn’t say it held me back. I’d say it slowed me down, but since I’ve been progressing back, I feel like I’m getting back into the flow of things.”

“Last season was the last season,” Williams added, putting his freshman campaign behind him in hopes of a strong sophomore season. “I’m kind of focused on now and what I do this season. So, yeah, I’m trying to focus on the now.”

Williams and the Bulldogs begin their season next Saturday, September 2nd against the UT-Martin Skyhawks. Kickoff time at Sanford Stadium is set for 6:00 p.m. ET, streaming on ESPN+ and SEC Network+.