Arkansas Forward Jaylin Williams is a Charge Taking Machine

If you love watching one of the world’s best athletes dramatically and haplessly fall to the ground, then you’ll love Jaylin Williams. Oscar Tshiebwe rebounds, Grayson Allen trips and Jaylin Williams takes charges. Like crab cakes and football in Maryland, charges are just what Williams does.

“I’ve been doing it my whole life,” Williams said this week. “My Dad taught it to me at a young age, just playing help defense. I feel like it just came from me always knowing where to be, when to be there and my Dad teaching me the IQ around basketball, helping me with my positioning. I guess I get lucky being there when they drive that way.”

Williams has produced exceptional numbers as a sophomore, recording 10 double-doubles while averaging 10.4 points and 9.6 rebounds per game, the second-most in the SEC. While impressive, those are not jaw-dropping numbers. Here’s one: Williams has successfully taken 44 charges this year.

Charge Pads

When you think of college basketball’s most notorious charge-takers, little floor-slapping guards from Duke come to mind. Williams breaks that mold. Instead of blocking shots on help defense, the 6-foot-10 athlete takes charges. He averages 1.57 drawn charges per game. If those were blocks, he would be a top five shot-blocker in the SEC.

“I feel like I play the game and try to see where the guys are going. I try to learn their tendencies and see if they’re a reckless driver,” Williams said.

The big tree falls hard to the ground, maybe too hard for one coach’s liking.

“It doesn’t really hurt. I wear pads under my jersey and I talked to Coach (Keith) Smart about it. He’s telling me I need to learn how to fall better. I think I fall pretty good, but he tells me I need to fall a little better. I guess I gotta work on that.”

Williams takes so many charges, he needs to wear light foam pads around his pecs. Unbelievable. It’s disgusting behavior that should not be applauded, but it works. Similar to a rim protector, opponents must think twice when driving down the middle of the lane against Arkansas.

“Sometimes I’m thinking, what are these guys doing? But there’s also sometimes where guys will see me down there and they’ll completely stop their drive mid-dribble,” Williams said. “I just try to get into position. It’s something I go into the game thinking about.”