James Williams blog: I've matured, am focused on team ... and will play like a wild man in Game 1

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Miami Hurricanes safety James Williams will have a weekly blog all season at CaneSport.com presented by CanesWear. In this edition, Williams talks about coaches Kevin Steele and Jahmile Addae, the season opener and fall camp:

Fall practice in rear view mirror, season is here

It felt like war out there with my brothers going at it. Now we’re ready to come together as one and put it all into what we’ve been working on and ready to be 1-0. We all came together as one. We’re all one. One-man boat, one-man mission. We all together in this and fighting with each other. We got our backs against the wall for each other.

We’re all hungry. We all competing against each other. One pushing each other to be better. Going at it with the receivers every day. understanding what we gotta do to get us to where we want to be.

The Kevin Steele/Jahmile Addae effect

Kevin Steele came in with one mindset, to dominate. To push, get us to understand what we gotta do and what’s it going to take to get where we want to get. He’s smart, intelligent, he’s a student of the game. He’s smart he knows what he’s doing. We trust him. We know where he comes from, studied him many years … this is the one. That’s the number one rule, if you don’t trust your coach you’re not going to play good for him. So if you trust him, you’re going to ball lights out. Rock with him wrong or right no matter what the circumstance is.

Jahmile Addae? He wants greatness. He’s always eager for more, and I like that. He makes all of us hungry, even if we’re on good days or bad days he pushing us to be great. He doesn’t care about anything else but being great, that’s what he preaches all day: be great. He wants greatness, perfection.

It keeps you humble, it keeps you eager for more. Forgot yesterday, today is a new day. Understand what we got to do this day to get us to the next day. And put it all together, keep stacking days on days to be great. That’s everything he preach.

What I’ve learned in Year 2 at Miami

I’ve learned I’m willing to take coaching, and I’m eager for coaching. I didn’t know I would respond like this. I really responded in a good way and it changed my mindset on how I approached things in life. Changed me, completely changed me.

It made me a man.

This summer, from spring to now, I’ve matured as a man understanding what I gotta do to get my job done. Focus on me more, getting older, wise thinking, being smart. My injury really humbled me. Made me understand that life is like a flick of a finger – it’s really fast. It made me understand me better. Got to look myself in the mirror and tell myself what it is.

My preseason accolades

It’s a blessing, it’s an honor but can’t get to that without making plays. Focus on what I gotta do and whatever comes on the back end comes. Really I don’t have any feeling about it because I haven’t won anything yet. It’s just a mention, so yeah, I don’t let it affect me. I’m focused on me and my brothers. We’re focused on us. We control what we can control and that’s our energy and how we approach things.

Be a better me for me and my teammates. Focus on all of us, focus on the organization and what we gotta do.

Game 1 is here, and I’m going to just play like a wild man

We are just hungry, we are just focused on practice and getting better. When that time comes it’s there. But for now, we’re preparing and we’re focused on us trying to get better. I’m preparing for the game, taking care of my body, my game plan, understanding what I gotta do throughout the week so Saturday I just play like a wild man.

I took care of my body more. Invested in me more instead of thinking of the off-season as just the off-season and just focusing on my body. Eating the right things, putting the right stuff in my body and understanding me.

My pregame ritual

Before the game I’ll play a couple of songs, stretch, relax, take my mind on football, focus up, be free and stay in my own little world. Anything from Lil Durk to King Von keeps me activated and keeps me where I gotta be. Their trust and their confidence in each other, you can hear it in the way they spit on the beat.

Adrenaline gets to pumping. After that I can’t even think, because I don’t think, I just play ball. When it’s time to step on the field I just play ball.

The feeling of being back for football, it’ll be a blessing to play some ball again. My injury took over me last year and stopped me from playing ball.

Now I’m blessed to be back understanding what I have to do.