James Williams blog: Perseverance, hard work in face of unimaginable difficulty

THIS BLOG IS PRESENTED BY CANESWEAR

Miami Hurricanes safety James Williams will have a weekly blog all season at CaneSport.com. In this edition, Williams talks about his struggles growing up without a mom, how he wants to reward his grandmother for raising him and his progress at Miami, among other topics:

My story is the story of a kid that grew up really when his mom passed (at age 5) and didn’t have anything that motivated him to do great. But when he looked into football, it kind of sparked his life, changed his whole life around. He put his all into it to get to where he is today. Now he’s here getting great.

My dad killed my mom. It was hard, a struggle. I didn’t face it till I got older, really understood what happened, who was here, who is gone and why my family moves the way they move. It kind of all added up when I was 12, it hit me.

My mom sees everything that I go through now. I made sure I got her tattooed – she can see it from up top but right here on my arm. I want her to see how I changed the family, that I made a way for us, didn’t make any excuses, didn’t choose the wrong path. I stayed focused, was dedicated to what I wanted to be. And I’m not done yet.

My grandma raised me and my two brothers. It was a struggle. We didn’t really have much, didn’t have the finances to get what I wanted as a kid. My brothers were doing what they had to do to take care of the family and I had to make a way for myself.

My grandma calls me every day, asks me `When is your name going to be up there’ with the great ones. I say `Soon, grandma, I got you.’ She says `Okay, stay focused.’

I have always worked for what I wanted. I saw she never asked anybody for anything when she was struggling to take care of three kids. She never asked for money. What she had is what she provided for us. She didn’t want more, didn’t want less. She just wanted what she had.

And my Godmom guided me through life, too, understood my circumstance, took me under her wing, taught me things, raised me to become a man. And I’m here today.

Every day I’m driven to take care of my Grandma

When someone asks me what I want to do with this NIL thing, I say `My main thing is get my grandma a house.’ She still doesn’t have a house to this day.

That’s my main focus. I’m trying to save up to get her the biggest house she wants. Whatever she wants, she’s going to get it. I’m going to make sure that happens.

She lives with my auntie right now, she’s 71 years old. I’ll buy a house from the dirt to everything she wants in it. I’m going to tell her anything she wants in it, I’ll make sure is in there. Whatever she needs will be there. I’ve told her that. It puts a big smile on her face. And that makes me go harder. I told her that even before I left for college, and I keep telling her that every day, make sure she doesn’t forget that.

KNOWING MOM WAS PREGNANT WITH ME AT UM WAS A SIGN

Before my mom passed, I didn’t really have a spark for football. I was just a regular kid until she passed. She became my why.

When I heard she was pregnant with me at the University of Miami, that sparked my whole mental game, changed my recruiting process of how I looked at colleges. It really changed me a lot.

When I was young I thought about football first, get to the top level, where I want to go, the circumstances I was in. And I just kept going from there – `get here,’ `get there,’ I kept elevating.

I feel like a lot of things came true for me, but there’s more to come out there in the world for me. I feel like there are more people that can help me to get to where I want to be, push me, teach me things – I’m willing to learn. The real world is here. I’m open-armed, whatever comes, comes. Whatever goes, goes. Whatever God brings to me, I’m going to bless it.

I HAD EARLY SUCCESS PLAYING WITH AND AGAINST CURRENT CANES

My first spark for football, it was probably my last time playing offense. I scored three times in one game. I was like `Yeah, football is for me.’ Ever since then, I’ve been going hard, putting in the work, being a student of the game. It got me where I am today.

After my mom passed, that next five or six seasons my team went on a winning streak, something I’ll never forget. We went out and dominated, and I played every snap, played my heart out for my mom. It got me six Super Bowl rings six years in a row. So that’s something I’ll remember the rest of my life.

Playing back then, we had competitive guys like Thad Franklin, I played against Kam Kinchens, Romello Brinson. Me and Thad, we’ve been competing against each other since Optimist. He was the biggest back in the league, so we were bumping heads and going at it. So it was kind of like competing dog on dog. Now we’re all on one team. It’s a good memory, a good story we can tell.

Nobody can mess with South Florida kids, and we all know that. All of us staying together as one, we’re going at it in practice every day here. We go at it every day. One day, the offense wins, one day the defense wins. Fifty percent of the kids that are here are from Dade or Broward, so that’s kind of like a brotherhood.

JAMES WILLIAMS, THE MIAMI HURRICANE

Right now I’m focused on maintaining myself, understanding this game of football and being a student of it. Not just the physicality, but the mental game and also taking care of my body so I can last the whole season, play the whole game. I don’t want to miss any games. I want to stay focused and do what I have to do.

I’ve learned from last year. Like the North Carolina game, my first time starting, there was a lot going at me. I had a little freshman bug, caught a freshman bug. I was so eager. My fingers were itching to get out there, my first time starting. Last year I was so eager to get on the field and show what I can do, because I know what I can do.

But coaches really don’t trust what freshmen can do. I was so eager to get out there that my emotions took over me. When I got out there, I felt like an animal out of the cage. I felt loose: `Go be me now.’ So now that people understand what I can do, it’s time for me to focus on what I have to do, my job, execute it. Line up, get the call and play football.

Now I understand. I’m more mature, understand the game of football. It’s not about me. It’s about the 11 on the field and the rest on the sideline with me. The people watching who want to see Miami be great. So I have to understand it isn’t about me right now. It’s about everybody, the whole team, the whole organization.

COACH MARIO PUSHES ME PAST MY POTENTIAL

There have been a lot of changes since last year, a lot to get us where we want to go. We all have one goal, one mission – to be the best we can be every day.

That’s all coach Mario preaches every day: be 1-0 every day. Coach Mario, I love him. He pushes me past my potential. He sees more in me than I see in myself. I love that.

Every day I see more coming out of me as I watch film, `Wow, I didn’t know I could do that.’ The way they push me, the whole offseason they’ve been pushing me to do what I have to do. He looks me in my eye, `Keep working.’ He doesn’t preach bigheaded stuff. He just keeps focused on getting better and tells us you’ll be great. `Just focus on 1-0 every day, be where your feet are.’ That’s all he’s preaching. I soak that up, move on with my life.

And Ed Reed, that’s one person who is always on me that wants me to be greater than what he was. He understands what they did in the past that took Miami to another level, that made scouts come here and want to be here every day and watch us practice. He preaches that to us every day. One thing that made him great was understanding what’s coming next, not worrying about the now. So in the middle of a play, they motion, what are we going to do? What are they going to do here with a tight alignment? He preaches being a student of the game. He preaches that you don’t need big heads, you need tackles. That what he preaches to me. I soak that up, understand that.

WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT FROM JAMES WILLIAMS IN 2022

You can expect a more humble James this season. More focused, wanting to get the job done. I want to see this organization win for the fans, to my teammates to the coaches to the staff working in the building. I just want to be a better me all-around and elevate.

I’m more confident in myself. I know what I can do. I see the work I’ve put in, how many nights I’ve watched extra film, studied this film package, seen how many times I messed up in practice to get it right. And when I got it right, I didn’t mess up on it again. I’m more confident in myself and the people around me that what we’re going to do this year is going to be different.