Jayden Williams, now a fixture at left tackle, isn’t surprised by his fast Ole Miss rise
The starting Ole Miss offensive line was all but settled entering fall-camp practices in the opening days of August.
Then Jayden Williams happened.
The redshirt freshman impressed out of the gates and he never let up. Once a lineup door cracked open, Williams not only ran through it, he took the whole frame down with him.
Mason Brooks, a decorated transfer from Western Kentucky, was running with the ones well into Ole Miss’ first scrimmage. However, he got banged up, and Williams was the next man up.
He’s been a fixture at left tackle ever since.
“Me personally, I’m not surprised,” Williams said Tuesday. “I expect the most out of myself. I compete for it, and I felt like I competed enough to get to this spot. It just happened to work that way during fall camp.”
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The emergence of Williams forced the Ole Miss coaches to scrap long-held plans and try a different approach.
Veteran Jeremy James, widely-regarded as an NFL Draft prospect in his junior season, was shifted to left tackle in November. He played the position in the spring, and it wasn’t until Williams came on that Ole Miss shifted James back out to his natural position at right.
Brooks, meanwhile, was pushed into more of a swing role — one he’s held ever since. Brooks was a two-time All-Conference USA tackle, and yet, because of Williams, he’s gotten most of his snaps at guard through three games.
Ole Miss is 3-0 and next hosts Tulsa Saturday at 3 p.m. CT. The Rebels are fresh off a 42-0 blowout of Georgia Tech in Atlanta, where Williams and Co. paved the way for over 300 yards and six touchdowns for the Ole Miss rushing attack.
“I feel like I’ve gotten better each game,” Williams said. “I’ve been getting more comfortable with the more reps I’ve taken. The first game, I felt like a freshman out there. I looked like one. But the more I settle in, the more I feel confident about my play.”
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Williams is far from a finished product.
But his development is a far cry from a year ago, when he was a talented, but raw, wide-eyed first-year. Williams underwent shoulder surgery for an injury he suffered almost immediately upon his Ole Miss arrival.
The 6-foot-5, 300-pound Williams was once ranked as a four-star and the No. 84 prospect in the country by On3 in the 2021 class. He was the No. 10 offensive tackle and the No. 1 player in Arkansas.
“Just playing more confident,” Williams said. “When I came back from rehab last year, I was game-planning for other teams instead of learning the playbook and actually getting comfortable in it. In the spring, I got more comfortable with it, and I think it allowed me to play better.
“Going into fall camp, I think that was the biggest thing for me, and I played my best football that I have since I’ve been here.”
Here’s everything Williams had to say to the media this week, in a video provided by Ole Miss Sports Production.
