Oregon track star Micah Williams joins Ducks' football team
One of the fastest college athletes in the nation is now a member of the Oregon football program.
On Tuesday, the Ducks’ updated roster featured one notable addition: Micah Williams, an NCAA champion sprinter who earned a spot on Team USA’s 4×100-meter relay pool during the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.
Williams, a redshirt junior, will wear No. 84 and is listed as a wide receiver. During the open portion of Tuesday’s practice, he also returned punts.
“He kind of wanted to play football, and we want to give him a chance to see if he can,” Oregon coach Dan Lanning said after Tuesday’s practice. “It’s been a long time — he hasn’t really played since his freshman year of high school. But you can’t coach fast, right? And he’s fast. We’ll see what he can do out there.”
When asked if Williams will count against Oregon’s 85-player scholarship limit, Lanning said ‘not right now.’
Williams won the NCAA indoor title for the 60-meter dash as a true freshman with the Ducks in 2021. The following summer, he finished fifth at the U.S. Outdoor Track and Field Trials in the 100-meter time of 9.91 seconds to earn a spot on the relay pool.
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At the NCAA West Regional in 2022, he posted a personal-best 100-meter time of 9.86 seconds which is the second-fastest ever by a collegian. Only Christian Coleman, who starred at Tennessee, owns a faster time.
“(Oregon track and field coach Jerry Schumacher) is a team guy,” Lanning said. “Jerry and I talked before and he said, ‘Yeah, this is something he wants to do and I think this is something we want to let him do.’ It’s our job to see if it’s gonna be a fit for him because he’s obviously got a long career ahead of him in track. That doesn’t change. That’s certainly his first priority. But right now, this gives him an opportunity to see what he can do.”
A Portland, Ore., native, Williams was a three-time Gatorade Oregon boy’s track and field runner of the year at Benson High. He owns the state records for 100 (10.21 seconds) and 200 (21.03).
“He hasn’t really had a lot of football experience since his freshman year of high school. He played wide receiver in a Wing-T offense; he’s pretty good when you get him on a reverse, right?” Lanning said. “It’s a little bit different. There’s a lot of catching up to do. There’s a lot of things to pick up.”
