SMU's PJ Williams maturing, stepping up on offensive line

This time last year PJ Williams was the new guy coming into a new situation and trying to figure everything out. Now he is one of the veterans on the offensive line with a chance to claim a starting role.

The left tackle spot is his to win, or lose, this offseason with departures and movement on the offensive line. Gone are both players who started at tackle at the beginning of the 2023 season and the other, Justin Osborne, is moving back inside and getting a look at center.

Now it’s up to Williams to take everything they taught him and implement it into his game this year.

“It matured me so much because I had two big vets that played a lot of years of college football,” Williams said. “They showed me the process and everybody used to have me as a little brother. They made sure I stayed on task. They knew I had the ability to do whatever, so they just made me stay on task and made me focused to make me better and more mature for this position.”

It’s something offensive line coach Garin Justice watched happen in real time last season. Williams was really playing his first year of college football and was being asked to learn both guard and tackle, too. While that might not have been ideal, the benefit of it is showing up now.

“PJ, first and foremost, you’ve kind of seen that maturity, that growth, that jump from the standpoint of last year, he was still a freshman,” Justice said. “That’s what I keep telling everyone, ‘Guys, this is still a redshirt freshman.’ But you’re seeing the benefit of where we (were) kind of forced to have to play him some. We forced that even though we may have not felt he was ready, especially early on in the year, and those reps accumulated and you see he’s a lot better because of that.”

Williams ended up starting four games at left tackle last season, including the final regular season game and the American Athletic Conference championship game. Now, he has a chance to claim that spot from the start.

“(Williams) sees now that it’s his spot and he’s doing everything he can to grab it,” Justice said. “So I think that’s the biggest thing, he’s had the reps, he’s gotten a year older, so he’s gotten a lot more mature. He understands what we’re doing as an offense, what we’re doing fundamentally and then the confidence with knowing you’re the guy. So I think all of it’s kind of coming together for him. And you’re seeing that with him.”

Part of the maturation process for Williams has been Osborne. Williams watched Osborne play both guard and tackle last year, something he had to do himself. And Osborne is still around making sure Williams is working.

“Just following in the footsteps of JO. Taking his work ethic and grinding and showing what I can do,” Williams said. “I feel like I could have played it last year, but it’s a new year and I’m going to keep attacking it.

“… JO is a great player, great work ethic. He does drills phenomenal and that’s how I want to be. I want to hit my drills hard, I want to go through practice hard, I want to do every step at practice hard. I have a young mindset sometimes I slug around a little bit, but I just tell myself, ‘Practice like JO. Practice like JO.’”

The work in practice isn’t big things, it’s all of those little things that add up. Williams has a new appreciation for that kind of work and is making sure to focus on those little things to become the best possible player he can.

“One of my biggest goals is shooting with my left arm and not wrapping, have good footwork, keep my balance and keep my core tight and keep my head about tings,” Williams said. “It’s going to make me a whole better player. And the little things, everything else I’ve got. … just the little things.”

Williams is now seeing players who were in his shoes last year and trying to help bring them along like others helped him. Two new faces are Nate Anderson, who is working at left guard this spring, and the new right tackle Savion Byrd — both from Oklahoma.

“It’s just like me coming in last year, not knowing a lot of these guys and I just tell everybody, ‘Put your head down, do your work, grind,'” Williams said. “We’re trying to attack it now. It’s going to be a good group. Everybody’s coming in wanting to work. Nate, he’s beside me, he’s fast, he’s just like me, he’s just learning the offense. Savion on the other end, Savion is really good. He makes me do stuff that I try to (work on) like keeping my head out on pass rush and we just communicate. No one is trying to outshine anyone, everyone is trying to build.”

While the offensive linemen are helping each other out, they are also getting assistance from the defensive line. Williams is getting an up-close look at new EDGE Jahfari Harvey from Miami along with a strong group of returners coming off the ends.

“It’s sick man, they make me get out of my stance fast on every play. I’ve got to know my next move like that because they already know their next move,” Williams said. “With them coming in and giving us the energy every day, there’s a lot of talking, smack talk, you just want to win everything and they want to win. Then after practice we all come together. We talk about what our mistakes were, what we could have done better. We just sit in the locker room for 10-15 minutes what we could have done better against each other or in the play.”