'You see it, you paint it': How Dee Williams is Tennessee's Picasso punt returner

Dee Williams caught the punt at the 31-yard line near the Austin Peay sideline. Tennessee’s return specialist cut left to make the first would-be tackler miss, then back to the right to juke another. Then left and left again, making two more miss.

He spun out of another tackle, after being hit by two more Governors on the return, before finally losing his balance during the spin and finally falling to the turf.

After all was said and done, Williams had gained 13 yards. But it was less about the total distance and more about how he went about gaining it.

“His return he had last week went for like 19 yards,” Tennessee special teams coordinator and outside linebackers coach Mike Ekeler said Monday while speaking at the Knoxville Quarterback Club, “but it looked like a video game. It was absolutely crazy.”

‘I told Dee, I said I will never ever tell you what to do, man’

Williams ended No. 11 Tennessee’s 30-13 win over Austin Peay Saturday at Neyland Stadium with 59 yards worth of return yards. He had 18 over two punt returns and 41 on two kickoff returns, including a 33-yarder. 

The last thing Ekeler is trying to do is coach the human joystick on Tennessee’s punt return team. Instead, he just tries to stay out of the way.

“I told Dee, I said I will never ever tell you what to do, man,” Ekeler said. “You are like Picasso, you just paint it, man. You see it, you paint it, you know where leverage is and freaking have at it buddy. Absolutely love that guy.”

Williams gave Ekeler and the Vols plenty of reason to love him even in limited time last season. After missing four games due to a hamstring injury, he had 15 punt returns in nine games for 281 yards, including a 73-yard touchdown in the regular-season finale at Vanderbilt.

On his first touch in a Tennessee uniform, he took a punt back 58 yards against LSU at Tiger Stadium in Baton Rouge before being taken down at the 26-yard line.

He had a 55-yarder in the 49-13 season-opening win over Virginia at Nissan Stadium in Nashville on September 2, finishing the game with 105 yards on three returns. 

“Dee Williams, I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again,” Ekeler said, that guy, there’s not a better returner in college football, maybe in football. He is that special.”

Up Next: No. 11 Tennessee at Florida, Saturday, 7 p.m. ET, ESPN

Williams played defensive back at East Central Community College in Mississippi before transferring to Tennessee and becoming a return specialist. During training camp last month, he said “it just clicked” on punt return once he joined the Vols. 

He wants to create big plays, but his biggest emphasis is just making the field shorter for Josh Heupel’s offense.

“I realized you want to be able to put the offense in a better position,” Williams said. “So you don’t always have to be the hero. The chances that you do have, you should take advantage of it.”

He has the same confidence in himself that Ekeler has in him.

“It can get scary back there sometimes,” Williams said during camp, “but it is just all like having confidence in yourself and depending on your teammates to protect you whenever you get the ball.”

Any dream of getting Williams inserted into Tennessee’s offense, and trying to let Picasso paint on that side of the ball, was shot down by Heupel last week.

“Dee is special with ball in his hands,” Heupel said, “but I think he’ll continue to work at the, the corner spot and obviously he’ll be heavily active in our return game.”