With more opportunities, Derek Williams is making more plays
Freshman safety Derek Williams has made the most of his playing time this year, and is in line for more opportunities as the Longhorns continue conference play.
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Williams, a 6-foot-2, 191-pounder from New Iberia (La.) Westgate, saw 29 snaps in the Longhorns’ week one win over Rice. Twenty-six of those plays were on standard downs. He didn’t see any action in week two at Alabama, but saw his workload return versus Wyoming with a 27-play day, all on standard downs.
Then versus Baylor in Waco, he saw his largest opportunity of the year. Williams played 54 standard down snaps and was on the field for one special teams play, recording three tackles in the process. Across his 107 defensive snaps, Williams has a Pro Football Focus defensive grade of 71.9.
On Thursday, Texas head coach Steve Sarkisian praised Williams for what he’s done so far in the early stages of his career, saying his game has gradually improved in the first month of the season and that his performance in Waco was the best of his young career.
“I think Derek Williams gives us a very unique skill set at the safety spot,” Sarkisian said. “He’s a really good tackler. It probably didn’t look like much, but there was a run that spit out in the fourth quarter last week where we don’t fit it right I think in a 3rd or a 4th down, and Derek Williams makes a really clean tackle in the middle of the field to limit that run to about a 12 yard gain.”
That tackling ability not only has caught the eyes of PFF graders, who have assigned a team-best tackling grade of 86.0 to Williams, but also his teammates and others in the program.
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Jahdae Barron, a fellow defensive back, said the ability to bring ball-carries to the ground has been on display as Williams has grown and gone through his own developmental process.
“Everybody sees, but he has really good tackling (ability) in the open field,” Barron said Monday.
Williams, ranked as the No. 62 overall prospect, the No. 6 safety, and the No. 3 player in Louisiana in the 2023 cycle according to the On3 Industry Ranking, is third among Texas safeties in snaps this year. Williams trails only Jerrin Thompson and Kitan Crawford, and is a handful of plays ahead of Jalen Catalon. He’s excelled thus far, with the highest PFF grade among UT safeties.
Much of that is due to his developing skill set that Sarkisian highlighted.
“He can cover man-to-man,” Sarkisian said. “He can play tight man coverage. He gives us that skill set, he gives us that speed factor.”
Known as “the Raptor” during his Westgate days, Williams has clawed his way near the top of the Texas safety depth chart and is making the most of his opportunity, showcasing at the college level the talent that made him one of the best prep safeties in the nation.
