Leonard Williams (American football)

Leonard Williams

refer to caption

Williams playing for USC in 2012
No. 92 New York Jets
Position: Defensive tackle
Personal information
Date of birth: (1994-06-20) June 20, 1994
Place of birth: Bakersfield, California
Height: 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m)
Weight: 302 lb (137 kg)
Career information
High school: Daytona Beach (FL) Mainland
College: Southern California
NFL draft: 2015 / Round: 1 / Pick: 6
Career history
Roster status: Active
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics as of Week 17, 2015
Total tackles: 63
Sacks: 3.0
Forced fumbles: 0
Player stats at NFL.com

Leonard Williams (born June 20, 1994) is an American football defensive tackle for the New York Jets of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Jets with the sixth pick in the first round of the 2015 NFL Draft. He played college football at USC.

Early years

Williams attended Mainland High School in Daytona Beach, Florida, where he was a two-sport athlete in football and track. As a senior he had 103 tackles and 10.5 sacks, helping Mainland to reach the FHSAA 6A state semi-finals, where they lost to Miami Central 7–17. However, the loss was overturned in August 2012 as Miami Central forfeited its entire season due to a transfer infraction.[1]

Considered a four-star recruit by Rivals.com, Williams was ranked as the fifth best strongside defensive end recruit in his class.[2]

College career

As a true freshman in 2012, Williams started nine of 13 games at defensive tackle, recording 64 tackles, eight sacks and an interception. He was named the Pac-12 Defensive Freshman of the Year.[3][4] As a sophomore in 2013, Williams was moved from tackle to defensive end.[5] After recording 74 tackles and six sacks, Williams was a named a first-team All-Pac-12 selection and was an All-American by ESPN.[6][7] As a junior in 2014, he recorded 80 tackles and seven sacks. He was named Team MVP, first team All-Pac-12 and was an All-American by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) and ESPN.[8][9]

After his junior season, Williams announced that he would forgo his senior year and enter the 2015 NFL Draft.[10][11]

Professional career

2015 NFL Draft

In May 2014, Williams was projected a top-4 selection in the 2015 NFL Draft by various mock drafts.[12][13][14] By October 2014, Williams was projected as a top-3 selection in the 2015 NFL Draft,[15] which would make him the highest selected USC Trojans defensive lineman since Darrell Russell in 1997. In the months leading up to the draft Williams was regularly the 2nd pick in mock drafts,[16][17] but in the final weeks most experts predicted that Marcus Mariota would instead be the 2nd pick, with Williams subsequently falling to 3-5th place. He was the 6th overall pick and the first player from the USC Trojans picked in the 2015 Draft.[18]

Pre-draft measurables
Ht WtArm lengthHand size 40-yd dash 10-yd split 20-yd split 20-ss 3-cone Vert Broad BP
6 ft 4⅝ in 302 lb34⅝ in10⅝ in 4.97 s 1.73 s 2.88 s 4.53 s 7.59 s 29½ in 8 ft 10 in
All values from NFL Combine

New York Jets

Williams was selected by the New York Jets sixth overall in the first round of the 2015 draft.[19] He was the highest selected USC defensive lineman since Darrell Russell in 1997. Williams signed a four-year, $18.6 million contract on May 8, 2015.[20]

2015 season

Williams made his professional debut on August 11, 2015 in the first preseason game against the Detroit Lions without recording a stat. In Preseason Game 2 against the Atlanta Falcons on August 21, 2015, Williams made 4 tackles, including a sack on T.J. Yates in the endzone for a safety.[21] During Preseason Game 3 against the interleague-rival New York Giants on August 29, 2015, Williams left the game with an apparent knee injury. X-Rays and MRIs were both negative, revealing no ligament damage.[22] On September 7, 2015, he had his jersey number switched to #92 from #62.[23] On his regular season debut against the Cleveland Browns on September 13, 2015, Williams made a total of 5 tackles.[24] On the December 6, 2015, Williams recorded his first full Quarterback sack in a Giants-Jets rivalry game. In 16 games of his rookie year in 2015, Williams made 63 tackles with 3 sacks.

References

  1. ↑ "State finds Miami Central used ineligible Broward County quarterback in 2011". Florida Sun Sentinel. August 15, 2012.
  2. ↑ Rivals.com
  3. ↑ Ex-Mainland DL Leonard Williams named Pac-12 freshman defensive player of the year
  4. ↑ Pac-12 football awards and all-conference team announced
  5. ↑ USC football: Leonard Williams picked up where he left off
  6. ↑ Pac-12 football awards and all-conference teams announced
  7. ↑ 2013 AT&T ESPN All-America Team
  8. ↑ USC defensive lineman Leonard Williams chosen most valuable player
  9. ↑ USC's Leonard Williams named to coaches All-America team
  10. ↑ Leonard Williams skips senior year
  11. ↑ Leonard Williams leaving USC for 2015 NFL draft
  12. ↑ Brugler, Dane (May 11, 2014). "2015 NFL mock draft: Big Ten, ACC prospects lead the way". CBS Sports.
  13. ↑ Sobleski, Brent (May 11, 2014). "2015 mock draft: Jameis Winston slips out of Top 5". USA Today.
  14. ↑ Burke, Chris (May 13, 2015). "2015 NFL Mock Draft 1.0: Cedric Ogbuehi goes No. 1 overall to Oakland Raiders". Sports Illustrated.
  15. ↑ Burke, Chris (October 21, 2014). "NFL draft Big Board 2.0: Who stands out in class with no clear frontrunner?". Sports Illustrated.
  16. ↑ Zierlein, Lance (April 8, 2015). "Mock Draft 4.0: Perriman's ascent continues". NFL.com. Retrieved April 30, 2015.
  17. ↑ Brooks, Bucky (April 23, 2015). "Mock draft 5.0: Mariota lands with Rams". NFL.com. Retrieved April 30, 2015.
  18. ↑ http://www.nfl.com/player/leonardwilliams/2552486/draft
  19. ↑ Hanzus, Dan (April 30, 2015). "Jets select Leonard Williams with the No. 6 pick". National Football League. Archived from the original on May 9, 2015. Retrieved April 30, 2015.
  20. ↑ Cimini, Rich (May 8, 2015). "Jets sign No. 1 pick Leonard Williams to $18.6 million contract". ESPN New York. Archived from the original on May 9, 2015. Retrieved May 9, 2015.
  21. ↑ Howerton, Jamir. "Saturday Spotlight: Leonard Williams Roars". http://www.newyorkjets.com. New York Jets official site. Retrieved August 23, 2015. External link in |website= (help)
  22. ↑ Alper, Josh. "No ligament damage for Leonard Williams". http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com. NBC Sports. Retrieved August 30, 2015. External link in |website= (help)
  23. ↑ Lange, Randy. "Numbers Game: Leonard Williams to Wear #92". http://www.newyorkjets.com. New York Jets official site. Retrieved September 7, 2015. External link in |website= (help)
  24. ↑ New York Jets bio

External links

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