West Virginia has high hopes for the future redshirt freshman offensive tackle Johnny Williams.
Williams played just 47 snaps across four games last season in order to preserve a year of eligibility but caught the attention of the coaching staff for several reasons.
One is just his sheer physical size, considering Williams stands 6-foot-7, 315-pounds and two was his willingness to compete and improve over the course of the season.
That has carried over into his second year with the program where he has made a commitment in the weight room to get to the point where he can be in the mix to compete at the tackle spots.
Despite his size, Williams wasn’t used to the work required in the weight room coming out of high school and has been able to completely mold his body to the level where he can work into the mix.
“He’ll be a factor for us. We need to get him ready to play,” head coach Neal Brown said.
Brown has been pleased with the progress that Williams has made but he still is only scratching the surface of what he could eventually become at the position.
West Virginia is looking to develop options behind the starters and Williams is one of the prime candidates there. The Mountaineers didn’t try to rock the boat too much this spring as Williams remained primarily at the tackle spots in order to keep him comfortable.
But he has already shown the ability to effectively swing between the two spots.
“He’s still a freshman. He can play left tackle and right tackle right now,” offensive line coach Matt Moore said. “He’s really starting to come around and get his body where he can compete.”
And while Williams will be a piece of the offensive line this season, the potential is there for much more down the road as starting left tackle Wyatt Milum and right tackle Nick Malone are both in their final seasons of eligibility.
That makes his development critical not only for now but down the road and the encouraging part is that he has taken that challenge head on as his second season approaches.
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