Written by Ben Gillard

Over the past two weeks, WR Ke’Shawn Williams has burst onto the scene. The Wake Forest transfer had quiet outings vs. FIU and WIU before his breakout two touchdown performance against UCLA. Williams followed this up with another touchdown last week against Charlotte.

While Williams found it tough having to take a backseat to guys like Elijah Sarrat and Myles Price to start the season, he felt that the best thing he could do was make the most of his playing time.

“If you've watched over my career, I've been in crowded receiving rooms since I've been in college. I've been surrounded by great receivers, and being a fifth-year guy, it's definitely challenging, but you know, if I don't go about it the right way, I don't do anything but hurt myself and I hurt the team, so me doing the right thing while waiting for my turn allows me to be successful and help the team win games once I got out there. It was tough, but I have a great support system around me, team-wise, coaches, family, friends that help me stay humble, stay down, and wait for my turn.” He said.

And Williams certainly has made the most of his time on the field. Of his 8 receptions this season, 3 of them have been touchdowns, all of which came in the red zone. When asked about what makes him such a threat in the red zone, Williams once again proved himself to be a team player, saying, “[Coach] Shanahan just calls great plays, and Kurtis throws a great ball, and the O-Line holds up and allows me to get open, and I just do what I’m asked to do.”

Williams continued by saying that his success has been in part due to “my ability to make people miss, you know, playing space, get open, run routes. I try to be a complete receiver rather than a gimmick guy, getting jet sweeps and screens. I haven't shown too much yet because it's still early in the season and we're just getting a chance to get rolling. I do a lot of things that obviously the coaches saw; they recruited me to come here and help us win games.” Fellow WR Myles Price echoed this statement when asked about Williams, saying that, “He plays hard every play and does all the right things; [he's] very competitive.”

Williams is the player who coined Elijah Sarratt’s nickname “Waffle House.” However, he does not currently have a nickname himself. On the broadcast last Saturday, announcer Guy Haberman referred to Williams as “a touchdown machine” after his latest receiving TD. I, for one, think that’s fitting and can’t wait to see “The Touchdown Machine” make his home in endzones all across the Big 10 this season.

The Huddle

Ke’Shawn Williams: The Touchdown Machine

Hoosier Huddle