Damian Williams (born May 26, 1988) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

wide receiver. He played in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

from 2010 through 2014 for the

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division, and play their h ...

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team pla ...

, and

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis from 1995 to the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, where the team had played from 1946 to 1994. The arri ...

. Previously, he played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

at the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkansas ...

, and then at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in C ...

High school career

Williams attended

Springdale High School Springdale High School is a public high school in Springdale, Arkansas, United States for students in grades ten through twelve. Springdale High School is one of three high schools administered by the Springdale School District, the others being H ...

under head coach

Gus Malzahn Arthur Gustavo Malzahn III (; born October 28, 1965) is an American football coach. He is currently the head coach at the University of Central Florida (UCF Knights football, UCF). He was the head football coach at Auburn University from 2013 t ...

. During his senior year, he played wide receiver,

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

and defensive back and earned accolades as an All-American, catching 63 passes for 1,495 yards with 24

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Ameri ...

s, running for 463 yards on 31 carries with 12 touchdowns and had eight kickoff returns for 254 yards with two touchdowns on offense, while also making 25 tackles and 3 interceptions (one for a touchdown) on defense despite missing several games with injuries. Springdale went 14-0 in 2005, won the Arkansas state championship and finished No. 2 nationally. Williams initially planned on attending the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

, but, in February 2006, switched to Arkansas, joining three other star teammates who had already committed.

College career

Arkansas

Growing up in

Springdale, Arkansas Springdale is the List of cities and towns in Arkansas, fourth-largest city in Arkansas, United States. It is located in both Washington County, Arkansas, Washington and Benton County, Arkansas, Benton counties in Northwest Arkansas. Located on th ...

, Williams began his college career at nearby

, joining

teammates and star recruits,

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

Mitch Mustain Mitchell Stewart Mustain (born February 27, 1988) is a former professional football player. He played high school football and baseball at Springdale High School in Springdale, Arkansas. Mustain played his first year of college football at the U ...

, and

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Like ...

Ben Cleveland.

Head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

Houston Nutt Houston Dale Nutt Jr. (born October 14, 1957) is a former American football player and coach. He currently works for CBS Sports as a college football studio analyst. Previously, he served as the head football coach at Murray State University ( ...

's Razorbacks football team had hired the trio's high school coach,

, as his

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator is a member of the coaching staff of an American football or Canadian football team who is in charge of the team's offense. Generally, along with the defensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator, this coach re ...

a few months before signing day. As a first-year freshman, Williams started 5 games for the Razorbacks and appeared in all 13 games, catching 19 passes for 235 yards and 2 touchdowns while ranking second in receptions on the team. He was honored as a 2006 ''

Sporting News The ''Sporting News'' is a website and former magazine publication owned by Sporting News Holdings, which is a U.S.-based sports media company formed in December 2020 by a private investor consortium. It was originally established in 1886 as a pr ...

'' Freshman Third-team All-American and Freshman All- SEC. By the latter half of the 2006 season, the Razorbacks' offense had become run-oriented, behind star running back

Darren McFadden Darren McFadden (born August 27, 1987) is a former American football running back. He played college football for the Arkansas Razorbacks and was selected by the Oakland Raiders in the first round with the fourth overall pick of the 2008 NFL Dra ...

. In mid-December, Williams' parents, along with those of two other freshmen, met with Arkansas

athletic director An athletic director (commonly "athletics director" or "AD") is an administrator at many American clubs or institutions, such as colleges and universities, as well as in larger high schools and middle schools, who oversees the work of coaches and ...

Frank Broyles John Franklin Broyles (December 26, 1924 – August 14, 2017) was an American college football player and coach, college athletics administrator, and broadcaster. He served as the head football coach for one season at the University of Missour ...

to raise concerns that their sons might not be a good fit for the Razorbacks' system when they had been used to a pass oriented,

spread offense :''"Spread offense" may also refer to the four corners offense in basketball.'' The spread offense is an offensive scheme in gridiron football that typically places the quarterback in the shotgun formation, and "spreads" the defense horizontall ...

under Malzahn's tenure at Springdale. Soon after the meeting, Williams asked for a release to transfer to another school and it was granted; by early January 2007, he decided to transfer to USC, entering in the spring semester.Gary Klein
Arkansas receiver to transfer to USC
''Los Angeles Times'', January 3, 2007. Retrieved October 21, 2008. Malzahn soon left to join the coaching staff at

Tulsa Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma and List of United States cities by population, 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. ...

and Mustain later joined his teammate at USC.David Wharton
USC suits Damian Williams after frustration at Arkansas
''Los Angeles Times'', August 19, 2008. Retrieved October 21, 2008.

Southern California

Due to

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

transfer rules, Williams was required to sit out a season; however, Williams was permitted to play on the

scout team The following terms are used in American football, both conventional and indoor. Some of these terms are also in use in Canadian football; for a list of terms unique to that code, see ''Glossary of Canadian football''. 0–9 ...

and take a

redshirt Redshirt, Red Shirt, or Redshirts may refer to: Entertainment * ''Red Shirts'' (film), a 1952 film about Anita Garibaldi by Franco Rossi * Redshirt (stock character), originally derived from ''Star Trek'', a stock character who dies soon after b ...

year. He tore a ligament in his shoulder during 2007 spring practice and sat out most of spring drills, then had post-spring surgery on both shoulders, limiting his practice time during the 2007 season. During the 2008 spring practice, Williams impressed and quickly climbed to be a starting receiver for the Trojans going into the 2008 season. He developed into one of quarterback

Mark Sanchez Mark Travis John Sanchez (born November 11, 1986) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 10 seasons. He played college football at the University of Southern California (USC) and was draft ...

' primary receivers, catching 48 passes for 707 yards and eight touchdowns during the regular season.Gary Klein
Damian Williams says he's returning to USC for 2009
''Los Angeles Times'', December 31, 2008, Accessed February 16, 2009. In the

2009 Rose Bowl The 2009 Rose Bowl, the 95th edition of the annual game, was a college football bowl game played on Thursday, January 1, 2009 at the same-named stadium in Pasadena, California. Because of sponsorship by Citi, the first game in the 2009 editio ...

, Williams made 10 receptions for 162 yards and a touchdown.Adam Rose
World, meet Damian Williams
''Los Angeles Times'', January 1, 2009. Retrieved February 16, 2009. Williams was First-team All-Pac 10 in 2009 as a Wide Receiver and Punt Returner.

Professional career

2010 NFL Draft

On December 23, 2009, several sources reported that Williams, who had already graduated from USC, would enter the

2010 NFL Draft The 2010 NFL Draft was the 75th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The 2010 draft took place over three days, at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, New York, with the firs ...

, forgoing his final year of college football eligibility.

Tennessee Titans

In the 2010 NFL Draft, Williams was selected with the 77th pick by the

. On July 30, 2010, Williams signed a 4-year, $2.61 million deal. Williams made his first career start against the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

on October 2, 2011, after the injury to

Kenny Britt Kenneth Lawrence Britt (born September 19, 1988) is a former American football wide receiver. He played college football at Rutgers and was drafted by the Tennessee Titans with the 30th overall pick in the 2009 NFL Draft. He has also played for ...

, who went down on September 25, 2011, tearing his ACL and MCL. Damian made his first career

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

touchdown catch against the

on October 2, 2011 from a pass thrown by

Matt Hasselbeck Matthew Michael Hasselbeck (born September 25, 1975) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Boston College and was drafted in the sixth round ...

Miami Dolphins

On April 10, 2014, Williams signed a one-year contract with the

. Williams was released just before the start of the 2014 season, but re-signed with the Dolphins on October 6. He was waived on October 26, in order to make room on the roster for the returning

Dion Jordan Dion Rory Jordan (born March 5, 1990) is an American football defensive end who is a free agent. He played college football at Oregon and was drafted by the Miami Dolphins with the third pick of the 2013 NFL Draft. He has also been a member of t ...

St. Louis Rams

On October 29, 2014, the

signed Williams. On August 31, 2015, the Rams released Williams.

References

External links

USC Trojans bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Damian 1988 births Living people People from Springdale, Arkansas Springdale High School alumni Players of American football from Arkansas American football wide receivers Arkansas Razorbacks football players USC Trojans football players Tennessee Titans players Miami Dolphins players St. Louis Rams players