Rodney Colin Williams (born April 25, 1977) is an American former gridiron football punter.

College career

Williams, who played from 1995 to 1998, left

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...

as the school's career leader in punting average at 41.1 yards a kick. His single-season average of 45.64 yards per punt in 1997 set a school record that stood until Pressley Harvin III broke it in 2020 with an average of 48.0 yards per punt. That same season, he had a school record 553 punting yards against

Florida State Florida State University (FSU) is a public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher e ...

. In November 2011, Williams was inducted into the Georgia Tech Sports Hall of Fame.

Professional career

Williams was drafted out of Georgia Tech by the

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 arr ...

in the seventh round of the 1999 NFL Draft. Williams played 2 seasons in NFL Europe where he was a Special Teams Captain for the 2000 World Bowl Champions, Rhine Fire. In 2001 landing a job with the New York Giants. At the time, Williams was the only

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

punter in the NFL, and was just the fourth in the league's history. Williams set a team record with a 90-yard punt on

Monday Night Football ''ESPN Monday Night Football'' (abbreviated as ''MNF'' and also known as ''ESPN Monday Night Football on ABC'' for simulcasts) is an American live television broadcast of weekly National Football League (NFL) games currently airing on ESPN, A ...

on September 10, 2001 in Denver against the

Broncos A bucking horse is any breed or either gender of horse with a propensity to buck. They have been, and still are, referred to by various names, including bronco, broncho, and roughstock. The harder they buck, the more desirable they are for rod ...

, a record that stands to date. Williams officially retired from the NFL in 2007.

References

External links

nfl.com profile
1977 births Living people American football punters Canadian football punters Edmonton Elks players Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football players New York Giants players Players of American football from Decatur, Georgia {{Amfoot-punter-stub