Shaun LeJon Williams (born October 10, 1976 in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

) 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 ...

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to risk management, the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are ...

, most recently for the

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. T ...

, of 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 ...

Early years

Williams attended

Crespi Carmelite High School Crespi Carmelite High School, shortly known as Crespi, is a private Catholic all-male four-year college preparatory high school located in Encino District, Los Angeles, California. It is part of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles. The ...

Encino, California Encino (Spanish language, Spanish for "oak") is a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California. History In 1769, the Spanish Portolá expedition, first Europeans to see inland areas of California, traveled north t ...

and played both tailback and safety. He won All-CIF Division I and Del Rey League MVP in his last two seasons of his high school career.

College career

He attended

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

where he majored in Pre-Psychology. Williams started in three of his four seasons at UCLA. As a junior, started nine games and registered 59 tackles (3rd on the team) and three sacks resulting in All-

Pac-10 The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its College football, football teams compete in the NCAA D ...

Honorable Mention. In his senior season, Williams started nine games and recorded two interceptions and nine pass deflections. He also finished second on the team with 68 tackles. Was chosen for the All-Pac-10 Conference First-team.

Professional career

Williams was drafted in the first round with the 24th overall pick in

1998 NFL Draft The 1998 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 18–19, 1998, at the Theater at M ...

by the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

. In the 1998 and 1999 seasons, he mainly played in the nickel defense and

special teams In American football, the specific role that a player takes on the field is referred to as their "position". Under the modern rules of American football, both teams are allowed 11 players on the field at one time and have "unlimited free substitu ...

. Williams started every game in the 2000–2002 seasons. In 2003, Williams suffered a season-ending right knee injury in 10th game of the season versus the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

. He started two games in the 2004 season before tearing a

ligament A ligament is the fibrous connective tissue that connects bones to other bones. It is also known as ''articular ligament'', ''articular larua'', ''fibrous ligament'', or ''true ligament''. Other ligaments in the body include the: * Peritoneal li ...

in his left knee, which forced him to miss the remainder of the season. In his nine years in the NFL, Williams recorded 335 tackles, 4.5 sacks, 15 interceptions with a total of 130 yards in the returns.

NFL statistics

Post NFL

In 2013, Williams became the defensive coordinator at

William Paterson University William Paterson University, officially William Paterson University of New Jersey (WPUNJ), is a public university in Wayne, New Jersey. It is part of New Jersey's public system of higher education. Founded in 1855 and was named after American ju ...

for their football team, the Pioneers, after spending the preceding four seasons as a part-time assistant coach there. He was promoted to head coach in 2022. Williams announced the New York Giants 33rd overall pick for the 2015 NFL Draft Landon Collins.

Early years

College career

Professional career

NFL statistics

Post NFL

Head coaching record

References

See also