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Williams Puts The Team First

Oct. 4, 1999

by Paul Camarata

For most Notre Dame players, the opportunity to play football means the brightest spotlight of their lives.

For Notre Dame senior defensive tackle Brad Williams, a native of Orange, Calif., it also meant playing games in colder weather.

By his senior year at Meter Dei High School, Williams was a seasoned veteran on one of America’s perennial high school football powers. Athletically he was a shark among guppies, a mountain of both individual and team achievement. When the next level came calling, however, Williams weighed far more than just his potential on the gridiron.

“The reason I picked Notre Dame was because of the people,” Williams says. “There so many opportunities here that people just don’t know about, like meeting all the legends of the past. It’s been a great experience.”

While the Irish defensive line includes two fifth-year players, Williams presence does nothing but fortify the strength and experience among the front four. After 23 career starts in the trenches, Williams entered the 1999 campaign knowing full well his importance to the squad.

The Irish coaching staff shifted from a three to a four-man defensive front in the off-season and Williams’ starting role was never in question. The impressions he’s made on the defensive coaches in the past three years had cemented it long before fall camp began.

“Toughness, consistency, a talented football player is the way I describe Brad Williams,” says Irish defensive coordinator Greg Mattison. “He’s a guy that comes to make plays.”

In his dual role as the defensive line coach and coordinator, Mattison has had an extensive opportunity to chart Williams’ progress.

“He’s steadily made improvement, he had a great spring and a good early camp,” says Mattison. “We’ve got a lot of season left and I look for him to have a great football season.”

Williams has always been considered a hallmark of consistency during his collegiate career. Within the team framework, he has been dedicated in working within and adapting to the Irish defense. His work ethic, merely tireless, has developed into a tenacity for individual improvement even with only eight more regular-season games in his collegiate career.

“I’m just concentrating on football,” says Williams. “As far as game readiness, I feel ready to go every week, but I don’t feel I’m playing as well as I can be. Right now, I’m just thinking about getting a win this week – that’s what’s important to me.”

In a demonstration of both resiliency and the type of unselfishness that does not always mark a freshman, Williams accepted a shift onto a war-torn Irish offensive line in 1996, filling in for injured guard Mike Rosenthal.

His valiant, albeit largely impromptu, performance against Navy in the Dublin, Ireland-held Shamrock Classic was one of two starts that year on offense before Williams moved back across the ball to work as a defensive reserve in the season’s final two games.

“I got to play my freshman year and it was fun,” says Williams.

Countless hours on the practice field, in the weight and film rooms have been an ever present part in the lives of Williams and his teammates.

“I think you’re going to keep seeing a Notre Dame team that will get back to where it should be and make our fans proud,” says Williams.

A rallying cry of team pride should not be underestimated. Many feel it will be intangibles such as pride and dedication that will soon vault the Irish back among the nation’s elite.

“We have talented players and that’s what is important for the program,” says Williams, who will graduate with a degree in finance this spring.

Williams speaks especially high of his young teammates on the defensive line.

“Anthony Weaver is already making a name for himself, and all the young guys look impressive,” says Williams. “Once they put in some more time in the weight room, they’re going to be unreal.”

As the twilight of Williams’ career at Notre Dame unfolds, his thoughts for the future are with the entire team. The same spotlight that once met him is ready to shift to the next generation of Fighting Irish.

“I just want to show the younger guys what Notre Dame’s all about,” Williams says. “That’s all I want to leave.”

Brad Williams