Ninth-grade football practice at Battlefield High School in Haymarket, Va., was a week away, but Wesley Williams didn’t want to wait … and he didn’t want to play on the freshman team in 2018.
Wesley’s older brother by four years, Myles, prodded him to attend the first day of varsity tryouts. Make an impression and possibly play on the junior varsity.
Upon showing up, the varsity coach told Wesley: “You know the JV tryouts are next week?”
“I’m just here to give it a shot,” Wesley told the coach.
It was a shot worth taking and a shot earned because Williams ended as a four-year varsity player before continuing his journey at Duke and now as a fourth-round defensive lineman for the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Entering the preseason opener at the New Orleans Saints on Aug. 15, Williams has showed the kind of preciousness that came in handy at Battlefield.
Complimented for his football intelligence, Williams has played both defensive end positions and also moved inside for pass-rush plays through two weeks. Given a shot, he is capitalizing.
“He’s really smart,” defensive coordinator Anthony Campanile said. “He’s got great attention to detail so he’s been able to move around a little bit, which as a young guy is tough. We’re hopeful that’s able to give us a little bit of help (inside) as well.”
Williams, who doesn’t turn 22 until Sept. 22, is expected to see significant playing time against the Saints.
“When you’re a rookie, there is so much information and play styles and technique to intake,” he told me after the Jaguars’ walk-through on Aug. 12. “Especially over the last two weeks, I’ve seen myself make progress just in the little details that allows me to play so much faster.”
Staying committed to Duke
Wesley’s father, Orson, played basketball at Hampden-Sydney (Va.) College and is a regional restaurant manager in Prince William County in the Washington, D.C. area. Wesley’s mom, Paula, is a career educator, first as an ESA (English as a second language) teacher and currently the principal at Moorfield Station Elementary School in Ashburn, Va.
Wesley was a tight end and defensive lineman in high school and Pittsburgh offered him a scholarship late in his sophomore season. He committed to Duke and coach David Cutcliffe and defensive line coach Ben Albert in June 2021.
Williams didn’t play for either coach. Cutcliffe and Duke did the “mutual separation” thing after the 2021 season and Albert wasn’t retained (he’s currently at UMass).
Re-open his recruiting? No way, thanks in part to Albert’s message.
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“Duke, as an academic institution, is unbeatable and (Albert) called me and said, ‘Hey, I didn’t recruit you to play for me, I recruited you to go to Duke,’” Williams said.
Mike Elko took over the Blue Devils’ program and Williams redshirted in 2022. It wasn’t by choice, but he quickly saw the benefit.
“That was the plan they had for me to let my body develop and it was the best thing that could happen so I could adapt my mind to college,” he said.
Williams’ weight yo-yo’ed at Duke based on his role and coach — 250 pounds when he arrived on campus, up to 285 when he moved to defensive tackle in 2022, down to 275 as an end in 2023, down to 245 in 2024 and back up to 265 last year.
(See what I mean by yo-yo’ed?)
Before the Jaguars’ walkthrough, Williams checked in at 262 pounds.
“That’s a great spot for me,” he said.
Duke was a great spot for Williams. He had 1 1/2 sacks playing at defensive tackle as a freshman. Elko departed for Texas A&M after the season. Williams had a chance to follow him to A&M, but stayed committed to Duke, eventually earning a degree in public policy.
Williams had a team-high 7 1/2 sacks in 2024.
“I was playing really free and it was a new defense and I was excited to play for Coach (Manny) Diaz, and the plays went my way,” Williams said.
Williams’ sack total sunk to two last year, but the Blue Devils won the ACC championship.
“That was our ultimate goal besides a national championship,” he said. “It was super gratifying.”
About the statistics, Williams said: “It was important to focus on being a good teammate and doing by 1/11th and I think that helped us win games.”
Carving out rookie role
Entering the draft, Williams had minimal contact with the Jaguars aside from a formal interview at the scouting combine. The Jaguars were undeterred by his statistical dip.
“Our preparation for the draft isn’t based on one year,” defensive line coach Matt Edwards said. “We dive deeper than that and we saw the potential and we saw things we value on his tape. He plays incredibly hard, he plays (well using) his hands and there has been sack production.”
To Campanile’s point about Williams’ mental bandwidth, the Jaguars have used him at that “4i” end, which is on the inside shoulder of the offensive tackle, commonly referred as the “big” end and requires power. On other plays, he will play the “5” (outside the tackle’s shoulder) and all the way out to the “9” (outside of the tight end’s shoulder), which requires power and quickness.
“He’s a guy that’s going to get bigger and he’s already a big guy,” Campanile said. “He’s got a little bit of a similar stature to (Travon Walker) and he’s a twitchy guy so that’s what we really like about Wesley.”
On the Jaguars’ defensive end depth chart, Walker and Josh Hines-Allen are the no doubt starters and second-year players Danny Striggow and B.J. Green are in good position to be the second wave. But a good August on special teams and showing versatility could earn Williams a role as the fifth end and be active for the Sept. 13 opener against the Cleveland Browns.
“(Learning) is a point of emphasis and just being available because we have such a great, complete roster here,” Williams said. “It’s about finding a way to be on the field and have the capacity to do it when I’m called on.”
Contact O’Halloran at rohalloran@gannett.com or on X at @ryanohalloran. Listen to Ryan on 1010AM on Tuesdays (6:35 p.m. on “Into The Night"), Thursdays (1:15 on "XL Primetime") and Fridays (4-6 p.m. on "The Lead").
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Rookie Wesley Williams brings versatility to Jaguars' defense