AHSAA 3RD ROUND: Williams an 'Ironman' for the Trojans

St. James lineman Tucker Williams (51) is a three-year starter and one of the team’s top tacklers. (File Photo)

By TIM GAYLE

St. James coach Jimmy Perry calls Tucker Williams the “iron man” of Trojan football.

“He is pure toughness,” Perry said. “You look up toughness in the dictionary, it’s got his picture in there. He’s not big, 5-11, 180, but he will hit you and make you like it.”

Williams is a three-year starter on the offensive line at guard and is the second leading tackler on defense, just behind fellow linebacker Wils Johnson. Playing two demanding positions -- Perry’s offensive style features plenty of opportunities for guards to pull and block on the edge -- for 48 minutes can be a lot to ask of a player, but the Trojans don’t plan on resting their two-way star.

“Now that it’s the playoffs, he isn’t getting any rest,” Perry said. “We’ll spell him when we can, but we’re not going to spell him at the risk of putting an inferior player in there.”

Not surprisingly, Williams doesn’t mind. He prefers to remain on the field for every snap.

“It’s been about three years and I don’t come off,” he said, “but you have to (stay on the field) when you’re at a small school. Both are really physically demanding positions but when you’ve got to win games, you do whatever it takes. If that’s what it takes to get us a win, everybody’s got to step up and do something like that.”

He broke into the starting lineup as a sophomore, playing both ways. He doesn’t know any other way. Perhaps because he jumped into the starting lineup on both sides of the ball at the same time, he doesn’t have a favorite position.

“They’re both fun,” Williams said. “We get out a lot (on the edge) and pull, but being physically imposing on somebody else is kind of fun. You can’t beat that. If you know how to use your weight and technique, you can impose yourself on anybody.”

And while he might not be the fastest player on defense, he always seems to be around the ball -- which is exactly what Perry wants from his two inside linebackers.

“I’m not the biggest or most athletic guy out there, but we watch a lot of film throughout the week and the coaches prepare us really well,” Williams said. “By the time we get to the game, we all know what to do and where to be to do our jobs.”

On Friday, the Trojans will play host to Thomasville in the 3A quarterfinals at Carlisle Field. The Tigers are 9-3 under first-year coach Clint Anderson, losing two of their final four regular-season games before winning the first two playoff rounds, including last Friday’s overtime win at Dadeville.  

“They play hard like Trinity, except they’re bigger than Trinity,” Perry said. “They want to get off blocks worse than you want to stay on blocks.”

Williams said one film study session is all it took for Thomasville to get his attention.

“I think they’re a physical team and they’re smart,” he said. “They know where to be and how to play and line up to everything. The only way to beat that is you can never stop coming. We’ve got to outsmart them and outplay them every single snap. It’s about who wants it more.”

The Trojans reached the quarterfinals for the first time since 2003 and only the third time in school history, but Williams said the Trojans can’t afford to spend much time thinking about last weekend’s history-making win at W.S. Neal.  

“It was a big thing,” he said. “Last year, we thought we would get over the hump and we came up a little short. This year, we’re not letting that happen. We’re not satisfied with being here. We want to keep going all the way. Just because we made it to the third round, the job’s not finished.”