Former Lee High star Williams welcomes more than 80 campers to weekend event
Former R.E. Lee High School and Ole Miss star Sam Williams has become a key member of the Dallas Cowboys. He held a football camp at Marbury High School over the weekend. (Tim Gayle)
By TIM GAYLE
MARBURY -- Sam Williams never had any experience with a youth football camp when he was growing up in north Autauga County, but he knew the basic idea of what he wanted to see in his camp at Marbury High on Saturday morning.
“I wanted to do something where kids just had a day of being a kid, just come out and have fun,” Williams said. “Because a bored kid is a pretty dangerous kid. Just come out and be around positive vibes, a positive atmosphere, a safe environment and just be themselves.”
Williams had plenty of help from the Bulldogs’ coaching staff at his camp for 80-plus participants, but it was clear who was the star of the camp. The Dallas Cowboys’ defensive end made sure there were plenty of pictures, replica jerseys and tumblers available, then stayed late to pose for photos and talk to as many of the participants as he could.
“They’re the future,” Williams observed. “Me coming back, being a positive influence, you never know how many lives that impacts. They see someone that was in their shoes make it. I feel like that’s a good lesson, that it can become possible.”
Williams certainly understands the need for positive reinforcement, considering the journey he took to be a professional football star. Between his junior and senior seasons, he transferred from Marbury to Robert E. Lee in Montgomery, immediately making an impact with the Generals and their coach, another underappreciated high school lineman turned NFL success, Tyrone Rogers.
Williams earned an offer from Northeast Mississippi Community College, where he grabbed attention with 53 tackles and 11 tackles for loss as a freshman in 2017. He was named a junior college All-American in 2018 -- and secured an offer from Ole Miss -- after recording 28.5 tackles for loss and 17.5 sacks.
He made eight starts for the Rebels in 2019, making 37 tackles, six sacks and 9.5 tackles for loss, then started six games as a senior in 2020 and finished with 40 tackles and eight tackles for loss. He took advantage of the additional year of eligibility from COVID and earned all-Southeastern Conference and All-American honors as a fifth-year senior. His 10.5 sacks tied a school record and were second in the conference behind Alabama’s Will Anderson.
He was selected by the Cowboys in the second round and played in 15 games last season, recording 19 tackles, seven tackles for loss and four sacks. He was fifth in Rookie of the Year voting and is projected by Dallas coaches to make a bigger impact this season.
At every step of his journey, he was largely overlooked in the beginning but quickly exceeded expectations.
“I don’t believe that any goal you set or anything you want to accomplish would be easy,” Williams said, “because if it was easy it wouldn’t be worth anything. If it had been given to me, I probably wouldn’t be in this position, so I had to work hard and sacrifice some things to get to the position I’m in today.”
He thanked the Marbury coaching staff and area churches for their help in putting on his first youth camp as well as SportsTrust, which promotes his events; Be SMART, an organization that promotes gun safety through secure gun storage; and Everytown, a non-profit organization which advocates gun violence prevention and gun control legislation.
“It was a pretty good turnout, for the first one,” he said. “Next year, hopefully, it doubles that number. And then it keeps going. I want a lot of kids to have something to do on camp day -- just come have fun, be yourself and play ball.”
Williams will remain in the area to help out Montgomery native Mack Wilson in the second annual Mack Wilson Madhouse Foundation Celebrity Softball Game at Riverwalk Stadium on June 25. Proceeds help the Make a Difference Foundation.