RB DeJuan Williams eyes improvement in the running game, looks to hit his stride vs. Towson

jmcconn3
1 day ago
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Running back DeJuan Williams arrived at Maryland 21 months ago as a former four-star out of St. Frances (MD), but he knew that his first months on campus would be spent battling back from a torn ACL that derailed his summer senior season. Williams would eventually appear in three games during his true freshman season to get his first glimpse of college football as he notched 46 yards on eight attempts, including his first career touchdown in the season opener vs. UConn.

With Nolan Ray sidelined in the spring after undergoing offseason surgery, Williams was able to capitalize on the additional reps to cement himself as a power back with home-run play potential. “DeJuan was kind of coming off of an injury out of high school. He's going to be really, really good for us this year,” new running backs coach Louis Swaba said of the sophomore in the spring.

Now with a full offseason under his belt and stepping into an expanded role in Maryland’s rushing attack, Williams is looking to ignite the rushing attack heading into the non-conference finale vs. Towson.

Dejuan Williams, the redshirt freshman and Baltimore native, looks to make his mark as the season starts to ramp up for the Terps. Williams comes into the game week wanting to create a presence, looking to improve on the teams run game thus far.

“Up front, we all young even in the running back room,” Williams said. “We are still leaning, we’re growing everyday you know, the first two games we didn’t do too bad, but it’s not what we wanted.”

Improvement was on Mike Locksley’s mind throughout the first two games as well, mentioning in his opening game presser that teams usually make their biggest jumps from the first game to the second game, and that did not seem to be the case in the backfield. From a total of 112 total rushing yards in a week one victory over FAU, to dropping sub 100 yards against NIU, there is a sense of urgency on running the ball more.

“I’m expecting that they’ll [Towson] run a three-down front for backers, so we should be running the ball a lot this weekend,” Williams said. “It should be an eight-man box so that we can run the ball on them more than we did from week one and week two.”

There is a learning curve to be considered when thinking about the run game this early into the season. Williams mentioned how offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton and his offense are preparing him for the rest of the season, and what expectations can be had.

“The biggest learning curve just from the offense is that the offense had changed from last year for sure. Having Coach Pep come from the NFL, you know, a lot of his terminology to learn from him,” Williams said. “Protection, that’s a big thing that now, reading the corners and how they move around the field and see who’s blitzing.”

Those learning curves are going to come quick with the Terps heading into Big Ten play after Towson. Williams looks to be homed in on the goals that he has set going into those games.

“I’ve just been working on catching the ball all this week, definitely will do that next week going on Wisconsin. Making plays, getting touchdowns, and of course, the main thing is we need to win these Big Ten games, that’s very important.”

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