Hard Coaching Just What Jordyn Williams Needed

By Pete DiPrimio
IUHoosiers.com

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Jordyn Williams thought he knew what was coming with this Indiana receiving opportunity.

Of course he did.

Williams had played high school football for an NFL Hall of Famer. He'd excelled against some of the nation's prep best in the talent-rich states of Georgia and Texas, and earned four-star recruiting recognition along the way.

He'd put up huge football numbers, lettered in basketball and track and field, earned academic honor roll status (he's set to study nursing, a difference-making profession in case football doesn't work out) and done everything to separate himself as all great players do.

It was enough to draw Indiana coaching interest, enough to top receiver coach Grant Heard's recruiting wish list, and that meant honesty as you need to hear it to thrive and help the Hoosiers win.

"He told me before I got here -- 'I'm going to be hard on you,' " Williams says.

He thought he knew hard.

He thought wrong.

"I didn't expect it to be how it was," Williams says, "but I'm glad he threw me in the fire early. Now I know what to expect in the fall."

Heard's ability to develop elite receivers is nationally known. The latest example is Ty Fryfogle, who last year emerged as the Big Ten Receiver of the Year, with a pair of 200-yard-plus receiving games.

Heard does it with tough love, tough coaching, and tough preparation. Little things matter, and woe to those who don't get it.

"Working with Coach Heard is a whole other ballgame," Williams says. "He's a great coach.

"What he's taught me are the little things. It's not so much catching the ball, it's what you do afterward. It's getting the right amount of yards. Those little things that can take your game from here (gesturing to chest level) to here (raising his hand above his head). He's one of those sticklers about the little things. If you can master those, it will work out."

The 6-1, 184-pound Williams is used to bigger-than-life coaching. Last year, after transferring from Georgia's Westover High School to Texas' Trinity Christian School, he got to work with offensive coordinator Deion Sanders.

Yes, THAT Deion Sanders, the NFL Hall of Famer who dominated as a defensive back and kick returner with a blazing 4.27 40-yard-dash time. He also played some receiver as well as major league baseball. He's now the head coach at Jackson State.

Under Sanders as a senior, Williams caught 50 passes for 1,466 yards and 10 touchdowns. The previous season in Georgia, Williams caught 84 passes for 1,278 yards and 12 TDs.

What was it like playing for Sanders?

"He's an outstanding coach at all aspects, on and off the field. I won't say he's just like any other coach because he's not, but when it comes down to business, he handles the business first. He taught and instilled that in all of us.

"I carried it on. I got here and am still doing it. I hope all the things he taught me in the year I was around and with him and teammates and family, I want to show people here I still have that same mentality."

Regardless of coaching mentors, jumping from high school to college is formidable. Williams finds perspective from his father, Richard.

"One thing my pops always told me was, '100 yards is 100 yards'. Wherever I go, as long as I have a football in my hands, I'm going to make a way with it."

Williams' way included skipping his final semester of high school to enroll mid-year at Indiana. That gives him an edge heading into the season.

"It really put me ahead of the ball. I could tell from the freshmen that are just now coming in, I'm ahead of them. It put me ahead of the curve and put me ahead of the game of where I'm supposed to be and where coaches want me to be for the season."
Going from Georgia to Texas to Indiana wasn't the route he expected, but it might make all the difference.

"I had never been to Indiana," he says. "I never visited. It was a real big difference from what I'm used to. I had to take a big chance and believe in what the coaches were telling me, believing in the players that we can really make a difference at Indiana."

IU has plenty of difference-making receivers, from Fryfogle to transfers D.J. Matthews Jr. of Florida State and Camron Buckley of Texas A&M to returning veterans Miles Marshall, Jacolby Hewitt, and Javon Swinton.

Playing time must be earned, which is why Heard pushes Williams, and all the receivers, so hard.

Such competition could ratchet up the receiver room tension. That it does not reflects IU's Love-Each-Other culture that ensures team overshadows individual.

"The competition is always heavy at a big program," Williams says. "The receivers I've been working with, especially Fry and Buck, they put me under their wings to show me the ropes and show me the ways to be a Big Ten receiver, how to make big plays, how to determine what route you want to go down. They showed me and helped a lot."

Indiana University Athletics

Related News

Players Mentioned

Camron Buckley

Ty Fryfogle

Jacolby Hewitt

Miles Marshall

D.J. Matthews Jr.

Javon Swinton

Jordyn Williams

Related Videos