Tré Williams and the impact he leaves wherever he goes

Joe Casamento, called ‘Coach Caz’ by just about everyone, has seen a lot over his years coaching high school football in New York and the DMV. For more than 50 years, he led undefeated seasons, coached over a hundred Division I athletes and won state championships. 

And yet, reflecting on his years as head coach at St. John’s College High School in Washington, D.C., Tré Williams still stands out. 

Casamento remembers a practice when, as he often arranged, St. John’s first-string offense lined up against the second-string defense. Naturally, things were lopsided, with one side full of 17 and 18 year olds already fielding high-major offers and the other full of guys pushing themselves to get to that next level. 

Williams didn’t see it like that. There he stood, as a senior defensive lineman, cheering “like a madman” for his teammates from the sidelines. 

“That guy might not be playing on Friday night or Saturday, but it’s important to him that somebody’s recognizing that he’s doing well,” Casamento told The Michigan Daily. “Because that feeds to his confidence, and he gets better, then he makes the guy who’s in front of him better, because he’s pushing them.”

Williams didn’t care if the guy he was celebrating was on the first- or second-team defense. It just mattered that he was on defense, and that he was making a play. As one of St. John’s captains, Williams understood the importance of lifting up his younger, newer teammates. Because just a year prior, he was in their shoes.

When Williams was a junior in high school, he moved from Connecticut to D.C., leaving his tiny private school in the lush Connecticut suburbs to join an elite football program in the DMV. Already a physically gifted athlete, Williams could’ve gone to a number of high schools and been the star. Instead, he wanted to be surrounded by players of and above his caliber.   

“It required him to do things differently and to pay attention to technique and stuff,” Casamento said. “He just couldn’t overpower people and be dominant without really working at his craft. … He was looking to come someplace where he would have to compete and get better. And he did.”

Soon enough, Williams excelled. In coaches meetings, Casamento and his staff brought him up frequently. On the field, Williams was making play after play. Transferring schools became just another step on his path, and he had few challenges learning St. John’s playbook and acclimating to a new defense. Some aspects of his playstyle weren’t fully fleshed out, having spent the past few years steamrolling lesser competition, but his consistency and technique quickly improved.

It was off the field, though, where Williams was tasked with a different challenge. Elected as a team captain, Williams was asked to lead. Mike Ward, the defensive line coach at St. John’s when Williams played, thinks of it like a piggy bank.

“When you start a piggy bank, you put money in it,” Ward told The Daily. “Eventually you’re going to do what — break it open, right? And then when you see how much money is in it, you’re like … ‘Shit, man, I wish I would have started this earlier.’ When you finally crack it open, you’re like, ‘If I would have started sooner and put more money in, I would have more money.’ So to me, that’s the same way leadership works. The sooner you start it, the better you’re gonna be off in the long run. Any coach who you’re going to play for, once they see that you can do it for yourself, they’re going to ask you to do it for other people.”

When Williams arrived at St. John’s, Ward saw a socially intelligent guy with a knack for bringing people together through his energy alone. Already in the weight room and on the field, Williams led by example. Organically, Ward remembers, that type of leadership translated into a more vocal, personal style. 

“If it’s after a loss, I’m sure he was going up to young guys, grabbing them and, ‘Hey, it’s a long season, I’ve been through this,’ ” Ward said. “ … If there’s guys who are a little more lax about a loss, I’m sure he’ll get after those guys.”

Williams was impactful as a leader and a player with the Cadets, earning a four-star rating and a ranking of the No. 44 player in the country by ESPN.  

When it was time for college, Williams, once again, could’ve went anywhere. He chose Clemson, and after working up the depth chart, broke out in the College Football Playoffs last year against Texas.

In the first round matchup, he muscled through a stacked Longhorns offensive line for two sacks. Although the Tigers eventually lost that game, Williams’ impact was indelible. And when Michigan was looking to reload its defensive line after losing first-round draft picks Mason Graham and Kenneth Grant to the NFL, Williams was an easy target.

“You watch him on film, he was extremely stout and explosive,” Wolverines defensive line coach Lou Esposito said Aug. 6. “And those are the guys that we want. He’s not a gap in attack guy, just run up the field and create horizontal lanes. He fit what we wanted on the field. Then obviously, after you sit down with him and meet him, his personality is electric.”

When Williams transferred to Michigan in January, he was determined to do what he did when he arrived at St. John’s. Put his head down and go to work. Quietly hone his technique. Live in the weight room. 

But sometime around spring ball, Esposito wanted more, just as Ward did all those years ago. He called Williams into his office, prompting him to be a more vocal leader. As one of the older players on the Wolverines’ defense and in their locker room, he knew Williams had more to offer.

“I kind of was a guy who didn’t really speak out as much, because I had a lot of guys that were there (at Clemson) that was doing that,” Williams said Tuesday. “When it was brought to me that we needed another vocal leader on the defense, in the defensive line room specifically, me and Rayshaun (Benny) and Trey (Pierce) hold that role together.”

In the back of his mind, Williams knew that he’d be seen as a veteran at any school he’d transfer to. Nonetheless, stepping into a leadership role wasn’t immediate. For Williams, leading a defense doesn’t just mean one thing.

“Really just speaking what’s on my mind, but also, saying what I’m doing,” Williams said. “I can’t tell somebody to do something if I’m not doing it myself.”

Against Oklahoma last week, Williams had three total tackles, including two for loss. He’s not a starter, but he’s firmly in the rotation. Perhaps more important for the graduate tackle, he’s someone that the entire defense leans on and listens to, as a leader. 

“​​There’s guys that’s still gonna have to play for this defense after I leave,” Williams said. “I don’t want to be the vet in the room that didn’t give back.”

Williams will graduate at the end of the season, while the majority of Michigan’s defense will not. But despite his year-long stint with the Wolverines, through leadership on and off the field, Williams has already made his mark.

The post Tré Williams and the impact he leaves wherever he goes appeared first on The Michigan Daily.