Avantae Williams, who waited ‘long time’ for UM turnover chain, gets help beyond football
The clock was ticking toward halftime Saturday, when University of Miami safety Avantae Williams turned a Hard Rock Stadium traffic jam into a moment he’ll remember the rest of his life.
On third-and-15 from the Georgia Tech 41, Yellow Jackets quarterback Jeff Sims lofted a pass that Williams never let leave his sight. The second-year UM freshman leaped over wide receiver Kyric McGowan’s right shoulder and seized the football, emerging from the jam and weaving 32 yards through more traffic.
Williams’ welcome-to-college-football’s-big-time moment then brought him to the sideline, where Miami’s turnover chain was draped over his head. He seemed to be having plenty of fun.
“Honestly, when I caught the interception it didn’t even feel real,’’ said Williams, who spoke to the Miami media for the first time in person Tuesday and awaits his first game against Florida State (3-6, 2-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) on Saturday in Tallahassee. “It hit me when I got up and I was seeing a crowd. I was really excited.
“I’ve been waiting a long time to wear the turnover chain. It’s a blessing,’’ he said, adding with a grin, “It’s really heavy. It’s real. It’s not fake.’’
Felony arrest
Williams is the second-year freshman whose UM journey has been eventful, to say the least. Out of DeLand High, the 6-0, 198-pound Williams was the 2020 national recruiting class’s No. 1 safety (Rivals.com). He sat out last season with an unspecified medical issue, then was briefly dismissed from the team in late July after a domestic violence allegation in which he was initially charged with three counts of aggravated battery, a felony, on his then-31-week pregnant former girlfriend.
Miami reinstated Williams in late August after Miami-Dade prosecutors closed the case after the woman said she wouldn’t press charges. As a condition of Williams’ reinstatement, the Hurricanes suspended him six games. He missed all of fall camp and the first two weeks of September practice. Included in the suspension were requirements Williams had to meet, some ongoing, to return to the team.
“We want this to be educational, to be able to affect Avantae down the road, more so than anything we can teach on a football field, so some of the things [will include] mentorship, educational opportunities, the groups that he’s gong to participate in and he’s got to meet those benchmarks to get back up to play,’’ UM coach Manny Diaz said when Williams was reinstated.
Getting help
Williams was asked Tuesday how he has grown off the field since he rejoined the team.
“I think I’m better at communicating — mostly communicating and just being an overall better individual and being able to help others that need help,’’ Williams said. “Overall communicating, that was something that I really needed to work on. I’m better at communicating and speaking to people.’’
He said he’s still “meeting with people’’ as part of the obligations he had to fulfill. “It was knowing what I had to do. I talk to deans. It’s been good, really good. Everyone is really helping me in the program. I’m enjoying it. It’s actually fun. It’s not bad.’’
Football force
Williams’ long-awaited debut came Oct. 23 against No. 18 North Carolina State. He is playing plenty of special teams as his snap count has gradually increased. In UM’s 33-30 win over Georgia Tech, Williams played a career-high 32 snaps, including 27 mostly third-down packages with freshman standout starting safeties Kamren Kinchens (72 total) and James Williams (59), no relation to Avantae.
In three games for UM (5-4, 3-2), Avantae Williams has four solo tackles and the pick.
“The play that Tae made was obviously special, the interception.’’ Diaz said on WQAM this week, noting that Williams has been a strong special teams contributor. “In the team meeting [Sunday] night we called him out for making a couple great plays on punt coverage. And those are as important as anything, because we’re coming down the stretch and you gotta find a way to help us win.
“It’s not just the spectacular, it’s doing whatever it takes.’’
Diaz said that all three have different skill sets, and that Kinchens “ is probably the most comfortable manning up wideouts.”
Three youngsters
“But they’re all learning, they’re all getting better. It’s like that last drive when Georgia Tech is trying to drive the length of the field. You’ve got those three young guys out there. You’re like, ‘Holy cow, here we go.’ It’s like preschool out there. You got some talented little students but sometimes you look and turn around for a second and they’ve got crayons and they’re coloring on the wall. And [you’re thinking] ‘Oh... what are we doing?
“It’s fun watching them all out there at the same time. That’s something that can be part of their future here together — obviously they’re all playing in the dime package.”
Tuesday, however, James Williams was in a red no-contact jersey during the media portion of practice, and appeared to have something wrong with his left arm. He was neither using his left arm nor getting balls thrown to him, and others were helping him stretch the arm during practice.
T-Rob talks
UM defensive backs coach Travaris Robinson spoke this week of how impressed he has been with all three safeties, and how eager they are to improve and learn.
“One thing about Avantae, we all know he’s physical,’’ Robinson said. “He’ll tackle. That’s not an issue with him. He does a really good job with that. Just some of the detailed stuff of playing the position — the pad level, understanding exactly what we’re trying to get done. He’s doing a really good job of coming in and meeting extra with everybody.
“They’re guys who don’t think they got it. That’s the one thing you get into playing young players because the media, the social media, the everybody pats them on the back and tells them all the good plays. I try to identify the negative plays and say, ‘OK, Do you want me to put that on your Twitter? Do you want me to send that to the media?’”
Robinson said the three are close friends, “but at the end of the day they want to outplay each other, they want to be on the field longer than each other.”
FSU factor
When asked what he knew and heard about the FSU rivalry as he approaches his first game there, Wlliams said, “We don’t like FSU, we’re going to beat FSU. That’s all we’re worried about.’’
FSU is 72nd nationally in passing yards allowed, giving up an average of 235.1 per game.
He said playing with James Williams and Kinchens together at one time has been “really fun.’’
“When all three of us are in the game, even when it’s just those two, we are the best defensive backs in the nation. That’s how we attack every day and we will continue to... I don’t think nobody is better than us.’’
