Leonard Williams (American football)
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Williams playing for USC in 2012 | |||||||||
| No. 92 New York Jets | |||||||||
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| Position: | Defensive end | ||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||
| Date of birth: | June 20, 1994 | ||||||||
| Place of birth: | Bakersfield, California | ||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | ||||||||
| Weight: | 302 lb (137 kg) | ||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||
| High school: | Daytona Beach (FL) Mainland | ||||||||
| College: | USC | ||||||||
| NFL Draft: | 2015 / Round: 1 / Pick: 6 | ||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||
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| Roster status: | Active | ||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics as of Week 12, 2016 | |||||||||
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Leonard Austin Williams[1] (born June 20, 1994) is an American football defensive end for the New York Jets of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Jets with the sixth pick in the first round of the 2015 NFL Draft. He played college football at USC.
Early years
Williams attended Mainland High School in Daytona Beach, Florida, where he was a two-sport athlete in football and track. As a senior he had 103 tackles and 10.5 sacks, helping Mainland to reach the FHSAA 6A state semi-finals, where they lost to Miami Central 7–17. However, the loss was overturned in August 2012 as Miami Central forfeited its entire season due to a transfer infraction.[2]
Considered a four-star recruit by Rivals.com, Williams was ranked as the fifth best strongside defensive end recruit in his class.[3]
College career
As a true freshman in 2012, Williams started nine of 13 games at defensive tackle, recording 64 tackles, eight sacks and an interception. He was named the Pac-12 Defensive Freshman of the Year.[4][5] As a sophomore in 2013, Williams was moved from tackle to defensive end.[6] After recording 74 tackles and six sacks, Williams was a named a first-team All-Pac-12 selection and was an All-American by ESPN.[7][8] As a junior in 2014, he recorded 80 tackles and seven sacks. He was named Team MVP, first team All-Pac-12 and was an All-American by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) and ESPN.[9][10]
After his junior season, Williams announced that he would forgo his senior year and enter the 2015 NFL Draft.[11][12]
Professional career
2015 NFL Draft
In May 2014, Williams was projected a top-4 selection in the 2015 NFL Draft by various mock drafts.[13][14][15] By October 2014, Williams was projected as a top-3 selection in the 2015 NFL Draft.[16] In the months leading up to the draft Williams was regularly the 2nd pick in mock drafts,[17][18] but in the final weeks most experts predicted that Marcus Mariota would instead be the 2nd pick, with Williams subsequently falling to 3-5th place. He was the 6th overall pick and the first player from the USC Trojans picked in the 2015 Draft.[19]
| Ht | Wt | Arm length | Hand size | 40-yd dash | 10-yd split | 20-yd split | 20-ss | 3-cone | Vert | Broad | BP | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 ft 4⅝ in | 302 lb | 34⅝ in | 10⅝ in | 4.97 s | 1.73 s | 2.88 s | 4.53 s | 7.59 s | 29½ in | 8 ft 10 in | |||||||||
| All values from NFL Combine | |||||||||||||||||||
New York Jets
Williams was selected by the New York Jets sixth overall in the first round of the 2015 draft.[20] He was the highest selected USC defensive lineman since Darrell Russell in 1997. Williams signed a four-year, $18.6 million contract on May 8, 2015.[21]
2015 season
Williams made his professional debut on August 11, 2015 in the first preseason game against the Detroit Lions without recording a stat. In Preseason Game 2 against the Atlanta Falcons on August 21, 2015, Williams made 4 tackles, including a sack on T.J. Yates in the endzone for a safety.[22] During Preseason Game 3 against the interleague-rival New York Giants on August 29, 2015, Williams left the game with an apparent knee injury. X-Rays and MRIs were both negative, revealing no ligament damage.[23] On September 7, 2015, he had his jersey number switched to #92 from #62.[24] On his regular season debut against the Cleveland Browns on September 13, 2015, Williams made a total of 5 tackles.[25] On the December 6, 2015, Williams recorded his first full Quarterback sack in a Giants-Jets rivalry game. In 16 games of his rookie year in 2015, Williams made 63 tackles with 3 sacks.
2016 season
Opening the season against the Cincinnati Bengals on September 11, 2016, Williams had 2.5 sacks for his first career multi-sack game. The Jets combined for 6 sacks, but still lost 22-23.
References
- ↑ "Profile". rostermon.com.
- ↑ "State finds Miami Central used ineligible Broward County quarterback in 2011". Florida Sun Sentinel. August 15, 2012.
- ↑ Rivals.com
- ↑ Ex-Mainland DL Leonard Williams named Pac-12 freshman defensive player of the year
- ↑ Pac-12 football awards and all-conference team announced
- ↑ USC football: Leonard Williams picked up where he left off
- ↑ Pac-12 football awards and all-conference teams announced
- ↑ 2013 AT&T ESPN All-America Team
- ↑ USC defensive lineman Leonard Williams chosen most valuable player
- ↑ USC's Leonard Williams named to coaches All-America team
- ↑ Leonard Williams skips senior year
- ↑ Leonard Williams leaving USC for 2015 NFL draft
- ↑ Brugler, Dane (May 11, 2014). "2015 NFL mock draft: Big Ten, ACC prospects lead the way". CBS Sports.
- ↑ Sobleski, Brent (May 11, 2014). "2015 mock draft: Jameis Winston slips out of Top 5". USA Today.
- ↑ Burke, Chris (May 13, 2015). "2015 NFL Mock Draft 1.0: Cedric Ogbuehi goes No. 1 overall to Oakland Raiders". Sports Illustrated.
- ↑ Burke, Chris (October 21, 2014). "NFL draft Big Board 2.0: Who stands out in class with no clear frontrunner?". Sports Illustrated.
- ↑ Zierlein, Lance (April 8, 2015). "Mock Draft 4.0: Perriman's ascent continues". NFL.com. Retrieved April 30, 2015.
- ↑ Brooks, Bucky (April 23, 2015). "Mock draft 5.0: Mariota lands with Rams". NFL.com. Retrieved April 30, 2015.
- ↑ http://www.nfl.com/player/leonardwilliams/2552486/draft
- ↑ Hanzus, Dan (April 30, 2015). "Jets select Leonard Williams with the No. 6 pick". National Football League. Archived from the original on May 9, 2015. Retrieved April 30, 2015.
- ↑ Cimini, Rich (May 8, 2015). "Jets sign No. 1 pick Leonard Williams to $18.6 million contract". ESPN New York. Archived from the original on May 9, 2015. Retrieved May 9, 2015.
- ↑ Howerton, Jamir. "Saturday Spotlight: Leonard Williams Roars". NewYorkJets.com. New York Jets official site. Retrieved August 23, 2015.
- ↑ Alper, Josh. "No ligament damage for Leonard Williams". ProFootballTalk.NBCSports.com. NBC Sports. Retrieved August 30, 2015.
- ↑ Lange, Randy. "Numbers Game: Leonard Williams to Wear #92". NewYorkJets.com. New York Jets official site. Retrieved September 7, 2015.
- ↑ New York Jets bio
