Many high school student-athletes, regardless of the sport they compete in, dream of doing it at the collegiate ranks. However, relatively few ever get the opportunity to pursue those dreams at the NCAA level.
One former local football standout, though, has been able to live out his dream of playing college football, and he’s been able to do it close to home.
Former Russellville High School football player Ashaad Williams is a redshirt junior for the North Alabama football program and has seen significant action with the Lions since he joined the team after graduating from Russellville in 2021. As a Golden Tiger, Williams was named all-area defensive back four times and, as a senior, helped Russellville win a Class 5A Region 8 title on its way to an appearance in the playoff quarterfinals.
As a Lion, Williams has seen more and more of the field each year. As a freshman defensive back he played in all 11 games for UNA and as a sophomore his production jumped significantly; Williams finished the year with 22 tackles, including 15 solo tackles, and he recorded 3.5 tackles for loss. At the end of last year’s campaign he really came on strong, recording a career-high seven tackles, and against the No. 4 Florida State Seminoles he added five tackles and a forced fumble.
UNA, as a team, hasn’t seen quite as much success on the field—the Lions have gone 18-40 since making the leap from Division II to Division I in 2018—but Williams feels that the current cohort of players under third-year head coach Brent Dearmon will be the ones to take the next leap forward.
“With Coach Dearmon and under his direction and with his staff, I definitely feel like we’re the team and the group of guys that are supposed to change things around here,” Williams said. “I feel like we kinda did that last year in a small way, but we didn’t always get the job done. But this year I definitely feel like we’re going to change things around here.”
Transforming the UNA football program at the Division I level may be a tad tougher than how Williams described his transition from high school to college ball. Williams credited his time in the Golden Tigers’ football program for making his pathway to the next level smoother.
“Coach (Paul) Czervionke coached me and he coached a lot of my uncles and cousins and stuff like that. He really helped me a lot. I’d say he was the one coach that really helped me the most,” Williams said. “Another thing was the strength and conditioning we had at Russellville. You know, the weight room and the field, it’s some of the nicest in the state of Alabama. I think just those things and the condition we had, that really helped out a lot and was a big plus in helping me transition to the next level.”
Of course, there were some bumps early. The biggest difference, Williams said, was the mental approach and preparation.
“It hasn’t changed too much if you know the game. I love football and this is all I’ve wanted to do since I was in middle school,” he said. “I think the biggest thing for me is…this is really like a job. You’ve gotta treat it like a job, and you’ve got to take it real serious. If you don’t take it real serious and prioritize then it’ll definitely get away from you.”
Now as an older player on the team, Williams said he tries to impart that information on recent high school grads coming into the squad.
“That’s one thing I tell the young guys when they come in. They come in and think it’s like high school, but you’ve gotta come in and buckle up,” he said. “You’ve got to mature. That’s the toughest thing—treating it like a real job.”
As Williams matures as a player at UNA, it’s not just his mentality and his approach that has gotten stricter but also his expectations for himself. Going into his junior season, Williams has set his sights higher for what he, as an individual, can accomplish.
“I really just want to add those accolades on to the work that I’m putting in,” he said. “I want to be an all-conference guy, an all-American. Those are really some of my goals that I’m shooting for this season that’ll help me get to the next level and stuff like that.”
Whatever happens on the field for Williams and the Lions this year and in the future, he said he is blessed to have the opportunity to continue his playing career in college, and his advice to others seeking the same dream he had is to never give up.
“Never give up. Don’t quit. Don’t ever let someone tell you what you can or can’t do,” he said. “At one point I was that kid in high school…going into my senior year I was wondering what I was going to do for the rest of my life. God blessed me with the chance to keep playing the game, and I’m so thankful for that. So, just never give up. Whatever you want to do, as long as you put your mind to it and put the work into it, you can do it.”
