Quinnen Williams discussed his struggles at Alabama while waiting for his opportunity to get on the field during a recent interview on “The Pivot.”
Williams played for the Crimson Tide from 2016 to 2018 before being drafted by the New York Jets in the first round of the 2019 NFL Draft. The Birmingham, Alabama native had to wait for his opportunity to be a starter for the Crimson Tide, which was a challenge for him. He revealed he considered leaving during his first couple of years in Tuscaloosa.
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“It was a hard experience,” Williams said. “It was many times, this before like NIL and transport portal, like there’s been many times where coaches that left our staff were going to get head coaching jobs other places, and I almost went with them, you know what I’m saying? Like different top schools too. It was one of those things where I go back to God a lot because I had to pray. I pray about every single thing I do. I asked God to show me the way and show me the direction I want to go in. A guy Alabama right now named Josh Chapman, who from where I’m from, was just telling me like, yo, like you learn like you’re not ready yet. You learn from the guys in front of you. You work hard and when you get ready, it’s gonna be your time. I understood what he said when I got drafted, but in that midst I’m like, bro its kind of hard sitting back here waiting and then you see (Daron) Payne and Jonathan Allen and all these guys go first round. It’s like they ain’t finna take no first round, and he ain’t got on the field yet. But I got my opportunity my third year. I never played like, people don’t understand. I only played 15 games my whole college career. So I got my opportunity my third year, and I was ready, I made the best of it. I went out there, I balled out and God just blessed me with the stats, the skill, everything I needed to go top three. So, it was just a blessing in my eyes and a blessing for I guess God to help me stay at that moment. because I was definitely finna leave.”
Williams’ decision to stick it out at Alabama proved to be the right one. He won the Outland Trophy in 2018 when he had 18.5 tackles for loss.
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