EWU’s Williams makes presence known
There was a much-anticipated, and welcomed – for Eastern Washington University football fans, at least – Renard Williams sighting at Roos Field last weekend.
And it couldn’t have come at a better time for a struggling EWU football team that was trying to snap a four-game losing streak against a physical Weber State team, dedicated to punishing opponents with its power running game.
Williams, a 6-foot-2, 300-pound senior defensive tackle and consensus preseason All-American who ranks No. 8 on Eastern’s career sacks list with 19.5, had been all but invisible during the Eagles’ disappointing 0-4 start.
But in last Saturday’s 27-21 Big Sky Conference win over WSU, he made himself impossible to ignore by becoming a fixture in the Wildcats’ backfield.
And while Williams numbers – four tackles, including two for losses and one-half of a sack, along with two quarterback hurries – weren’t all that impressive, his overall effort was.
“I definite struggled early on this season,” said Williams, who went into Saturday’s showdown with just nine tackles and one sack, “so this was big game for me.
“I had a lot of people counting on me, and asking ‘Where are you? When are you going to show up? We need you to be the Renard of last season.’ So that’s who I tried to be out there.”
Part of being Renard again meant the former South Kitsap prep standout did his share of celebrating his biggest tackles with his signature salute to Eastern fans in the stands. And one of those post-tackle celebrations nearly cost the Eagles in a big way.
With his team leading 24-7 early in the second half, Williams broke through to drop Weber running back Tanner Hinds for a 4-yard loss on third down, setting up an apparent Wildcats punt from the EWU 39-yard line. But after making the tackle, Williams launched into a prolonged celebration that drew an unsportmanlike conduct penalty and gave WSU a first down at Eastern’s 24.
The ’Cats scored three plays later to cut the Eagles’ lead to 24-14, and Williams was understandably a bit more subdued the rest of the game.
“Me and that ref had some word prior to that play, so I think that might have played a role in it,” Williams said, when asked about the potentially devastating penalty. “I’ve just go to watch getting too excessive with celebrating, I know, but I tend to do that after every big play.
“I did tone it down after that, though, because I can’t cause my team too many of those kinds of penalties.”
Eastern coach Beau Baldwin spoke to Williams after the penalty, but did not make a big deal out of it.
“I told him to just be smart,” Baldwin said, “but at the same time, he’s an emotional player and you don’t want to take all of that emotion away. The penalty hurt, but when you have an emotional guy like Renard making a big play, that kind of thing can happen.”
Baldwin seemed more interested in the way Williams made life miserable for Weber’s offense.
“I saw them in their backfield quite and bit, and it was awesome to see,” he said. “And I think we’re going to see even more of it. “We’re going to see Renard down there at Northern Arizona (in Flagstaff on Saturday) raising havoc, too.
“I can’t wait.”