By Bob Sutton
Special to The Alamance News
A few years ago, Jimmyll Williams was competing against Southern Alamance in football and baseball.
He’s back in Alamance County, now a key member of Elon’s backfield.
The running back has provided a spark for the Phoenix, in part coming from a team-high 531 rushing yards. He’s a transfer from Virginia State.
“I wanted to find more competition,” Williams said. “I know the higher you go, the better. One of the schools that showed a lot of interest in me was Elon.”
Before college, he was making a big impact for Durham Hillside, which became a chief football rival for Southern Alamance in the former DAC-VII Conference. For his part as a senior in 2022, Williams racked up 2,397 yards of total offense and 25 touchdowns and was named the league’s Offensive Player of the Year.
After last week’s open date, Elon (4-5 overall, 2-3 Coastal Athletic Association) face CAA co-leader Rhode Island (7-2, 5-0), which is ranked No. 14 in the Football Championship Subdivision, on Saturday afternoon at Rhodes Stadium.
Williams will aim to do his part as the Phoenix tries to shed a three-game losing streak.
“With our record, it would show it’s a negative thing,” Williams said. “But this season, we’ve learned a lot as a growing offense.”
Along with running back T.J. Thomas, Jr., the 205-pound Williams has fit in. Elon coach Tony Trisciani said the staff was “aware of him and evaluated him out of high school” but wasn’t seeking a running back at that time.
“He makes us a better football team on and off the field,” Trisciani said. “He can wear people out late in a football game.”
It took time for Williams, 20, to find his stride after leaving Division II Virginia State, where he also played baseball. Last year, he was second in Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association rushing yards (867) and touchdowns (12).
He played most of the season with a broken wrist, undergoing surgery afterward. So when he arrived at Elon in January, it was a gradual process.
“Each week working and building trust with my teammates and my coaches. That’s slowly how it came to fit in. . . As you grow together, you struggle together, you win together. We just kind of built that bond.”
There was only so much he could do until he was cleared for full activity in late May.
“The surgery did affect my mental at first,” said Williams, who’s majoring in exercise science. “I feel that’s a common thing with athletes when they have surgery. Slowly, I built my confidence back up.”
Elon coaches soon noticed what he could do.
“It was a bit of a hidden secret, I guess you could say, until we got into these live situations in games,” Trisciani said. “He has shown flashes his whole time here. But what he does really well, you don’t see unless it’s live. It’s got to be live and people have got to be trying to tackle him because that’s when you get to see him run behind his pads. He’s very comfortable in the open field.”
