Seth Williams out to show he has nothing left to prove

[aubiefifty 18,231]

al.com

 

Seth Williams out to show he has nothing left to prove

By Tom Green | tgreen@al.com

5-6 minutes

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Auburn wide receiver Seth Williams (18) makes a catch during a drill on the first day of fall camp on Aug. 17, 2020. Williams was Auburn's leading receiver in 2019. (Todd Van Emst/AU Athletics)Todd Van Emst/AU Athletics

There were times last season when Seth Williams was a dominant receiver for Auburn.

The sophomore, who led the Tigers in receiving in 2019, had a stretch of five consecutive games with a touchdown reception — totaling seven scores in that span — while averaging 18.5 yards per catch and accounting for more than half of his total output on the season.

Now entering his junior year and firmly planted as Auburn’s No. 1 receiver for sophomore quarterback Bo Nix in first-year coordinator Chad Morris' offense, Williams' mindset is focused on producing that sort of dominance week-in and week-out this season.

“I feel like I’m super confident this season, going into my third year back,” Williams said. “New offense, but it’s the same mindset—you go in with the expectation to win, expectation that you’re the best person on the field. I feel like my mindset this year is just to go all out and prove to everyone that I am a receiver and there’s nothing left for me to prove. Show what I’m about.”

In his first two years on the Plains, Williams has shown plenty. He’s already 17th on Auburn’s career receiving list with 1,364 yards on 85 receptions (19th all-time in program history), with 13 touchdowns. Last season, he finished with 830 receiving yards, which was the second-best single-season mark for a receiver during the Gus Malzahn era, behind only Sammie Coates' 902-yard campaign in 2013, while his eight touchdowns were the most by an Auburn receiver since Emory Blake had that many during the 2010 national championship season.

But now in Year 3, with Morris at the helm of the offense and Nix returning at quarterback, Williams has a chance to do even more — even with a truncated, 10-game schedule featuring only conference games.

Outside of a disastrous stint at Arkansas, where he was fired after less than two seasons, Morris' offensse have often produced prolific No. 1 receivers. Six times from 2010-2017, Morris' leading receiver has finished the year with at least 1,000 yards; the other two years, in 2010 at Tulsa and 2015 at SMU, the top receiver finished with 872 yards and 842 yards, respectively. Both of those marks were still better than the sophomore campaign by Williams, who has a chance to become the latest No. 1 receiver to flourish under Morris.

While Auburn’s offense is expected to be more pass-heavy under Morris, Williams didn’t want to give away too much, simply saying the Tigers will have an “explosive offense” this season—but they’re going to wait to show what it’s capable of instead of talking about it. That new-look offense also has Williams expecting to see a change in how he’s utilized.

“You’ll have to wait until the games come to see that,” Williams said. “I feel like the offense is going to get me moving around, be moving everybody around this year.”

That shouldn’t come as much of a surprise after Williams spent the offseason trying to reshape his body. He dropped 13 pounds from his playing weight a year ago and is now listed at 211 pounds on Auburn’s official roster.

He entered the offseason looking to get lighter and faster while adding some more muscle mass to his frame, and he focused on how to take better care of his body. Now, he says, he feels he’s in the best shape of his life.

“I’ve been good, looking good, feel good,” Williams said. “Lighter on my feet, that’s good. I’m trying to get like Flash (Anthony Schwartz) out there and run fast, but you know, that can’t happen; he’s the fastest man in the nation.”

While he won’t be able to match Schwartz’s speed, Williams has focused on other parts of his repertoire to complement his new build, mindset and the Tigers' new offensive scheme. Namely, he has worked to do better to attack the ball on deep passes down field and improve how he comes in and out of his routes.

Williams is hoping it all comes together and translates to big things on the field this season.

“He’s doing good,” redshirt senior receiver Eli Stove said. “He’s probably doing the best out of all the receivers. I like the way he’s focused this year. He’s ready to ball. He’s going to just keep improving every day.”

Tom Green is an Auburn beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @Tomas_Verde.

[kennypowers 1,431]

I just want to see more effort and a better attitude.

[fredst 9,070]

So....he’s going to prove that he has nothing to prove🤔.....

[Gowebb11 9,871]

Exceptional talent but he needs to take less plays off. Big money year for him. 

[McLoofus 35,182]

Fortunately we have an OC who recognizes that wide receivers join a team to catch footballs and not just run dummy routes and block all the time, so yes, y'all will probably see a different attitude from all the WRs (except the rare exception like Shed Jackson) than you've seen since 2014. 

[bigbird 60,939]

1 minute ago, McLoofus said:

Fortunately we have an OC who recognizes that wide receivers join a team to catch footballs and not just run dummy routes and block all the time, so yes, y'all will probably see a different attitude from all the WRs (except the rare exception like Shed Jackson) than you've seen since 2014. 

The excitement from the receivers is building my own excitement. What's really getting me pumped are the quotes from them talking about playing all the receiver positions and each receiver running all the routes...that and the install of intermediate routes!

[McLoofus 35,182]

Just now, bigbird said:

The excitement from the receivers is building my own excitement. What's really getting me pumped are the quotes from them talking about playing all the receiver positions and each receiver running all the routes...that and the install of intermediate routes!

It's like the wish list for Santa is as long as a CVS receipt, and we're watching him read it and check off every single line item. 

Or we're Annie and Chad is Daddy Warbucks.

 

PS- Can I post-date this post until after week 2? Ah, screw it. 2020 doesn't play by the rules so neither will I.

 

[AUApostle 7,759]

"Seth Williams out" is not how any sentence should begin.

[copper4eva 106]

3 hours ago, McLoofus said:

Fortunately we have an OC who recognizes that wide receivers join a team to catch footballs and not just run dummy routes and block all the time, so yes, y'all will probably see a different attitude from all the WRs (except the rare exception like Shed Jackson) than you've seen since 2014. 

I mean, I get this, but it's not like Seth wasn't thrown the ball a lot last season. We gave him a lot of jump balls, such as Nix's lone interception against LSU before the half.

I think given how terrible our OL was at run blocking the staff really tried to have a more pass happy offense, especially since our OL was actually kind of decent at pass blocking. But we had a true freshmen at quarterback, and he struggled obviously in some games.

I'm more concerned about what Morris brings to the table in terms of coaching up Nix more. I'm less concerned about his play calling schemes, although I'm sure that'll help.

EDIT:

Just for example, against Minnesota on our first drive after the pick, on 3rd down we gave Williams a one on one opportunity. And he had his hands on the ball, but failed to catch it. To me, I feel like our staff gave Williams a LOT of opportunity for plays. But a lot of them he just didn't get the ball. I'm still glad they used him like this, because of plays like against Oregon.

[McLoofus 35,182]

7 minutes ago, copper4eva said:

I mean, I get this, but it's not like Seth wasn't thrown the ball a lot last season. We gave him a lot of jump balls, such as Nix's lone interception against LSU before the half.

I think given how terrible our OL was at run blocking the staff really tried to have a more pass happy offense, especially since our OL was actually kind of decent at pass blocking. But we had a true freshmen at quarterback, and he struggled obviously in some games.

I'm more concerned about what Morris brings to the table in terms of coaching up Nix more. I'm less concerned about his play calling schemes, although I'm sure that'll help.

"A lot". Highly relative. All 4 years that Morris was at Clemson, WR1 caught at least 20 more balls than Seth did last year. 

Also, you don't "give" WR1 a lot of jump balls. That just means you're not setting him up for success. Show me an offense where a high percentage of the passes turn into jump balls and I'll show you an offense that isn't getting guys open. This was the case long before Seth got here and it will still be the case if Gus doesn't let Chad run the offense. But it looks like he really is. 

Just look at Bird's posts if you don't believe me. Listen to what our receivers are saying. Listen to what our guys who have tried to make it in the NFL have had to say and have had said about them. Look at our main rivals and compare their NFL alums to ours- draft positions, contracts, fantasy value. Hell, just look at our passing stats every year. 

But yes. In addition to significantly improved schemes, more multiple routes for each receiver, and more use of the RBs and TEs in the passing game, Chad will also quite likely give Bo better coaching than any AU QB has gotten since probably the mid-Aughts.  

 

[boisnumber1 2,916]

What kind of speed does Williams legitimately have?  Anyone know?