Salmen High School (La.) Running Back Aaron Williams is going to join the Southern Miss Golden Eagles as a preferred walk-on.
He received a total of 22 scholarship offers and chose the Golden Eagles over Southern University, Lyon College, Aurora University, Stevenson University, Greenville University, and South Carolina A&M among others.
The 5’8, 186 pound running back from New Orleans ran for 1,961 yards and 15 total touchdowns in 20 career games as an upperclassman and starter.
Southern Miss found Williams when he was a junior and their former offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson recruited him.
“This process has really humbled me a lot. I just stayed in there and waited for my time to come. I just had to trust God’s plan and the process,” Williams said.
This was not an easy decision for him to make but once he made it, he felt very blessed. Having his mom by his side is a huge help. He feels like Southern Miss is the place for him. What he wants out of his three or four years there is for Southern Miss to teach him how to be responsible and keep a strong work ethic no matter what.
“It’s going to force me to work even harder. I would have a lot to prove to earn a scholarship but I’m all for the challenge,” he said about his mindset coming in as a walk-on compared to a scholarship player.
Southern Miss is relatively young at running back. Two freshmen led the position group in rushing yards and rushing touchdowns: Trivenskey Mosley (516 yards) and Steven Arnold (six touchdowns).
Aaron Williams has a quick first step off the line of scrimmage and bursts through the hole when he sees daylight. His ability to be elusive and break tackles has always been impressive, but he can catch the ball out of the backfield as well which adds another dimension to his game.
Coming in and learning from the players around him is something he wants and plans to do. He’s going to be patient with his growth at the next level.
“I’m just going back to trusting the process. I know there’s a lot of others with talent. I just want to take one step at a time.”
Aaron Williams wants to learn how to become a better all-around athlete including other positions to help his team and become more versatile.
“Getting my education is first priority. but [I am] looking forward [to] being a good athlete and doing whatever I can to help this program,” he said.