Williams thankful to make impact, looking for 'more stingy' Clemson defense

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CLEMSON - In Clemson’s 48-31 win over Virginia this past Saturday, graduate defensive tackle Tré Williams had a fumble recovery late in the third quarter to set up a Clemson touchdown, giving them a 38-10 lead going into the final quarter of the game.

Through the first seven games of the season, Williams has 10 tackles, including five solo tackles, both of which tie season highs for him. In his time working with defensive tackles coach Nick Eason, he has improved as a player, including better hand and footwork, and is getting prepared to potentially play in the NFL.

“I’m just blessed, honestly. Take every day one day at a time and just (be) thankful for it … “He’s a great coach, and I’m coachable. So, just (a mix of) him being a great coach and me being coachable has really benefited me a lot this year. So, (I’m) really appreciative of him,” Williams said. “My hands and my footwork and just being violent at the point of attack and just everything he thinks we will need to be very successful defensive linemen in college and also in the NFL.”

The Tigers are entering a bye week for the second time this season. During their first open date, Clemson had a 1-1 record. Now, they have a 6-1 record and are undefeated in conference play. While Williams said it was weird to have the week off so early in the year before, having the second bye provides the Tigers with more opportunities to improve.

“It’s kind of weird (because) the first one was so early in the season. But, they’re definitely helpful (because) we get to just get better, more opportunities for us to get better as a team and grow as a team,” Williams said. “We look at every week as an opportunity to get better regardless if we have a game or not. I feel like last bye week we had, we handled it very well and we (are) keeping the mindset for this bye week as well, the same mindset for this bye week.”

One difference for Clemson the past few weeks is the return of sophomore defensive lineman Peter Woods. Last week against the Cavaliers was the first time since the season opener against Georgia that Woods had at least five tackles in a game. He also registered two tackles for loss, bringing his season total to 5.5. Williams said that people often do not understand the level of intelligence involved in football, something that Woods uses to perfect his game.

“He’s very smart. What a lot of people don’t understand about football is there’s a game within the game of football,” Williams said. “It’s not just a bunch of 300-pound guys banging heads and just being big and meatheads. It’s a lot more than that, and I feel like he really takes the time to do the small things, and that makes him who he is.”

Despite having Woods back and the play from Williams, among other defensive stars, opposing teams are putting up a lot of points on Clemson. While this is primarily occurring when the starters are taken out of the game, the Tigers still play to a standard and the second-string defenders are not currently performing to that. Overall, the Tigers are getting outscored 69-36 in the fourth quarter.

“(Head) Coach (Dabo) Swinney challenged us as a whole entire defense and I feel like these last couple weeks, we’ve answered the bell. But, we’re leaving a lot on the plate,” Williams said. “We don’t want to get any rushing yards. That’s not what we want to do. We don’t want to give up anything. So, we got to be more stingy and how we approach it and that’s what we’ve been doing.”

The Tigers will face their sixth ACC opponent of the season on Nov. 2, when the Louisville Cardinals come to town. Louisville is 0-3 against ranked teams so far this season, losing to Notre Dame, SMU, and Miami.

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