Larkin's Williams is Courier-News Player of the Year

Jalen Williams
(Sun-Times Media File)

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Jalen Williams personifies toughness.

At 5-foot-8 and 150 pounds, Larkin's senior running back doesn't exactly strike the most imposing figure. But that didn't keep him from running roughshod over opponents during the 2009 season.

Simply put, Williams carried the Royals offense this year. He was involved in more than half of the team's offensive plays and accounted for 62.2 percent of Larkin's total yards from scrimmage.

Despite shouldering such a heavy load, Williams rarely disappointed while helping guide the Royals to a 5-4 record and the program's first winning season since 2002. He by far led the area in rushing and scoring, finishing with 1,715 yards and 18 touchdowns on 237 carries.

Those accomplishments helped Williams land spots on the Illinois High School Football Coaches Association Class 7A All-State and All-Upstate Eight Conference teams.

To those honors he can add the title 2009 Courier-News Player of the Year.

"Jalen's got a lot of talent, and along with that talent he's got a lot of toughness," Larkin coach Matt Gehrig said. "He's the kind of player that as long as he's in the game and the ball's in his hands, we've got a chance to do something."

Remarkably, Williams finished the year averaging 7.2 yards per rushing attempt despite averaging 26.3 carries per game. He ran for more than 200 yards three times and was held below 100 yards only twice.

But those statistics don't do justice to just how well Williams performed. Opponents knew what the Royals planned to do on offense every week, but that didn't faze Larkin's biggest star.

"In the first game of the year McHenry put eight in the box, so I knew it was going to be like that for the rest of the season," Williams said.

With that added attention from defenses came added wear and tear for Williams. Not only did he have to battle fatigue as games wore on, but he also had to battle the constant barrage of hard hits from bigger opponents.

Williams said knowing his important role on the team helped him bounce back after particularly tough plays and made him determined to avoid the sideline at all costs.

Gehrig recalls one play where Williams' toughness was on full display. It came during Larkin's loss to Elgin, and Gehrig remembers a Maroons linebacker running across the field and leveling Williams at full speed. Despite the crushing blow, Williams somehow kept his balance near the sideline and picked up five or six additional yards.

"I ran over to see if he was OK after the play, and I grabbed him by the shoulder pads and I looked at him and said 'You're one tough son of a gun,' " Gehrig said. "He looked at me and said 'Yeah,' and that was it and he just went back to the huddle.

"He got blasted and all of us thought he was knocked out on his feet, but he had so much heart and so much will that he kept on going. He wouldn't let anything slow him down, and that's just the kind of kid he is. He's definitely got the 'it' factor as far as the heart and the determination."

Williams said he's always been a tough runner, and he's pretty sure where that trait comes from.

"I always had to be tough because I always had older brothers and older cousins," Williams said. "I really couldn't be the wimp."

One of those older brothers is Will Carter, who starred at running back for Larkin and was named to the C-N All-Area first team in 2005 and 2006.

Williams said Carter helped with conditioning and weight training prior to the season and also gave some helpful advice about technique.

Williams showed the same fancy footwork, slippery moves and blazing speed as a junior when he ran for 511 yards and three touchdowns. He says the key to his improvement as a senior was running with more patience and purpose.

"Last year I was more jittery," Williams said. "This year I was more conservative and just waited for holes to open up and to break through them. I tried to not have much movement in the backfield, just more movement north and south.

"It was all about going up and down the field more and side to side less. That gets you nowhere, just big hits."

Williams earned C-N Player of the Week honors four times this season. His most prolific performance came in Week 4 at Lake Forest Academy when he ran for 364 yards and five touchdowns on 38 carries.

Williams said he hopes to continue his playing career in college, but he has no definitive plans at the moment. Spending a year or two with a junior college team might be his course of action.

Wherever he ends up, Williams will likely continue to make jaw-dropping plays, like the one teammate Alex Wahl recalls from Larkin's loss against Lake Park.

"Towards the end of the second quarter I remember (Williams) basically got tackled in the backfield and it would have been a five-yard loss," Wahl said. "He spun out of the tackle, broke another tackle in the backfield and turned it into a 30-yard touchdown. That was a big play because it gave us the lead going into the half.

"Jalen is definitely special. You just give him a little path and he's gone. Sometimes there will be no blocking and he'll just spin off two people and make a long run. He can definitely make something out of nothing."