Great SI piece on Connor Williams

Penned by the always solid Bruce Feldman.

Some neat takeaways from the piece.

According to one Big 12 DC:

“Connor Williams is the best left tackle we saw last year,” one Big 12 defensive coordinator said last week. “He’s just different. I think he might be the best tackle in the country. He’s long, athletic and has the wingspan and he’s nasty.”

Here’s a nice plug for the efficacy of McKnight’s S&C program:

Here's a scary thought for that coach and other defensive guys on Texas’s schedule this fall: Williams says that since last January, he’s lost 19 pounds of body fat, gained 12 pounds of muscle and upped what he can do on the bench press, on the squat rack and in the power clean by 60 pounds each. Now, Williams measures in at 6' 6", 310 pounds.

We’ve been so bad for so long at such a fundamental piece of the program that I’m encouraged to hear McKnight is, at minimum, competent.

And speaking of fundamental pieces, do you think the S&C stuff is in any way related to this little pesky factoid...

...he’d become the first Longhorn offensive lineman to be selected in the first round since 2002, when Mike Williams went fourth to the Bills. More shockingly, Connor Williams would become the first Texas O-lineman even drafted since 2008. For comparison’s sake, Alabama has had a dozen drafted in that stretch.

We know Bruce. We know.

I absolutely loved Connor Williams as a recruit back in 2015 and predicted big things for him at Texas, but I have a feeling he’ll exceed even those high expectations.

Enjoy him while you can. He’s going to be playing Left Tackle for the Minnesota Vikings or the New York Giants next year.