Jven Williams: College coaches coveted him, defensive backs tried to avoid him
Jven Williams went to two state championship games with Wyomissing. Started in a pair of District 3 title-game victories. Was part of a senior class that finished 49-4. Had major college football coaches coming after him in droves early in his junior season. Collected just about every honor a high school lineman can garner.
Years from now, when he looks back at his high school football days, one of the things he’ll cherish most came before all of the attention and the accolades. It came during his sophomore season when he was soaking up the football culture at Wyomissing and just beginning to emerge as a major football talent.
“I was able to learn so much from my older brother (Rushard, a senior in 2020),” Williams said, “and from that whole group of seniors. I wasn’t a superstar, just a learner.
“That was such a good year for all of us to embrace that stuff, to not have pressure on you, just to be able to lay back and learn. That was a huge opportunity all of us.”
Williams made the most of his. He got his first start in the season-opener his junior season. A few weeks later he put together an early highlight film. The college football recruiting world instantly went nuts over him when they saw it. Within a week he had eight major college offers, among them one from Penn State.
Williams took that one. He’ll enroll at Penn State in January, a few days after taking part in the All-American Bowl Jan. 7 in San Antonio.
He’ll be the highest-ranked recruit in a power-packed Nittany Lions recruiting class.
For the second straight year Williams has been named the Diamond Credit Union Lineman of the Year. He was picked twice this season for Lineman of the Week honors; he was also picked twice last season.
One of those selections came after Wyomissing’s 41-21 win at Southern Columbia last season, the Spartans snapping the nation’s longest winning streak. The 6-5, 290-pound Williams was a big reason why.
“He put on a show,” said Wyomissing offensive line coach Steve O’Neil.
The Spartans rushed for 336 yards, much of it coming on sweeps with Williams leading the way around the corner. That became a frightening sight for cornerbacks, most 100 or more pounds smaller than Williams.
“At this point most defensive backs don’t even come near him,” O’Neil said earlier this season, “they are just trying to avoid him, or drop to ground.”
“He’s pretty impressive coming around the corner,” Spartans coach Bob Wolfrum said. “He can move. Any time you have a big guy who can do the normal (blocking) things but can also pull and get down field, that’s impressive.”
That’s the thing that sets Williams apart — his agility and speed for one so large. That’s a big reason why all the national recruiting services list him as the top Pennsylvania prospect in the Class of 2023 and one of the top four or five linemen nationally.
“Big boys typically don’t move like he does,” said O’Neil.
Williams played mostly offensive tackle as a junior but when he learned that the Lance guard spot was the most coveted for Wing-T linemen he wanted to play there. He learned the mechanics of the postion and mostly played there this season, though he had the ability to play the Plug guard spot as well as tackle.
“It’s extremely rare to play the Lance guard spot in Wyomissing offense at that size because of the amount of pulling,” said former Wyomissing and NFL lineman Ross Tucker, “but he excels in space and on the move and that ability to demolish smaller people in an open area combined with the raw power he showcased in track make him a rare prospect.”
Last month Williams was named the Outstanding Lineman in Section 4 of the Lancaster-Lebanon League, as well Offensive Lineman of the Year and a first-team defensive line pick. Earlier this month he was named Berks Offensive Lineman of the Year and selected for the first annual MikeDragoSports.com Big 25 team, a collection of the Lancaster-Lebanon League’s top 25 players.
A few weeks from now he’s sure to be named All-State for the second straight year.
Williams put his rare power and speed combination to work in the spring, too. As a junior he was the Berks Player of the Year in track and field after winning PIAA championships in the discus and shot put.
Williams didn’t get on the field much as a sophomore — rare for someone who has emerged as such a big-time prospect — but he enjoyed the experience all the same. He wasn’t sure what lied ahead for him, but others did.
“By the end of his sophomore season, I was convinced he was going to be a Division I guy,” O’Neil said.
“He’s an incredible athlete. He works hard in the weight room and is a student of the game. At the end of his sophomore year we talked about what could happen, and what he needed to do, and he went out and did everything in his power to earn that scholarship.”
Selected for Diamond Credit Union Lineman of the Week this season:
- Week 1: Lucas Palange, G, Exeter
- Week 2: Jack Gartner, G, Wyomissing
- Week 3: Jven Williams, G/DT, Wyomissing
- Week 4: Anthony Caccese, T/T, Exeter
- Week 5: Charles Sheppard, T/T Hamburg
- Week 6: Jackson Haas, G, Berks Catholic
- Week 7: Tyler Hallock, T/T, Kutztown
- Week 8: Anthony Caccese, T/T, Exeter
- Week 9: Kyle Lash, G/T, Exeter
- Week 10: Kyle Lash, G/T, Exeter
- Week 11: Owen Reber, G, Berks Catholic
- Week 12: Pacen Ziegler, T, Wyomissing
- Week 13: Jven Williams, G/DT, Wyomissing
