Jven Williams is Diamond Credit Union Lineman of the Year
Before the season kicked off in August few people outside of Wyomissing knew much about Jven Williams’ potential on the football field. He was a backup lineman as a sophomore and didn’t draw his first varsity start until the season-opener Aug. 27 against Daniel Boone.
It didn’t take long after that for word to get out. Within a few weeks the junior was on the radar of major college programs across the country; within a week of him releasing his first highlight film he had eight scholarship offers, including one from Penn State.
Now, after anchoring the Spartans’ offensive line on its drive to the PIAA Class 3A championship game Williams is no longer a secret. Opposing coaches are wowed by his combination of size and foot speed. At 6-4, 310 pounds he regularly pulls to leads sweeps.
“He’s pretty impressive coming around the corner,” said Spartans head coach Bob Wolfrum. “He can move. Sometimes the big guys have trouble making contact out in the open like that, but he doesn’t. Any time you have a big guy that can do the normal (blocking) things but can also pull and get down field, that’s impressive.”
Williams was named Offensive Lineman of the Year in Section 2 of Berks Football League, earned first-team All-Berks honors and now is the inaugural Diamond Credit Union Lineman of the Year. He was presented a plaque of recognition earlier this week by Rob Hackash, Director of Branding for Diamond Credit Union.
Each week throughout the season Berks coach nominated players for Lineman of the Week. There were 14 weekly recipients. Williams and Lucas Palange were the only players to receive the honor twice. At the end of the year all nominated players received points based on being nominated and being selected Lineman of the Week.
The top vote-getters, behind Williams, were: Palange; Jon Ramsey of Wilson; Kyle Pry of Boyertown; Kyle Lash of Exeter; and Anthony Caccese of Exeter.
“Congratulations to all of the Lineman of the Week winners, especially Jven for earning Lineman of the Year, and congratulations to his Wyomissing teammates, coaches and staff on an outstanding season,” said Hackash. “Playing sports, like dedicating oneself to pursuits such as academics and financial literacy, contributes to becoming a well-rounded young adult and Diamond Credit Union is happy to play a supporting role.”
Williams helped the Spartans go 15-1 and win their third straight District 3 Class 3A champion. They averaged 310 rushing yards and 41.9 points.
Williams is ranked among the Top 20 junior linemen in the nation and the No. 1 junior tackle in Pennsylvania by 247sports.com.
“The Pottsville game (Sept. 3), he was pretty impressive,” Wolfrum said of Wyomissing’s second game. “He was impressive in all three of those games (on the September video). People saw how big he was and that he can run. When you’re that big, you’ve got a shot.”
Weekly selections for Diamond Credit Union Lineman of the Week:
- Week 1: Tyler Hallock, T, Kutztown
- Week 2: Lucas Palange, G, Exeter
- Week 3: Colin Leahy, T, Daniel Boone
- Week 4: Josh Pazdrick, TE, Conrad Weiser
- Week 5: Nate Goodman, T, Gov. Mifflin
- Week 6: Jven Williams, T, Wyomissing
- Week 7: Kyle Pry, Boyertown
- Week 8: Lucas Palange, G, Exeter
- Week 9: Jon Ramsey, G, Wilson
- Week 10: Jack Durning, C, Wilson
- Week 11: Dominic Memmo, DT, Wilson
- Week 12: Kyle Lash, T, Exeter
- Week 13: Anthony Caccese, T, Exeter
- Week 14: Jven Willliams, G, Wyomissing
