No. 32, 22 | |||||||||||||
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Position: | Fullback | ||||||||||||
Personal information | |||||||||||||
Date of birth: | November 23, 1964 | ||||||||||||
Place of birth: | Palatka, Florida | ||||||||||||
Height: | 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m) | ||||||||||||
Weight: | 231 lb (105 kg) | ||||||||||||
Career information | |||||||||||||
High school: | Palatka (FL) | ||||||||||||
College: | Florida | ||||||||||||
NFL Draft: | 1986 / Round: 1 / Pick: 15 | ||||||||||||
Career history | |||||||||||||
Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||
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Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||
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Player stats at PFR |
Rushing attempts: | 1,245 |
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Rushing yards: | 5,006 |
Receptions: | 546 |
Receiving yards: | 4,656 |
Touchdowns: | 37 |
Player stats at NFL.com |
John L. Williams (born November 23, 1964) is an American former college and professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL) for ten seasons during the 1980s and 1990s. Williams played college football for the University of Florida. A first-round pick in the 1986 NFL Draft, he played professionally for the Seattle Seahawks and the Pittsburgh Steelers of the NFL.
Williams was born in Palatka, Florida in 1964. He attended Palatka High School, where he was a standout high school football running back in the wishbone offense of the Palatka Panthers. Williams rushed for 3,449 yards and fifty-nine touchdowns, including 1,738 yards as a senior. The Panthers finished undefeated and won the Florida Class 3A championship. In 2007, twenty-five years after he graduated from high school, the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) recognized Williams as one of the "100 Greatest Players of the First 100 Years" of Florida high school football.
Williams accepted an athletic scholarship to attend the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida, where he was a fullback for coach Charley Pell and coach Galen Hall's Florida Gators football teams from 1982 to 1985. Williams usually shared the backfield with tailback Neal Anderson, behind the blocking of the Gators' outstanding offensive line known as "The Great Wall of Florida." The Gators finished with identical 9–1–1 records in 1984 and 1985, and best-in-the-conference records of 5–0–1 and 5–1. Williams was recognized as a second-team All-Southeastern Conference (SEC) selection in 1984 and 1985, and an honorable mention All-American in 1985. He finished his four-year college career with 2,409 yards rushing and 863 yards receiving. Williams was inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great" in 1997. In a 2006 article series written for The Gainesville Sun, the Sun sportswriters rated him as the No. 31 all-time Gator from among the 100 greatest players of the first century of Florida football.