Rusty Williams was hurting last season, but it wasn’t so
much because of injury.
For the most part, the UCLA defensive end’s torn-up
shoulders and fractured foot had healed.
However, Williams wasn’t completely recovered. All the
injuries set him so far back physically that he lost his starting
job in his junior season. After starting every game since he was
playing Pop Warner football as an eight-year-old, Williams was
relegated to watching the better part of games from the sidelines,
with fire still in his eyes.
His 22-game starting streak at UCLA, much like his body, was
broken. His mental state, meanwhile, was shattered.
“It really screwed with me,” Williams said.
“I was so depressed. I was all pissed off. I was like,
“˜Man, I’m not starting. Fuck this. Fuck
that.'”
Now a fifth-year senior, Williams has regained his natural
position in the starting lineup, but not many people on the team
knew just how much sitting on the bench pained him.
“I wasn’t going to let my team know how bummed I was
about myself,” Williams said. “I kept that to
myself.”
“He played with honor,” defensive line coach Don
Johnson said. “He never complained about anything. He kept
the same work ethic as if he were a starter. He fought through it,
and now he’s getting rewarded for it.”
Williams appeared in all 11 games last season off the bench,
recording only six tackles. He played with a torn labrum in his
left shoulder, which he needed to rehab two hours a day on top of
the usual lifting and running. He also played with a surgically
rebuilt right shoulder, which used to separate two to three times
per game.
“It hurt like hell,” Williams said. “Oh my God
it hurt so bad, but people get hurt. It’s just a physical
game. It doesn’t concern me.”
It is that intensity that makes Williams a team leader.
According to Johnson, Williams watches more film than anyone. In
his redshirt year, he was the Scout Team Player of the Year. In
this year’s voluntary summer workouts, he led the drills.
“We look to him as our emotional leader. The guy is just a
warrior,” senior defensive tackle Steve Morgan said.
“He plays hard, like his hair is on fire,” senior
defensive tackle Sean Phillips said.
Off the field, Williams is more of a gentle giant. The San Diego
native is just a regular laid-back surfer boy.
“When I’m on the field, it’s business, but I
can’t take that home with me,” Williams said.
“That’s how you get in trouble. If you want to be
intense, crazy and wild off the field, it will get you in
trouble.”
Last spring, Williams earned his degree in history from UCLA. He
is the first in his family to graduate from college.
“I was so afraid I would get kicked out of school that I
just did whatever I could to get through it.”
If the NFL doesn’t come calling, Williams said he will
pursue a coaching position or go into real estate. Whatever
Williams chooses to do, head coach Bob Toledo believes he will do
it well.
“He’s a company man,” Toledo said.
“He’s going to work hard, keep his mouth shut and be
loyal. I respect his way of going about business.”
And now that Williams is a once more a starter, he can start
consistently putting the hurt on quarterbacks and running backs
again.
“That’s what I worked so hard for,” he
said.