‘Running over people, it just happens.’ Javonte Williams a tank in UNC blowout
N.C. State didn’t want Javonte Williams, who played at the same high school as Wolfpack great Nate Irving. That’s how recruiting works sometimes. N.C. State already had Ricky Person and Trent Pennix in that class, and it wasn’t like anyone else was beating a path down I-40 to Wallace to see Williams play.
Nobody was. In an alternate universe, he might be playing linebacker for Elon right now. (Or not playing, as the case may be.) But as legend has it, Wallace-Rose Hill played in the state title game in Kenan Stadium, and then-UNC coach Larry Fedora happened to see him play and even though the Tar Heels already had one back in that class, they made room for another.
It could just as easily have been N.C. State that happened onto the player that three years later has become the most powerful running back in the ACC. Instead, Williams has made the Wolfpack pay and pay and pay. In three career games against N.C. State, Williams has seven touchdowns, which he says is just coincidence.
“I don’t know,” Williams said. ”It just happens against N.C. State all the time.”
Time and time again.
Williams broke more than a dozen tackles in North Carolina’s 48-21 win Saturday on only 19 carries, on his way to 160 yards and three touchdowns. Only on the rarest of occasions could the first defender bring him down. More often, he shook them off with a seeming minimum of effort. That may say something about the physicality of N.C. State’s defense but it says as much about Williams that the Wolfpack is hardly alone this season.
While there was a long list of stars for North Carolina in this first chapter of the rivalry with both teams ranked in the top 25 since 1993, Williams stood out not merely for his gaudy stats or his collection of stiff-arming and shoulder-charging highlights, but because of how he personally represented the way the Tar Heels manhandled the Wolfpack in a game that was close for a little while and then wasn’t close at all.
N.C. State was not the first team and is likely not the last to find Williams — a compact SUV at 5-foot-10, 220 pounds — difficult to handle, thanks to that low center of gravity and his ability to keep his legs moving. North Carolina quarterback Sam Howell, who delivered a pancake block when he found himself leading Williams toward the goal line, said Williams often turns power-running plays blocked for 5 or 6 yards into 10-yard gains.
“Javonte, he runs over people the whole entire game,” Howell said.
And just as his backfield partner in crime Michael Carter has transcended his reputation as a speed back by showing a talent for picking his way through the congestion at the line and turning inside runs into big gains, Williams has shown he’s more than a situational power back, with surprising speed and capable hands.
But power is his fastball, and he’s not afraid to use it, lowering his shoulders and initiating contact instead of absorbing it. At one point Saturday, he leaned into a hit and knocked the defender’s helmet off.
“He makes a lot of people miss tackles every game, and some of them that try to tackle him, he just punishes,” North Carolina coach Mack Brown said. “I’m amazed. When we got here, he was a short-yardage and goal-line guy the year before. We thought he would improve. But not this.”
By the time North Carolina ran out the clock on the Wolfpack on Saturday, Williams’ 10 rushing touchdowns were the most in the country by a running back so far. At the rate the Tar Heels are scoring, he’s got a shot at Don McCauley’s UNC record of 19, even in this COVID-shortened season.
At this point, having come this far, it’s hard to imagine Williams being easy to stop.
“I’d rather juke,” Williams said, “but running over people, it just happens”
ACC STANDINGS
1. Clemson 5-0 (6-0)
2. Notre Dame 4-0 (5-0)
T3. UNC 4-1 (4-1)
T3. Miami 4-1 (5-1)
5. N.C. State 4-2 (4-2)
T6. Virginia Tech 3-2 (3-2)
T6. Boston College 3-2 (4-2)
8. Wake Forest 2-2 (3-2)
9. Georgia Tech 2-3 (2-4)
10. Pittsburgh 2-4 (3-4)
T11. Florida State 1-4 (2-4)
T11. Virginia 1-4 (1-4)
T11. Syracuse 1-4 (1-5)
T11. Louisville 1-4 (2-4)
15. Duke 1-5 (1-5)
SATURDAY’S FBS SCORES
EAST
Army 49, Mercer 3
Boston College 48, Georgia Tech 27
Houston 37, Navy 21
Marshall 20, FAU 9
Notre Dame 45, Pittsburgh 3
SOUTH
Alabama 48, Tennessee 17
Auburn 35, Mississippi 28
Charlotte 38, UTEP 28
Clemson 47, Syracuse 21
Coastal Carolina 28, Georgia Southern 14
E. Kentucky 31, Cent. Arkansas 28
Georgia St. 36, Troy 34
LSU 52, South Carolina 24
Liberty 56, Southern Miss. 35
Louisville 48, Florida St. 16
Memphis 41, Temple 29
Miami 19, Virginia 14
North Carolina 48, NC State 21
South Alabama 38, Louisiana-Monroe 14
UCF 51, Tulane 34
W. Kentucky 13, Chattanooga 10
Wake Forest 23, Virginia Tech 16
MIDWEST
Indiana 36, Penn St. 35, OT
Kansas St. 55, Kansas 14
Michigan 49, Minnesota 24
Missouri 20, Kentucky 10
Northwestern 43, Maryland 3
Ohio St. 52, Nebraska 17
Purdue 24, Iowa 20
Rutgers 38, Michigan St. 27
SOUTHWEST
Cincinnati 42, SMU 13
Middle Tennessee 40, Rice 34, 2OT
Oklahoma 33, TCU 14
Oklahoma St. 24, Iowa St. 21
Stephen F. Austin 35, Abilene Christian 32, OT
Texas 27, Baylor 16
Texas Tech 34, West Virginia 27
UTSA 27, Louisiana Tech 26
FAR WEST
BYU 52, Texas State 14
Boise St. 42, Utah St. 13
Hawaii 34, Fresno St. 19
Nevada 37, Wyoming 34, OT
San Diego St. 34, UNLV 6
San Jose St. 17, Air Force 6
This story was originally published October 24, 2020 at 4:56 PM.
