The guy is solid, and after reading this, you'll know why.
I wish ND could help his mother in some way.
Link: https://www.ndinsider.com/football/mom-s-spirit-facing-terminal-illness-inspires-dexter-williams-return/article_df5f199f-b320-5509-bbb4-087e4fbc4b50.html
I had to take prednisone for it but have fought it for over 32 years by being physically active and weaning off the prednisone as much as possible. As of now I have been off prednisone for two years completely and have had a few flare ups which cause eye drooping or double vision. I was always a fitness buff but became even more so after the diagnosis because of the fear of the prednisone causing severe side effects. I have not suffered much that I can tell but I get tested for bone loss every two years or so. When my vision gets very bothersome I patch one eye and you should see all the women smile at me.
he wasn't as complete. If the hole wasn't extremely wide and open he didn't pick up anything. Dexter is a different tier type back. It's ashame that it's is Sr. year. totally baffled why he never got more carries at ND.
enough speed. BUT Williams is very explosive and runs with a little bitta shake and bake. Loved him yesterday. If he behaves himself we got a helluva addition.
only thing you got right about Adams is that he was a better blocker.
•Adams was a better receiver - Completely off, Adams routinely dropped catchable balls...you could almost set your watch by him dropping an easy catch that would have been a first down. Did he have good hands? Yes, because we did see him at times make some really nice catches, but being a good receiver is about hands, concentration AND the inner desire that every ball is yours. Despite his good hands, his frequently dropped easy balls (lack of concentration) and low effort at times for balls that weren't thrown right to him, made him not really a very good receiver option. With Williams we don't have a large sample size, but to my recollection he has caught everything we've ever thrown to him that was catchable. Also, I don't recall Williams ever even coming close to having a fumble (unlike Adams early in his career) so the evidence is there (though yes we need more time for definitive assessment) to suggest Williams has good hands and is a good receiver.
•Adams made many more yards after contact - This is also a little deceiving ...Adams was EXCELLENT at one thing in this area, which was using his long arms to stiff arm (not in a powerful way, but more crafty like) defensive backs in the open field to offset them having the angle on him, or keep them off his body while he was getting up to speed. Statistically, Adams probably has many more yards after contact than Williams, but that is the product of only two things: 1) Adams had many many more carries and 2) on a good number of his 50, 60, 70 yard runs he would reach out and touch a DB with that stiff arm 15-20 yards down field and get credit for all that extra yardage as yards after contact. Statistically that is great, but it's misleading because one thing Adams was not is a tackle breaker. The vast majority of the time, once a defender made contact with him he was going down and on those short runs where OL didn't make a big hole he never pushed the pile forward and in fact norally got pushed back for a loss. Williams on the other hand almost always pushes the pile forward for those extra yards, often breaks the first or second tackle when defenders make contact with him, and hardly ever takes a 1 yard loss looking for the big play when 2-3 yards are right there. Williams doesn't have that awesome stiff arm because his arms aren't super long like Adams' but in terms of tougher guys to bring down in the hole or guys who break more tackles when defenders actually make contact with them, Williams has a clear advantage in this area and is visibly the much tougher runner.
•Adams had enough speed - this is the one where you are absolutely furthest from accurate...saying Adams had enough speed, is like saying a twin turbo Lamborghini has a little pep. Adams was FAST as shit, period. He wasn't real quick (which may be where you are mixed up), it took him a lil bit to get up to speed but once there he was among some of the fastest guys that have ever walked our sidelines. His open field speed was elite! Let me tell you this, there are three and only three reasons that Adams had that monster season with so many long runs 1) an OL that often opened four lane highways for him 2) that crafty stiff arm he used so we'll to keep DBs off his body /legs /feet 3) SPEED! Once into open field he was fast with a capital F A S T.
•Williams is very explosive - Yes this is 100% accurate, because he has elite quickness combined with very good open field speed. He doesn't have the top end Adams did, but he is "fast enough" and that combined with his quickness is what makes for a vastly more explosive RB.
•Williams runs with a little bitta shake and bake - Yes, yes he does, because Williams lateral acceleration, agility, elusiveness, and vision are on a whole other planet from Adams. Adams was a straight line guy where he was fast enough to make the defense pay if there was a crease, but he didn't create. Williams creates, he has what Adams has to take advantage when there is a crease, but he also has the ability to make guys miss or cut back and take advantage of something that developed and wasn't by design. Comparing Williams and Adams is similar to comparing Walter Payton and Corey Dillon... saying Payton was clearly the better RB doesn't make Dillon a bum, it just means Payton was better.
I was pretty accurate other than I meant to say Williams ran with a litta shaka and baka! Seriously you are right about the straight ahead speed once Adams broke through, but a lot of tackles he ran through and although you are correct about his ability to stiff arm, that was an additional thing that he used extremely well. Adams had a lot of great catches but last year he missed one or two but that came after he was hurt. He caught the ball very well his first and second years and even against Georgia caught a poorly thrown Wimbush ball.
He didn't run through a lot of tackles, in fact the #1 thing I used to always bitch about was how easily he was brought down considering his size. He was quite the soft runner, especially when you consider how big he was.
And he dropped multiple easy balls routinely, every year he was here, even when he was healthy...it wasn't an ability or health thing, it was a concentration thing.
You keep trying to boost dude up, but if he was even half what you claim someone woulda drafted him, at least in the last round. Guys with open field speed like him don't go undrafted unless they are seriously lacking in some other areas. His lacking areas were basically everything that makes a great RB, except for blocking, his stiff arm, and his speed... everywhere else he was lacking.
If comparing Dex to recent guys in terms of best complete RB, I'd start with CJ, Cierre, Riddick and Folston...I think I'd take Dex over all but CJ from that list.
and Dexter is probably the best. CJ was a great conversion. Kelly messed Riddick up with all the switching. Actually, Cierre Wood may have been the best but Kelly hated him so he ran him off (yes, he liked weed but...) Folston would have been really good, but the injury made a big difference and Kelly didn't play him as much as he should have pre injury.
I don't think Kelly knows how to handle elite backs, or backs that have the chance to be elite. Kelly seems to let his ego get in the way of theirs and those types of backs come with and need ego's.
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because of all those long runes, but if guys like CJ, Julius, Armando, Carlisle, Dex, Cierre, Tate, Jafar, Gray, etc, etc were given the wide open lanes that Adams had on 99% of his long runs, they would have had the same or even better success.
Now Adams had other qualities that made him a better overall back than some of those names, but in terms of THE thing that had people thinking he was special or 1st round caliber, we've had lots of guys that could have run through those huge holes faster than he did. However, his top end was comparable to some of the fastest we've had.
I don't think we've seen enough yet to declare Dex the best, but he's up there.. going back a little further, I'd put em in this order: 1) CJ 2) JJ 3) Wood /Dex 4) Folston /Jafar 5) Adams
As far as Kelly with elite backs, my belief is simple...he doesn't really 'like' or properly value running the ball, so how would he ever really correctly handle someone who is elite at doing something he only does reluctantly.
In your list of backs, I would go with:
JJ (post suspension), Cierre / Dex (by actual production Cierre has the lead), CJ, Adams, Folston
Book, Williams and our D could lead to CFP
team continues to play at a high level. Yes, I know that seems crazy. but he's a far better QB than all those early "game manger" QBs that Alabama won their first titles with.
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