Dan Williams: NFL Draft Profile

by Joel Hollingsworth on Feb 26, 2010 10:23 PM EST in Tennessee Volunteer Football

Prior NFL Draft Player Profiles from RTT:

Eric Berry

As always, be sure to checkout SB Nation's own Mocking the Draft to keep up with where our guys might be headed.

Defensive Tackle Dan Williams' NFL Draft Profile

Measurements

6'3", 327 pounds

The 140-character Twitter Summary

Space-eating tree trunk of a defensive tackle with surprising speed to complement his power.

Strengths

Dan Williams is a huge, strong guy with a low center of gravity who can really clog up the middle of the line of scrimmage. He's fairly versatile as well, though, as he's often seen far away from his starting point when the play ends, whether that's along one of the sidelines chasing a scrambling quarterback or a screening receiver or 15 yards down field recovering a fumble.

After redshirting in 2005 and playing sparingly in 2006, Williams played in every game from 2007 through 2009. Vol fans will forever remember Williams' 2007 season for the game-saving blocked field goal in the incredible four-overtime win against Kentucky, a moment that Vol fans voted as the best play of that season:

Williams improved in 2008 and then, in 2009, under the tutelage of defensive line guru Ed Orgeron, simply tore it up, compiling 70 tackles (36 solo), three sacks (two solo), and nine quarterback hurries:

Weaknesses

Williams obviously doesn't have the star power (or the stats) of Nebraska's Ndamukong Suh.
Weight could be a potential problem; he reported in 2005 at 360 pounds. However, he lost 30-40 pounds pretty quickly and mostly kept it off through his playing days at Tennessee, so he appears to have the discipline required to stay at a more reasonable weight for defensive tackles.

Non-football endearing/charming/interesting thing

Williams, a happy, soft-spoken guy off the field, is from Memphis, and he's had to endure much disdain from the hometown folks about his choice to attend and play for Tennessee. Right after he committed to Rocky Top, some Memphis lady stopped her car in front of him at an intersection and refused to move when the light turned green until Williams finally confronted her and asked what the problem was. The lady told him that he'd "just made the dumbest decision of [his] life" before driving away. No word on whether it was Leigh Anne Tuohy.

Over/underrated?

Most mock drafts have Williams going somewhere in the lower teens overall, which seems about right. A year ago, I would have said that that was too high, but Williams really improved his draft stock with a year under Ed Orgeron and Monte Kiffin.

Additional articles on Eric Berry from RTT

Tennessee Senior Day 2009: Wes Brown & Dan Williams - Rocky Top Talk
The Vols' defensive tackles have set the tone in the trenches this season, with Dan Williams possibly en route to a first round draft selection.
Big Dan Got Mad Ups voted Best Play of 2007 - Rocky Top Talk
Spring Position Battles: Defensive Line - Rocky Top Talk
A look at the defensive line for the Tennessee Volunteers for 2009. What are the keys to look for during spring training for each player? Find out here.
Tennessee Moments of the Decade #10 - The 2007 Football Season - Rocky Top Talk
The mood swings have never been more dramatic than in the 14 games of the 2007 Tennessee Football season.
Post-game awards: Tennessee Volunteers vs. Georgia Bulldogs - Rocky Top Talk
Post-game awards: Tennessee Volunteers vs. South Carolina Gamecocks - Rocky Top Talk

Final career stats

Games Played	Tackles					Sacks			Pass. Def.	QBH	Blocked Kicks
	Ast	Solo	Asst Loss	Solo Loss	Loss Yds	Ast	Solo	Yards
45	81	79	8	21	82	2	6	47	1	17	1

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the Mocking the Draft

link doesn’t seem to work right.

Tennessee Fans: We win at teh Internet!

by bobo_the_vol on Feb 27, 2010 7:04 PM EST reply actions

Fixed

Thanks.

Rocky Top Talk

by Joel Hollingsworth on Feb 28, 2010 6:44 AM EST up reply actions

Excerpts from ESPN

Before you know it, nose tackle is going to become the second most high-profile position in football, especially given the prevalence of the 3-4 scheme with the Bills, Redskins and Seahawks all possibly switching over for 2010. By our count, that’d make 16 out of 32 teams that use the 3-4 as part of their base package.

As we know, a 3-4 scheme requires a dominant NT, and it’s looking like the best one available in this year’s draft class is Tennessee product Dan Williams. Williams is No. 17 on Mel Kiper Jr.‘s latest Big Board, and he winds up going No. 18 overall to the Pittsburgh Steelers in Todd McShay’s second mock draft.

The Bills might not use their pick at No. 9 overall to take Williams, but he is a possibility for the Seahawks with their second first-rounder at No. 14. Then there’s this tweet from Move the Sticks proprietor Daniel Jeremiah: “every team I talk to has [Williams] very high on their board. He’s going to go high.”

Kevin Weidl and McShay offer us a glimpse of why teams will continue to debate his merits up until Draft Day:

Another player who’s eliciting mixed reactions from scouts. On one hand, he is an impressive two-gap run-defender with the size, lower-body strength and hand use to control, redirect and disengage from blockers. That alone could have him off the board in the middle of the first round.

However, Williams is still developing as a pass-rusher. He needs a wider variety of pass-rush moves and needs to work better to finish once his first move is stopped. Still, for a team looking for an effective run-stuffer in the middle, he is a player who will step in and contribute immediately.

by golfballs03 on Feb 28, 2010 11:32 AM EST reply actions