Jarren Williams on his minor injury, scrimmage, offseason and E.J. Price
Going into his junior season Jarren Williams tweaked his mechanics, refined his footwork and came to a better mastery of the intricacies of the quarterback position as a thrower.
All that paid off in the form of a much-improved 2016 season, which helped propel him to many new offers and a new four-star ranking.
The Cats’ heralded quarterback commitment spoke with Cats Illustrated this week. One scrimmage is in the books and the regular season is fast-approaching.
Williams’ busy summer included stops at some of the nation’s premier recruiting events where intense competition with and against the nation’s best players and some coaching from respected specialists surely gave him some things to work on.
“I’ve definitely gotten better,” Williams told Cats Illustrated. “The biggest thing I took away from The Opening was the tricks they taught us, for instance, in terms of having a positive mindset. In the past I was always hard on myself and there would be a lot of negative talk to myself. But now as far as the next play it’s about having a positive mindset. That’s really helped me.
“When I made a bad throw, don’t sit on it. I used to get really upset about it. Now I try to have short-term memory when I do. It’s on to the next play, still staying positive.”
Last year was Williams’ first at Central Gwinnett, and while he quickly got to work getting to know his teammates, there was a learning curve. In fact, Central Gwinnett’s season mirrored Kentucky’s in 2016 in some respects. They started very slow before things started to click and the offense began putting up big numbers.
“We’ve gotten a lot closer. This is our second year and pretty much almost everybody is coming back offensively. I would say we’ve gelled and gotten more fluid. Everybody’s a lot more comfortable and we can do a lot more,” Williams said. “Last year we kinda progressed in the third, fourth, fifth game and started clicking.”
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The plan is to hit the ground running right off the bat this year.
“We just need to make a statement and come out strong,” he said.
Central Gwinnett has had one scrimmage so far. Williams wasn’t satisfied.
“I think I could have done a lot better,” he said. “I think I had two touchdowns that I threw, but there were a lot of mistakes.”
Williams said he’s still trying to develop that next level chemistry with his wide receivers and he’s confident that’s on the way.
“We’re all just feeling each other out. You get in pads and we’ve seen a lot of good things and it’s clicking but sometimes you’ll be like, ‘What in the world? What just happened?’” he said. “I had turf toe and my coach wasn’t going to play me in that game but we talked about it and he ended up letting me play.”
Turf toe is a painful injury, Williams said, and it’s his first time with the ailment. He thought his toe was broken when he first suffered the injury because of how swollen it became, but it shouldn’t hold him back this year.
When it comes to Kentucky’s season, Williams plans to keep a watchful eye on all the happenings in Lexington. He hasn’t planned out his official visit yet but said he will try to make it to as many home games as he can.
Williams has reached out to fellow Georgian and new Wildcat offensive lineman E.J. Price, who was a couple of years older than him but from the same area.
“I didn’t really know him like that but we’re from the same part and I’ve talked to him. I’ve gotten to know him a little bit and it definitely makes me feel good to know that he’s up there,” Williams said.