COLLEGE FOOTBALL: WILLIAMS TACKLES HIS SENIOR YEAR

By his own admission, Southeast Missouri State University football player Joe Williams had a disappointing junior season.

But he's making up for that in a big way this year.

A senior safety from Baton Rouge, La., by way of California, Williams has 59 tackles in four games to rank second nationally in Division I-AA with an average of 14.75 tackles per game.

Williams had 19 tackles during last Saturday's 38-14 loss to Western Kentucky. And he amassed 20 tackles when the Indians erased a 31-0 deficit to stun Southern Illinois 34-33 earlier this season.

All that is a far cry from 1999, when Williams had only 10 tackles in limited playing time.

"Last year was very disappointing," said Williams prior to Thursday's practice. "I had done pretty well my first two years (he had 33 tackles as a part-time starter as a sophomore and contributed 18 tackles as a freshman), but I guess I was in the coaches' doghouse last year.

"They never really gave me a reason, but I must have done something because I didn't get to play very much."

With a new coaching staff in place this year, Williams' slate was wiped clean. And he has made the most of it.

"It feels good this year," he said. "I love contributing. I've been contributing all my life, from Pop Warner on up."

Williams also loves a good hit, which is something he has been delivering on a regular basis this year, despite the fact he's only 5-feet-10 and 190 pounds, although the weight is packed on a muscular frame.

"Yeah, I like to hit, but my body is paying for it," said Williams with a laugh. A shoulder and knee have both been banged up, but he hasn't missed any playing time. "The last two games, they had big running backs, and I've taken a pounding. My shoulder and knee have been sore, but I'll be ready to go (Saturday)."

Said Southeast defensive backs coach Shannon Morrison, "Joe is doing real well, and he's a hard hitter. But as many tackles as he's been making, he needs to learn to hit those guys lower to keep from getting banged up so much."

While Williams leads the Indians and the OVC in tackles, fellow safety Isaac Powell is second on the squad and ranks 18th nationally with 47 tackles for an average of 11.75 per game.

It's generally not ideal for a defense's two leading tacklers to be its safeties, as Morrison acknowledged. But he said that, with Southeast's defensive scheme, Williams and Powell are going to get more than their share of stops.

"With our defense, the two safeties are usually going to make a lot of tackles," Morrison said. "But we probably don't want them to have that many."

Said Williams, who grew up in southern California but played his high school football in Louisiana, "In any program, that's a lot of tackles for a safety. But in our defense, the linebackers spill tackles to us, so we're in a position to make a lot of plays. And I don't mind stepping up for the team."

The Indians, after two straight upset victories, fell to 2-2 following the loss to Western Kentucky that marked Southeast's Ohio Valley Conference opener. Eastern Kentucky, Saturday's opponent on the road, was the preseason pick to win the OVC, but the Colonels are also 0-1 in league play, which has Williams thinking that the game will be intense.

"Last week was a rough game, but we have to bounce back," he said. "We're both 0-1 (in the OVC). It will be a war."