STARKVILLE — Aeris Williams is not one that lacks in confidence.
As part of a 2016 Mississippi State running back corps with two seniors, he still led the group with 137 carries, 720 yards and four rushing touchdowns — all as a sophomore. He also said that’s just the beginning.
“They haven’t seen half of what I’m about to do, I promise you that,” he said.
Williams is poised to back up those words after what was, by all accounts, a productive spring capped with the Maroon & White Game in which he averaged over 6 yards per carry. When MSU’s preseason camp opens July 25, Williams will be battling for the top spot in the rotation alongside Nick Gibson, Dontavian Lee, Alec Murphy and incoming freshman Kylin Hill.
“It feels like I’m a senior in my game. My confidence is way up there,” said Williams, who will be a junior in the fall. “I know what I’m capable of doing and I think the coaches know what I’m capable of doing. Now I just have to run out there and show the world.”
Those around him have no doubt that revelatory performance will come this fall. Among them is his high school coach, West Point’s Chris Chambless: he saw it play out the same way in high school.
“He knows he’s going to get out of it what he puts into it,” Chambless said, “and he’s putting a lot into it.”
Similar to his sophomore season for MSU, Williams was part of a rotation as a sophomore at West Point. He was one of three backs to receive in between 100 and 150 carries, turning those carries into 778 yards and 12 touchdowns.
He became the feature back for his junior and senior seasons and did not disappoint: 1,519 yards as a junior before 1,697 yards and 21 touchdowns as a senior.
Getting a workload of that size — averaging over 22 carries per game over his final two years at West Point — may not be likely at MSU, but no one doubts his ability to do it if asked.
“Aeris can tote it 35 times a game if they need him to,” Chambless said.
MSU running backs coach Greg Knox added, “He’s a workhorse, that he is. I don’t ever have to worry about him being prepared and coming to work when he gets on the field. He is a hard-hat guy.”
Williams’ on-field role remains to be determined, but the spring exposed him to a role that is certain: position group leader.
After the departure of seniors Ashton Shumpert and Brandon Holloway, Williams and Lee find themselves as the veterans of the room as redshirt juniors. Williams embraced the challenge in the spring — not that it’s foreign to him.
“He’s one of those guys that when he does say something or make a directive, people listen because that’s the kind of presence he has. He did the same thing for us (at West Point),” Chambless said.
“He’s not there constantly running his mouth like some other guys are. When he does say something, they know it’s worth listening to.”
Williams — well aware, in his own words, of the leadership role he would inherit for the new team — seems to have adapted his leadership role since doing it at West Point.
“It’s different, whenever you lose two guys like that with that much experience. Aeris has stepped up a little bit,” Knox said. “Shumpert and Holloway were a little more quiet, a little more reserved, where now Aeris and Dontavion are the seniors of the room, a little more outgoing.”
Or, a little more confident.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Brett Hudson on Twitter @Brett_Hudson
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