STARKVILLE — College football players spend more time with the strength and conditioning coaches than anyone else inside their program, particularly in the offseason. So building relationships, especially with a new staff and a roster full of newcomers, is of the utmost importance.
Just over a week after Jeff Lebby was named Mississippi State’s new head coach in late November, the Bulldogs hired Shaud Williams as their new head of strength and conditioning. Williams spent the last five years as an assistant strength and conditioning coach at Oregon and was in the same role at Wisconsin for one season before that.
“I’ve known (Lebby) for a long time,” Williams said. “Jeff and his family mean a great deal to me. They’ve played a big role in me being where I am today. So whenever Jeff called, it was a no-brainer.”
Williams was a multi-sport star growing up, and the Atlanta Braves selected him in the 13th round of the 1999 MLB Draft out of high school. But he chose to continue playing multiple sports in college, becoming the Big 12 Offensive Freshman of the Year in football at Texas Tech. After two years on the Red Raiders’ football and baseball teams, Williams transferred to Alabama, where he continued to play both sports but had a much brighter future on the gridiron.
In 2003, Williams led the Southeastern Conference with 1,367 rushing yards and scored 14 touchdowns, then signed with the Buffalo Bills as an undrafted free agent in 2004. He played in all 16 games in his second season with Buffalo but was out of the NFL not long after, playing in the United Football League and later the semi-professional Southwest American Football League before transitioning to coaching.
“Ben Pollard and Terry Jones Jr. were my two strength coaches (at Alabama). I feel like they played a great part in my development and always having me ready to play on Saturdays,” Williams said. “A strength staff plays a big role in getting guys ready to play and their development, so hopefully we’ve done that.”
Williams started his coaching career at his high school alma mater in Andrews, Texas, for three years, then broke into the college ranks. At MSU, he leads a staff of four assistant strength and conditioning coaches. Erich Anthony and David Underwood work with the linemen, Christian Buchanan works with what Williams called “combos” — mostly linebackers and tight ends — and Williams and Jawarski Beckum work with the skill position players.
Beckum, who worked with Williams at Oregon and overlapped with Lebby at Ole Miss before that, is officially the Bulldogs’ “director of speed.”
“(Beckum) is arguably one of the best speed coaches in the country,” Williams said. “I’d put him up against anybody. It was very important to get him here and get these guys faster. Our whole staff has done a great job.”
Williams said defensive lineman Trevion Williams and center Ethan Miner are in the best shape on the team from a strength standpoint, while cornerback Kelley Jones and wide receivers Mario Craver and Kevin Coleman are among MSU’s fastest players.
With the skill position players, Williams and his staff do a lot of single-leg training to improve their balance. The linemen’s work with the strength staff primarily involves lifting heavy weights. But the most crucial aspect of Williams’ work, given that the players are around the strength staff much more than their position coaches, has been establishing a circle of trust with the entire team.
“I want us to be the constant. Every day they walk in the door, they know what they’re getting with us,” Williams said. “Doing that builds a great deal of trust. Those guys know that our door is always open, they can come to us with anything, and they can trust us. It’s really helped us develop a good chemistry between players and coaches this offseason.”
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