D.J. Williams said Southern Illinois coach Nick Hill “gave me the chance of a lifetime” to lead the SIU offense. (Photo by Barry Bottino, PrairieStatePigskin.com)
By Barry Bottino
Entering the transfer portal after four seasons at Murray State was a gamble for quarterback D.J. Williams.
His time at Murray brought an Ohio Valley Conference Freshman of the Year Award and plenty of personal highlights for a team that won only four games in his final two years.
“I didn’t have a lot of big offers,” he said. “I didn’t have too much confidence in myself. I wasn’t the same person that I was going into (college). I didn’t have that same smile playing the game.”
An offer from Southern Illinois head coach Nick Hill, a former Saluki quarterback, changed his outlook.
“The first message he sent me after I committed was the Jayden Daniels Heisman video,” Williams said at Monday’s Missouri Valley Football Conference media day in Sioux Falls, S.D. “It was him winning the Heisman after transferring from Arizona State to LSU.”
That comeback story is driving Williams’ plan for a big 2025 season.
“I love him to death,” Williams said of Hill. “He gave me the chance of a lifetime. He gave me a chance to take over a team when I was coming off a 2-9 season as a starting quarterback. He brought me out of a tough spot.”
Williams is fully healed from a broken right hand that limited his 2024 campaign to three games for SIU, which was picked to finish sixth in the league’s preseason poll.
Hill, who has said his quarterback could be the best player in the country this fall, decided in the offseason to take over as offensive coordinator after SIU assistant coach Blake Rolan departed for a job at FBS Wisconsin.
“A lot of it had to do with D.J.,” Hill said. “I wanted an opportunity to coach this guy. His skill set, his talent … his smile, his personality, people gravitate to him.”
Williams, who was among 12 SIU players named to the MVFC’s preseason watch list Monday, said he is highly motivated to put together an impressive season, which begins Aug. 30 against D-II Thomas More in Carbondale.
“It’s time to go show it now,” he said. “I see all the (preseason) lists coming out. That’s more fuel to the fire. Everybody’s got to prove it now. Show me that you’re better than me.”
Barry Bottino is a co-founder of Prairie State Pigskin and a 19-year veteran of three Illinois newspapers. He has covered college athletics since 1995.
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