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With 36 days left until the Virginia Tech Hokies square off against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, we turn our attention to #36 on the roster Mr. Chase Williams. Thanks to Tariq Edward’s offseason surgery, Williams earned every single first string rep this past spring at Backer. Despite lacking true starting experience, I wouldn’t have a problem with the Virginia native starting a game if he had to this season. Williams is instinctive and he thrives against the run. He does need to continue to work on his drops in pass defense but most young linebackers need to continue to hone that skill. Overall, Williams is a good player and one that will be a full-time starter soon.
The Scoop
Height: 6’1”
Weight: 224 lbs
Position: Backer
Year: R-Sophomore
High School: Loudon County High School
How Did He Get Here?
Despite being highly thought of by the Virginia Tech coaching staff, Williams was not the most highly touted kid. He did boast offers from Miami, West Virginia, and a few other smaller schools but the Hokies were clearly his best option if he wanted to stay close to home. Williams was a 1st team All-State member during his senior season when he racked up 173 tackles, 24 tackles for loss, and 11 sacks at LCHS.
2011 Season Rewind
If you remember back to Williams’s true freshman season in 2010, Bud Foster was quoted in an old Kyle Tucker blog saying that he wanted to play Chase as a freshman. However, the Virginia native was slowed by a hamstring injury for the first few weeks of the season and wound up redshirting. That move should benefit Williams who is now entering his 3rd year in the program.
In 2011, Williams played sparingly on defense, grabbing just 13 snaps total. Most of his work came on special teams.
2012 Prediction
The Backer depth chart is up in the air since Edwards still doesn’t have a time table for his return. Head trainer Mike Goforth said this about Edwards in an Andy Bitter blog from a few weeks ago:
“Most of his pain is up where the incision was where they put the rod,” Goforth said. “Nothing where the stress fracture was. … Now we’ve just got to get him running a little bit more natural. He looks good right now. He’s big and I believe he’s going to have a good season.”
What this means for Williams is that he needs to prepare for this season like he is going to be the starter. In all likelihood, Edwards will return for the start of the season. But, just incase there’s a setback, Williams needs to get ready.
If you watched the first string defense this past spring, there wasn’t many plays for the linebackers to make. That’s the benefit of having such a strong front line. But Chase will impressive for the most part. Like I mentioned earlier, there are some things he needs to clean up. He needs to be a little more explosive when he blitzes for instance but overall, he’s a solid player. I look for him to see 200-plus snaps on defense this year.
Completely Made Up Fact
Despite being hampered by a hamstring injury during his freshman season, Williams actually missed his first spring game due to a bad case of Nintendo tendonitis. Playing Maro Cart for six straight hours causes it. Don't ask how I know that.
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Any word on KF? Supposed to announce by now……
Hokies!
Now that we got fuller, who else do we still have any chance of landing? Could this turn out to be our best class ever? Also any word on psu transfers?
time to just go to green and teller and tell them that we have the pieces to win it all and need you