Someone might want to sit former Nebraska football defender James Williams down and show him what Florida State did in 2024 compared to what his old team did in the same season.
Someone also might want to sit him down and explain there’s no better way to burn a bridge than saying the kind of things he said about his old squad earlier this month. Granted, Williams may not care what his former teammates and coaches think of him, now that he’s going to school in sunny Florida.
Still, when Williams stood in front of cameras and told people things that came off as “certain position groups at Nebraska football aren’t that good,” I hope he knew the kind of backlash that would start back in the Cornhusker state.
Listen to this portion where he's comparing the talent level at Nebraska and #FSU....and the possibilities 🤔😤‼️🍢 pic.twitter.com/GJyRB9Mjs0
— Kelvin Hunt (@khchopchat) January 31, 2025
Former Nebraska football defender slags teammates
In a video shared online over the weekend, Williams is talking about the differences between Florida State and Nebraska. He’s also explaining what Seminoles new defensive coordinator Tony White brings to the table.
Williams clearly has a lot of respect for White, as he followed the DC (as well as defensive line coach Terrance Knighton) to Tallahassee. It appears he got carried away in his admiration.
“He is someone who sees the personnel around him and what he has and will adjust to that,” Williams began. “If we are a faster group, we'll play a faster kind of defense. If we're a bigger group, we'll play a bigger kind of defense. He's not someone who you have to adjust to his system, although that partly is true. He'll always incorporate what kind of talent he has.”
That’s not that bad right? Just singing the praises of his coach. It also happens to be true. That’s what White did effectively in his two seasons with the Huskers. It’s the next part that crosses the line a bit.
“I think in my first couple of weeks here, experiencing some of the talent that we have at DB and linebacker, no offense to Nebraska,” Williams added in the time-honored tradition of saying something that would cause offense right after. “But we may not have had there. The depth that we have, I think he's going to have a lot of fun being able to play around with that and disguise coverages and sub in different packages and all that kind of stuff as opposed to Nebraska, which he was doing, but we don’t always have the one-for-one need at every position.”
Nebraska fans that have seen the clip have already expressed some outrage over the comment. Williams is essentially saying his new teammates are better than his old ones. Sometimes that’s a fact of life. Sometimes you’re talking about a team that went 2-10 and claiming they’re better than a team that went 7-6.
In the end, it’s Williams former teammates that will decide just how offensive this is, but it’s not a good look. Especially when you consider that he was, in fact, part of the depth or lack thereof, he dismissed.
In 2024, Williams had his best season as a member of the Nebraska football team. While he did appear in 12 games, his season-high snaps in a game was 28. His comments are especially odd given those facts.