South Carolina RB David Williams needs to take ownership for his subpar play

The best football players rise to the occasion every time they’re on the football field. They lead from the front and take accountability when things don’t go well. When they’re challenged by their coaches, they strive to learn from their mistakes and look to avoid repeating them.

Unfortunately, I’m not seeing that with David Williams right now. After Tuesday’s practice, Will Muschamp called out the redshirt junior’s lack of consistency, stating that having to continually “challenge somebody every single day” was “tiring”. It was an effort to light a fire under Williams and get him playing to the best of his ability.

However, the comments David Williams made yesterday troubled me. Sure, he’s in the film room breaking things down and attempting to take in information. But what troubled me was the fact that he shoveled the blame of his disappointing play on the previous staff.

I know Williams has talent. I know he has the capability to be a strong running back option for this program. I’m just not sure the work effort and overall interest is there. Some of that might be on the coaching staff, but Williams has to hold up his end of the bargain as well. This was a player that wanted to be the co-featured running back alongside Brandon Wilds last year, and while Wilds received the most carries, Williams simply didn’t capitalize on the opportunities he was given.

Hopefully Williams can motivate himself and get things going. But Will Muschamp has made his feelings known, and there’s plenty of guys behind him (i.e. A.J. Turner) that can get the job done if things don’t pan out.