Don't Sleep On: D’haquille Williams

- Posted by: Eric Stoner - @ 2014-06-08 19:02:51

Name: D’haquille Williams

Height/Weight: 6’2 / 216

Class: Junior (Spent Two Years at Mississippi Gulf Coast CC)

Player Comparison: Anquan Boldin (this is based off one spring game so don’t destroy me for this. Boldin was the first to pop in my head)

D’haquille Williams was a 5-star recruit and the #1 JuCo WR Prospect by most services who enrolled in the spring at Auburn and was an impact player from his first practice on campus. The announcers were gushing about him during Auburn’s spring game and he left a lasting impression on everyone in attendance pulling in five catches for 88 yards and a touchdown. He’s got a great build and some solid athleticism and skills from what I saw in this game. I GIF’d all 5 catches, with their context, and added my own analysis after each.

Don’t sleep on D’haquille (goes by Duke (according to announcers) but D’haquille is a fantastic name and I’m going to use it as much as I can)

Shoutout to noonkick for having this easily accessible on the internet.

Context: 1st Q, 2:17, 1-10 , Own 30, Lined up in the left slot

I loved the release and tenacity after the catch. D’haquille is a violent player (it’s very prevalent in his blocking) and that added to his size makes him a terror in the open field.

Context: 1st Q, 0:56, 1-Goal, Opp 3, Split out wide on right

Another fantastic release and great domination at the catch-point. This play was reviewed and later was confirmed as a touchdown.

Context: 2nd Q, 9:47, 1-10, Opp 30, Split out wide on right

The play before this was a huge run that was benefitted by his downfield blocking (which is very violent, in case you were wondering) and this play was finished with a violent stiff-arm. I like the route, the get-off leaves a little to be desired, but the head fake at the top of the route destroyed the defensive back and created a ton of separation. Throwing a 12 yard out is not Nick Marshall’s strength and D’haquille had to come back to the ball a little bit.

(Bonus Sammie Coates)

He’s very good at football.

Context: 2nd Q, 4:45, 3-11, Own 24, Split out wide on left

Beat the press inside and settled over the corner and under the safety, past the 1st down marker. Still got 5 yards after the catch facing the LOS with a safety right over the top. Loved the high-low combo route and it kept the chains moving. Very solid play.

Context: 2nd Q, 3:39, 3-17, Midfield

I have no idea if he found space and settled or kept his route going and Marshall threw him to space. Not too wild about the release (pads were high and he got knocked off his route) but this was also the 2nd straight 3rd down he converted. Still was solid play with a good result.

He did not play in the 2nd half.

Overall, the statline has to be taken with a grain of salt because it was a spring game against back-ups, but there was still a lot to like about his play and some of his flaws (primarily his release) are very easy to fix with coaching and quality reps. Very solid play and some plays that weren’t shown really reinforce that he is a guy who wants to destroy people that are lined up across from him.

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