University of North Carolina Athletics
Turner's Take: A Quarterback's Homecoming
December 13, 2013 | Football, Featured Writers, Turner Walston
Back in March, Carolina football took a road trip to hold a spring scrimmage at Mallard Creek High School in Charlotte, the school that produced Tar Heel quarterback Marquise Williams. But there was one problem: Williams wasn't on the field. He was on the sidelines, but because he wasn't enrolled in the spring semester, he couldn't participate in practice. “It hurt, because that was my school,” he said this week. “It hurts not being able to participate in something that you love, and something that you always wanted to do, and to this day, I regret that.”
Williams will make up for that missed opportunity when he leads the Tar Heels in the Belk Bowl on December 28 at Charlotte's Bank of America Stadium. “It means a lot,” he said of the chance to play close to home. “We have a lot of alumni in Charlotte, a lot of great fans and support down there, so it's going to mean a lot to me because I love the city and I grew up there.”
Marquise Williams may have been raised in the Queen City, but by his own admission, he's done a lot of growing up in Chapel Hill as well. He went from not enrolled in the spring to backing up senior quarterback Bryn Renner, filling in as a change-of-pace running quarterback, to the starter when Renner suffered a season-ending injury at N.C. State. The time away from the game in early 2013 helped Williams re-focus and become more in tune with his priorities. “I kind of regret that I missed the spring, but I'm kind of glad I did, because I wouldn't be where I am today,” he said. “I probably wouldn't have studied the playbook like I did, or wouldn't have taken the game as seriously as I did, so there's a reason for everything. It was tough for me just sitting on the sidelines (at Mallard Creek), just knowing that I should be out there, but it's just some adversity I had to go through.”
The adversity wasn't finished when he returned to campus for training camp last summer. Tar Heel head coach Larry Fedora didn't name a backup quarterback for a long time during fall camp, preferring to let Williams battle with redshirt freshman Kanler Coker and true freshman Mitch Trubisky. When the season began, Williams was used situationally - and sparingly.
But when Renner was unavailable to start the October 5 game at Virginia Tech, it was the redshirt sophomore who got the call. Williams was 23-35 passing for two touchdowns and two interceptions and also rushed for 56 yards in Carolina's 27-17 loss. “I came out of that game and graded myself with a C-minus, knowing that I could have done better with a lot of things,” he said. “But after playing at Lane Stadium, where it rocks, I felt like I could go anywhere in the country and play and lead my guys to a victory.”
After Renner's injury in Raleigh, Williams would have to do just that. The win over the Wolfpack was the second of five straight wins for the Tar Heels - three of them with Williams as starter. But even after he got the call to step in at quarterback, he needed the blessing of his mentor. “I kept looking at it as Bryn's team, and I'm just the one behind the center, because I look up to him,” Williams said. “I always knew that he was going to lead the guys, and I was going to do what I need to do to win, and it finally came to me in a text. He said I had to lead the guys, and to stop worrying about him. I couldn't stop worrying about him, because that's somebody I always looked up to and always respected, so I wasn't going to let that go out of my head. I was going to always think about him, but I had to lead the guys.”
And lead he has. Williams is certainly a different quarterback from Renner, not as accurate with his passes and less patient in the pocket, but he brings a new dynamic with his feet. The read-option employed by the Tar Heels with Williams in the backfield has given new life to a run game that sputtered out of the gate in 2013. “You can't focus on one dimension, one player,” he said of opposing defenses. “Your [defensive end] has to slow play it, look at me and look at the running back because I can easily give it to T.J. Logan, Romar Morris, A.J. Blue or Khris Francis and they can get up the gap for five, 10, 15, 20 yards a pop, or I can easily go right behind you. If you float with them, I can go right behind you and I'll take it up the seam myself.” He hasn't been afraid to take that last option; on five occasions this season, Williams has been the team's leading rusher. That aspect of his game combined with better offensive line play and Logan's improved health and acclimation to the college game has made the Tar Heels the multi-dimensional offense they strive to be. “We had to get it together and find ways to win, and the guys up front just knew that they had to be the hogs they are and push them, so we could move down the field and keep scoring on touchdowns.”
Carolina will need to score touchdowns on December 28th to secure a Belk Bowl win. Cincinnati is 9-3 and averaging better than 33 points per game. But Williams said he's not worried about the Bearcats, that the Tar Heels need to play their own game to their best ability regardless of who's on the other sideline. “We've got to cut back on the turnovers, the penalties, the holding, stuff that kills us in the game. We've got to cut back on that and do what we've got to do,” he said.
It's nearly two weeks away now, the Belk Bowl and the Tar Heels' first postseason game under Larry Fedora. And it's in Charlotte, Williams' hometown and a tremendous base of Carolina alumni and football recruiting. When Williams was a high school senior, he remembers seeing the Tar Heels play in Nashville at the Music City Bowl, in the state of Tennessee against the Volunteers. “I looked at that, and I was like, 'Geez, we don't have a single blue in there.' I was like, 'How are we going to win this?'” This year, he'd like Carolina to have that same kind of numbers advantage. “I would love to see nothing but Carolina blue in that stadium because we're in Charlotte, two hours away. I would love to see everybody pack it out.”
In the back of his mind, Williams has been dreaming about playing close to home, in Charlotte, in front of friends and family, in front of the grandmother who hasn't seen a college game. “I didn't get to play down at my high school (last spring), so that hurt, so I'm just ready for this one, because it's something I always wanted,” he said. “I've been dreaming for the past week about what I'm going to do in this bowl game, and I've got a great feeling that I'm going to do some good stuff in this bowl game.”
Sometimes life gives second chances. Marquise Williams has a second chance to play in Charlotte on December 28th, and he plans on taking full advantage of it.
