From the moment Bo Williams was born he was not expected to do much in his life. Living in an area full of drugs and shootings, he was expected to fall into a very similar trap. Without a loving family like Williams has, this could very well have been the case.
Now that he is way from his family in Gainesville, his relationship with Coach Drayton is now beginning to have a similar effect.
Bo Williams knows how lucky he was to begin his tenure as a Florida Gator during what should have been his last semester in high school. While coaches want their early enrolling players to participate in contact drills during the spring, they also understand that it is not the most important thing. Players are moving away from families they have lived with their entire life. Now on their own, it is more important for them to gain familiarity with their new hometown.
“I made the right decision by enrolling early,” Williams said. “I graduated high school with a 3.6 GPA and had good scores on my tests. I learned a lot more plays and got some extra time in the weight room up here. It let me get settled. Other guys that came in late June, I would have been totally lost. It took me a month or two to get used to everything.
“When I first got here, it was pretty tough. I didn’t catch on to a whole lot, I was always fatigued. I had to get up early for class, practice and meetings.
Now, I’m used to it all and I’m very comfortable here in Gainesville. The people here in Gator Nation are all just so nice.”
It’s not a surprise for any recruit who gets on campus at his new college to be lost in so many areas. What made it different for Williams was what he got away from. After growing up in a tough area, Williams found Gainesville as a safe haven different from anything he had ever experienced before.
“I grew up in a rough neighborhood,” Williams said. “No one from there ever made it to college or finished high school. It was a very bad environment with drugs, shootings and robberies. That’s where I grew up at. No one ever thought I would make it out of there, but prayer changes things. I went to school and made good grades, now here am I at the University of Florida. When people started hearing that, they’re all like ‘What?’”
Even at a young age, Williams’ friends were falling into the unforgiving trap of drugs. It was tough for him to find a support group anywhere outside of the family he was blessed to have. His parents had a great impact on his maturation, but it’s his grandmother he credits for turning him into the man he is
today.
“My grandma is just getting old right now and that’s starting to get to her,” Williams said. “I call her when I can and I just worry about her all the night. Every night I pray to God for her. I just love her so much. She was there when I was born. My mom was already young when she had me, so my grandma played a big part in my life. She raised me to become the young man that I am and always took me to church with her. She’s just so sweet and would give anybody her last. She’s helped me become who I am.”
There isn’t a day, much less a few hours, where Williams doesn’t think about his grandmother, but he knew that he needed to move on in his life. As he began to become more noticed as a football recruit, he had one thing in mind. Growing up in a family where academics were not necessarily a priority, Williams took on the challenge of getting the best education possible.
“I looked at it as me having to become the best man I could be,” Williams said. “I was coming here to prove to people that I belonged at the University of Florida, not even talent-wise, but because I was a great person. I’m already the first person to graduate high school on either side of my family. Right now I just know that I’m going to turn this around for my family. I’m going to set my parents and my grandma up. I just thank the Lord so much for blessing me with the ability athletically and academically to become the best I can.”
The effort that Williams put into being different should not be overlooked. It was however the mentoring from his grandmother and parents that pushed him to the next level of being a good person. Every day when Williams went to school or spent time with his friends, he was never encouraged to do anything with his life or to be a good person. With the morals instilled in him since he was a child, it’s no surprise Williams turned out as he did.
“It’s a blessing to come out of there and do something because no one ever did,” Williams said. “Either you were in jail, on the corner or robbing. That’s all I ever knew. I just thank all my family for standing by my side. I just wanted to be different. They took the time and went through the process to show everyone that I wasn’t going to be like that.”
When you understand the family life that Williams grew up experiencing, it’s a no brainer why he chose to be a Gator. The Florida coaches sell their family atmosphere while recruiting players, and it was the perfect area of the program to show to Bo Williams.
“To tell you the truth, Coach Drayton is a father to me,” Williams said. “He invites us to his house for dinner, we go out bowling and we even have movie night sometimes. It is so family oriented. He stays on me for academics and teaches me so many things.”
No matter where you go, the relationship between recruiter and player will always switch when it becomes coach and player. Coaches go from generous salesmen of their programs to frustrated generals once the pads go on. Lucky for Williams, he knew this would be the case no matter what school he chose to attend.
“I figured it would be like that,” Williams laughed. “Back when I was being recruited people always told me that when I got up here the coaches would be mean and not even talk to me. Coach Drayton laid it all on the line for me though. He told me to get here to the University of Florida and he was going to change me and help me become a better young man. I really took that to heart.
“Ever since I got here, everything he’s done has been to better me as a person. I think about that and then how I’ve only been here for two semesters. Who knows what I can become? So many schools told me they’d make me into an All-American or I would start right away. But when Coach Drayton talked to me man-to-man, that’s what really touched my heart. ”
Williams, who is now recovering from a quad injury, isn’t needed during his freshman year at the running back position. Many people have even speculated he will redshirt this season. Even though you might not see him on the field this season, don’t think that means he isn’t working his hardest to get out there.
Spending time in the environments as a child that grown adults shouldn’t experience, Williams knows what happens when you let your guard down and become complacent. Don’t ever expect that out of him.