An Interview With Charlotte's Newest Defensive Tackle, Taz Williams

Read us chat about growing up in Akron, his journey to Charlotte, and what 49ers fans should expect from him moving forward.

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of speaking with Taz Williams, one of Charlotte’s newest transfer signees. Taz is a defensive tackle and comes to the program after a string of departures from the 49ers defensive front. Born in Akron, Ohio, Williams originally committed to Kent State out of high school, where he played for three seasons, accumulating 36 tackles, 5.5 TFLs, and 3 sacks, before transferring to Utah State. At Utah State, he played in 4 games, making 9 tackles, including 4 solo, and 1 TFL. Ultimately, he would stay there for only a season, looking for a fresh start after an injury and coaching changes among the staff. That brings him into the open arms of Charlotte, North Carolina, where defensive tackles coach Vince Reynolds and head coach Tim Albin surely expect him to be a solid contributor to Charlotte’s defensive line.

To give you a peek behind the curtain, and to further exemplify what a fantastic young man Mr. Williams is, we spoke yesterday afternoon, and in my inexperience recording interviews, I walked away with an interview that didn’t have any sound. I reached back out to him and we were able to knock it out for a second time. No complaints from him, nothing but a pleasant attitude and cheery disposition. (Don’t let that fool you though, he says he becomes someone else entirely on the field.)

With all that said, here’s my conversation with Taz Williams. Enjoy!

BS: You grew up in Akron, Ohio growing up where LeBron James is from. James Harrison Steph Curry was born there. It's a sports town. How did that shape you getting into football?

TW: It's kind of like you said, it could be a blessing or a curse. I think there are standards you're held to growing up around Akron, like you said, also Beanie Wells and there's just other guys, there's small name guys that you may not very much know, but I know of these guys. It's all about hard work, dedication, and like I said, it's a blue collar town. So Goodyear tires is there. It all started off as as a town for those people to work in, and it was showers in the basement, showers upstairs. It's it's a known thing that it's a blue collar town. So same thing. We look at it as sports, as how you work, or how you do everything. What do they say? How you do anything is how you do everything. We're upheld to that standard growing up, playing for East Pee Wee playing at the reservoir, plan for the Firestone Park Rams. So it was just, it's a there's a different thing that comes with Ohio football. And it's running the ball, going hard, playing hard. And this is mono e mono, so that's that's how you're raised up here.

BS: Speaking of LeBron, you went to the same high school as him. What sort of pressure does that put on you as a high school athlete?

TW: Man, I actually like the fact that you use the word pressure, because it's a lot of athletes know that stresses is mental. It's what you put on yourself, but pressure is earned. So the ability to earn that pressure, like I'm saying, people expect, they expect you to be good around here. They expect you to work hard. They expect you to go chase your dreams. So the pressure, I'm thankful for the pressure. Man, I want to be like LeBron. I want to be able to give back to the community, give back to the kids. Growing up, and the impact he had on our life was amazing. We played for Joy Park, and he would come. He would give tickets. He had bike funds where he give out multiple hundreds of bikes to kids. It's a dream come true to be able to even talk about LeBron. So, yeah, man, the pressure is earned, and I'm thankful for it.

BS: You had a couple offers coming out of high school, Kent State, Akron, Duquesne, I know were all up there and a couple others small schools. Talk me through your high school recruitment.

TW: High School recruitment was a little stressful, a little difficult. My pops was very he was very keen. My dad is very strategic and smart. He actually wrote a book when we were kids. He He raised us to be athletes. We were doing plyometrics every day, doing the ladder, and so on coming out of high school. I had two older brothers, so he tried to get them recruited. He used Hudl, he used scoutingohio.com, and he was texting coaches, calling coaches. So it was easier for me once it got rolling, because my dad was putting in all the work. He was sending emails and and making my film and giving it to coaches, and he was believing in me. So it was difficult at first, and then once it started rolling and we got Akron, like you said, Kent, and then it was on for other schools, but yeah, no, it was okay, it was stressful. It was a learning experience, but it definitely made what I had to go through now easier.

BS: Your head coach at Kent State, his name was Sean Lewis. (Former HC of Kent State, OC at Colorado, and now HC at San Diego State) Can you talk a little bit about kind of what he did for you, for your game, man?

TW: Sean Lewis is an amazing guy. It was cool to be able to see a guy so young do these things right in front of my eyes. He recruited me. He put enthusiasm in the game. He had a culture. He had a thing about him. You know, if coach Lewis was gonna talk to you, then you most likely proved yourself at some point. He had a standard man that really taught me a lot because it was the first time I experienced college football. So experiencing college football under him, going to the MAC Championship my freshman year, going to a bowl game, it was amazing. Although, you know, it was Kent State. We may not have the best facilities. We may not have the best nutrition and and weight room, whatever you want to say, but just the culture he embedded at Kent State, it was amazing. Even then, you it wasn’t not just him. It was coach Ferrell. You know, his name is Colin Ferrell. He coaches at Rutgers now, but coach Matty J and coach Barton and coach Sobel. Man, we used to call him “Swolbel.” He was our strength coach. So that whole culture was amazing. They held us to a high standard. I was blessed because I didn't have that standard before.

BS: Then, Kent State to Utah State. You talk about how proud you are to be from Akron. You went to Kent State, which is close by. What drew you out all the way to Utah?

TW: I'm a very outgoing person. I like to experience things. When you, as a kid, or as a man, or a young man, when you realize you’ve only got one year [of eligibility] left, there's a lot of things that may go through your head. So it really was just that I believed in myself that I was better than Kent at the moment. I did three years. I earned my spot, man. I was on a Leadership Council. I was the weight room captain. It was just that I had grown so much. I believe that I deserve different, especially for my last year, I wanted to go play at a bigger school, or a school with more resources so I could experience that. So I went ahead and did it and I've been blessed ever since.

BS: Okay, and then at Utah State, you played in four games, and then you got hurt, and I hate that for you, but then what? What brought you from Utah State maybe looking into some other places?

TW: Yeah, so I played four games. We played Robert Morris. We played Utah at our crib. We played USC, and we played Temple. But what brought me so, yeah, like you said, got injured man, healed up, whatever. And then what brought me to Charlotte is that what you're saying?

BS: What made you say, “Well, I'm ready for something else?” Then we'll get into Charlotte.

TW: Yeah, so the transfer portal is a funny thing because it's individualized through your experience. There’s context. So some people may have different stories, but so whatever. My way of getting the portal was mutual between me and the coaches. We agreed upon it. They run a three man front. It was a new staff that had just come in, so I understood, no hard feelings. I hopped in the portal, talked to coaches, reached out, built relationships. Like I said, I enjoyed my time. I’ll always enjoy my experience there, no matter what I do. It was a cool time. But man, coming to Charlotte was amazing. So that's that's why I went ahead and said those words.

BS: In our last conversation. You talked about how, you know, I think you had a coach at Utah State leave, the defensive coordinator. We talked about how a lot of players will get flack for leaving a situation, but it just seems sometimes coaches don't. It's a different situation. What do you feel as a player when a coach may get a free pass, and a lot of times players don't?

TW: I think, like I said, it's individualized and there’s context, depending on the story. He may be right, he may be wrong, but I think it's more publicized, and they think it's bad for the kid, because you are blessed with a scholarship, you are blessed with a talent, you are blessed with school. So people believe that should be enough, and if work hard for it, and if it works out, it is enough. If it doesn’t work out, it just isn’t enough. As a kid, especially now being respected as employees, as college athletes, we do a whole lot of things. It's hard to be a elite college athlete while mentally being unstable or mentally thinking your coach may or may not believe in you, or thinking your coaches may be mistreating you or not using you right, or that you are just not happy in your environment. So all I can say is, man, every situation is different. Some people are wrong, some people are right, and and that's that.

BS: So then from Utah State, and then you got in touch with Coach Reynolds here at Charlotte. Talk me through your recruiting with the 49ers.

TW: My recruitment at Charlotte started honestly, strong. I talked about this last time, but people don't pay attention to small details and intent. My coach, Reynolds, he was very strategic. He had intent in the way he would talk to me, he would call me, he would FaceTime me. Seeing somebody's face and knowing their their emotions and the way they feel and what they think, it does a lot to you, especially before meeting you. Now, I’ve basically already met you. I know your face. So it was, it was amazing, man. He talked to me. He sent me videos of him watching film. He was a cool dude. He told me his background, told me a story, told me what he wanted out of a player and and how I fit that mold. He also knew my previous coach, Coach Colin Ferrell of Rutgers, so he knew that coach, and I talked to him about him, about how he was a good guy. He also knew a guy used to train with by the name of Pooty, who trained Aaron Donald and and all these Rams and Pitt athletes. I knew he was a good dude, man. There were great conversations. We would have great moments. We learned a lot for from each other in a small amount of time. I had to make it happen.

BS: Then you took your official visit. How soon after your visit ended did you know Charlotte was where you were going to be?

TW: So I knew while I was on the visit. I traveled with my parents. I needed to know their their opinion. I needed to know what they thought because their experience is worth its wisdom. It's worth so much of the things they teach me. I went up there with my parents, and to be able to see the way they reacted to how they were treating us, or the food we got. or the fact that they sent out chauffeurs and how flew us out. It was, it was a great time. Great people. Great smiles. Man, just their ability to show that genuineness, and then to talk to the players and confirm that they're not just doing it because I'm on the OV, but that they’re doing it because they really want me. I'm taking my parents into the position meeting and having coach Reynolds and coach Maddox break it down and they’re seeing it right in front of their very eyes. It was amazing to them. After just talking to them in the hotel, I told them, “I to know what you're thinking.” I wanted to know their opinions. I wanted to know what they thought. When I got the okay from them, I knew it was it was it was it was gold. So to be able to confirm my thoughts of everything I wanted with them, that's why I pulled that trigger.

BS: Defensive tackle can be a somewhat thankless position. It's a harder position to play, I feel like, because, you know, a lot of times what you see on the field is not really written out in stats, right? There’s eating double teams and stuffing run gaps. Why do you enjoy playing defensive tackle?

TW: Well, it's funny because, like you said, it can be a thankless position. It's almost like, as a D tackle, you have to react so quickly that you may think you’re not thinking. I think it's a position that you have to be able to turn off and on, you have to be able to want it and know what's going on immediately because you have no time once the ball is snapped to figure out who's doing what. It's a reaction. So I think that fits in with me because over time, I've learned how to turn myself off and on. I know when it's go time. I know when it's time for something to happen. I never flinch. I never bat an eye and that's what you can't do as a D tackle. You can't pop out your stance and look around or think about it. It's just go, go, go, go, go. Like I said, the way I was raised, it was always go, go, go, go, go. You’ve got to be able to think so fast that people may not think you're thinking. Then, to be able to to put your hands on somebody and act reckless, because that's what people expect from you, is amazing. Because I could speak, I could talk. We could be intellectual. We could we could think together. We could communicate. But when I get on the field, it's between me and this guy, and I don't have to be nice. I like that a lot.

BS: Do you have a favorite defensive tackle?

TW: I'll say Aaron Donald. You know, Warren Sapp to Geno Atkins, all those smaller guys are the ones I always looked up to.

BS: What's your message for Charlotte coming into the season?

TW: What's what's my message for Charlotte coming into the season? Yes, sir, I must say, get your popcorn ready. Have fun. Expect some strategic, strategic ball, some smart, experienced football. Like I said, I can't speak too much, but I go based off history, Tim Albin, who’s a two-time Coach of the Year, two-time MAC Championship winner, taking his team to bowl games continuously, and being under coach Solich. I’m from Ohio. He's from Ohio U, so I know these things. I heard about him when I was growing up. I knew what was going on at Ohio U. Just just to have a head coach with 30 plus years of experience, plus having coach Mattix a two time over DC, working under Coach Alvin is amazing. All I can say is be ready for some experienced ball. Man, we're about to have some fun and tighten up your chin straps.