University of Georgia Athletics
Game On For Williams
April 24, 2017 | Track & Field
By John Frierson
UGAAA Staff Writer
Set, spin and release. Repeat. Aim for perfection, yet seldom find it. Keep searching.
That was Devon Williams in the discus cage at Spec Towns Track last Tuesday. It was the end of a routine practice for the Georgia decathlete, though he didn't appear all that thrilled with his throws.
Georgia coach Petros Kyprianou told the star senior they were pretty good for a practice; most of the throws covered between 145-150 feet. But if you know anything about Williams, or his sister, pretty good is nowhere near good enough.
"He's very hungry, he knows where he wants to be; he wants to be the best every in everything," Kyprianou said. "With him having this kind of mindset, I feel if he's healthy I don't think anything can stop him."
Like her older brother, Kendell Williams is a star combined-event athlete for the Bulldogs. Kendell has earned enough NCAA titles to fill up their parents' mantle and maybe their neighbor's — four indoor pentathlon championships and so far two heptathlon titles — and she competed in the heptathlon at the Rio Olympics last summer.
Devon, a year older than Kendell, has long knocked on the door of that kind of greatness. It was never a question of talent. Injuries have held him back — he redshirted in 2014 due to injury and had to pull out of the 2015 NCAA Outdoor Championships because of another one — but when healthy he's proven that he's among the best.
He finished one spot of out scoring at last year's NCAA Outdoors and placed fifth at the Olympic Trials, coming up two spots shy of making the U.S. team.
Then came the 2017 indoor season, when it all came together. In March at the NCAA Indoor Championships, at Texas A&M, Devon not only captured his first NCAA title, in the men's heptathlon, he did so in very dramatic fashion.
"I do kind of think that my life changed, now that I think about it," Devon said.
Trailing Kentucky's Tim Duckworth by 224 points going into the final of the seven events, the 1,000-meter run, Devon ran and rallied, posting the fastest time of his career (2:41.26) and edging Duckworth for the title by 12 points. His total of 6,177 points was the fifth best in NCAA history.
"I was kind of speechless after they showed the score," he said. "There was a video clip of after they showed the score and I realized I won. I didn't have any other expression except a smile, all I could do was smile, because the year before I wasn't even at that meet — I didn't qualify. I was the first man out, so to come back this year and to actually win the whole thing, all I could do was smile."
He could smile, stand to his full 6-foot-3 and no longer carry the weight of not quite getting it done in years past, of being the really good older brother to Kendell, one of the most accomplished collegiate track and field athletes of all time. Devon was a national champion now.
"I kind of do feel less pressure — I was consistent throughout the indoors and that was a good sign going into the outdoor season," he said. "I don't really feel that much pressure to perform well now that I did what I did indoors and the way that I started out outdoors. I feel like I can relax and build from there."
Devon started the outdoors at the Bulldog Decathlon, carrying the fine form from the heptathlon indoors to the decathlon. That form resulted in a winning score of 8,345, the eighth-best score in collegiate history and the No. 2 score in the world this year.
Now that he's got his NCAA title, and the confidence that comes with an elite performance, Kyprianou said, "He wants more."
This is Devon's final outdoor season with the Bulldogs, his last as an amateur, and he's posting personal bests in events left and right. He set seven in winning the Bulldog Decathlon, and while competing in individual events at the Virginia challenge over the weekend Devon set a new personal best in the discus — by more than three feet — with a throw of 155-4.
Devon wants more: more from himself in every attempt in every event and more for his sport. He wants track and field to be big in the United States — it's far bigger elsewhere in the world — and he's doing his small part to raise its profile.
Not only is Devon pushing himself to be great, he's thinking about attracting the interest of others through a video game for your phone or tablet.
"I actually didn't put it together, it was just an idea in my mind," he said. "I was like, there needs to be more track games in the app store.
"Another thing I want to do is make track publicized; I want more people to be involved in the sport. I had the idea of making the app and I found a developer and I just told him all my ideas."
The NCAA prohibits schools from specifically promoting current student-athletes' business ventures, be it Williams' video game or when wide receiver Malcolm Mitchell published his children's book, so you won't find the name of the game here. But it's out there.
There are only two events in the game right now, but Devon is hoping to eventually make it the full decathlon. And as he's proven, he tends to keep pushing until he gets to his goals.
John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
Players Mentioned
