At Loudoun County, the Chase Is On

Colleges in Pursuit of Raiders Standout

By Paul Tenorio

Thursday, August 28, 2008

On an open patch of grass at Loudoun County High School in Leesburg, Chase Williams worked through team drills with the Raiders' defensive unit, rushing forward to feign a blitz at three upside-down trash cans that mimicked offensive linemen.

The movements of the 6-foot-3, 235-pound junior linebacker were quick and fluid. His size and agility have some of the top college football teams in the nation pursuing him. But it was his mere presence here, practicing in the baseball outfield on an afternoon earlier this month, that has generated the most buzz in the Loudoun football community. Many were surprised Williams would come back to the Raiders after his father, former Redskins assistant head coach Gregg Williams, signed a one-year deal to head the defense for the Jacksonville Jaguars.

"Obviously everybody knows about where his dad was going but they didn't know what [Chase] was doing," said Loudoun County quarterback Joe Bushrod, one of Chase's closest friends. Bushrod described Williams's return to the team as "real important."

Williams worked out with his teammates in the offseason even as his family researched schools in Florida. "I wasn't going to leave the team behind," he said.

"We looked into some things in Florida, and I was impressed by some of the schools," Gregg Williams said. "But Chase loves his school, he loves his coaches, he loves his teammates, he's coming off a great season there and that's where he wanted to stay."

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Loudoun County's Chase Williams

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Chase Williams, a junior, is expected to be a force at tight end and linebacker this season. (Tracy A. Woodward)

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Even after Gregg Williams latched on with the Jacksonville Jaguars after being let go by the Redskins earlier this year, he said there was no doubt about where his son wanted to go to school. "We looked into some things in Florida, and I was impressed by some of the schools. But Chase loves his school, he loves his coaches, he loves his teammates, he's coming off a great season there and that's where he wanted to stay." (Tracy A. Woodward)

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The buzz around Chase Williams has been building. "To be quite honest, we've been bombarded," Loudoun County Coach Todd Hill said. "It's across the board. They know Chase has the potential; he's got the frame. He's 6-3, 235 [pounds], he can run, he's strong. Good gracious the kid benches 360 and again he's 16 years old." (Tracy A. Woodward)

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For now, the family is spread across the eastern United States. Chase Williams and his mother, Leigh Ann, live in Leesburg, sister Amy is a freshman at Belmont University in Nashville, and his father and older brother, Blake, are part of the Jaguars' coaching staff.

It's made for a different family dynamic, Chase said. "It's different only having a couple of people in the house. But we're a close family. I talk to my brother, my dad, my sister every day on the phone or on the Internet. Nothing has changed all that much with us. We're still the same family."

And although he's not sure if his father will be able to watch him play at all this season, the modest teenager said he was happy to finally be able to focus on football.

"This is what happened, this is where I stayed, I'm happy here," he said. "So this is going to be where it's at."

For Chase, life and football has always gone hand in hand. That's the way it is when your father is a coach in the NFL.

From a young age, he remembers being around the game, playing in the locker room of the Tennessee Titans, for whom his father was defensive coordinator, running around with other coaches' kids while the team practiced.

"When the players weren't in there . . . that's where we would go," he recalled.

And when his dad first came to Washington, he and Blake worked with the team. For Chase, that meant doing odd jobs ranging from working with the training staff to picking up equipment to helping with laundry.

"It was a fun way to keep me and my brother around my dad as much as possible with his busy schedule growing up," Williams said. "They were getting an extra worker out of it that they didn't have to pay [and] to me it was fun. I was getting to be around some of the best athletes in the world and that was fun to me."

The influence of those early days around the game, as well as that of his father and Blake, who played defensive back at Princeton and whom Chase Williams called "one of my biggest heroes, my biggest role models in life," has been integral in the development of the teenager into one of the area's top players.

Williams said he often seeks advice from his father and brother on what to do better and how to improve, and said his father likely will keep tabs on him this season by watching game film.

"He's a great father, but he's also a coach and it's great to have somebody at home that can point out these mistakes and also encourage me and help me figure them out on my own," said Chase Williams, who wears No. 21 in homage to late Redskins safety Sean Taylor.

And while his father's experience has helped in his development, Williams passion for the game seems to come from within.

"I've always loved the game whether my dad coaches it or not," he said. "That doesn't affect what I love in my heart. It's just something I've always wanted to do and I've always loved being around."

Last season, as a sophomore at Loudoun County, Williams led the Raiders offensively and defensively, garnering All-District nods at linebacker and tight end. Mike Burnett, coach at Dulles rival and district champion Broad Run, said Williams kept the then-winless Raiders in the game against the undefeated Spartans.

"As a tight end," he said, shaking his head and laughing.

Williams will continue to play on both sides of the ball for the Raiders, whose season opens tomorrow at Musselman (West Virginia).

Raw talent is one thing, but Williams also has an understanding of the game that few players have. Loudoun County Coach Todd Hill calls him "one of the most intelligent football players that I have ever been around."

"I feel like it runs in the family," Williams said, smiling. "And it also doesn't hurt having an NFL coach at home to go home and ask questions to."

As he enters his junior season, one in which the Raiders are expected to make a leap in their second year of a rebuilding process under Hill, Chase's play has caught the attention of more than just rival coaches such as Burnett.

Despite the fact that colleges are unable to officially contact Williams until Sept. 1, that has not stopped coaches from some of the top teams from inquiring to Hill about him. Virginia Tech, Boise State, UCLA, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida are just a few of the programs that have sought information about Williams, Hill said.

"To be quite honest, we've been bombarded," Hill said. "It's across the board. They know Chase has the potential; he's got the frame. He's 6-3, 235 [pounds], he can run, he's strong. Good gracious the kid benches 360 and again he's 16 years old."

A parent is allowed some bias when talking about a child, but in the Williams's case, the parent has a pretty good grasp as to what constitutes a special player.

"He's a pretty special football player, and I'm not just saying that because I'm his daddy," Gregg Williams said. "I'll be interested to see what it's like when he really fills out because he's still just a baby right now."

For now, Chase Williams said he isn't looking ahead to his college prospects.

"Right now I've just got to get through high school," he said. "Try to stay injury-free and just do what I've got to every Friday night and whatever comes, comes. That's the way I'm looking at it."

Staff writer Jason La Canfora contributed to this report.

Tagged: 2008 Football Preview, football, high school sports, Loudoun County High School, Redskins

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