Mike Williams Fantasy News and Statistics

Los Angeles Chargers wide receiver Mike Williams was among the top at his position in South Carolina when he was tearing up the gridiron in high school. So it was not surprising that the four-star recruit was on the radar of a lot of college coaches before he ended up attending Clemson.

As a highly-rated recruit, Williams managed to make himself a valuable piece of his team’s offense right away. While he did not have the same workload as Sammy Watkins or Martavis Bryant at wide receiver, he earned playing time for one of the best teams in the country as a true freshman. He made 20 catches for 316 yards and three touchdowns in 2013. His best game came against The Citadel when he made three grabs for 70 yards and a score.

A season later, Williams established himself as one of the team’s top wide receivers after Watkins and Bryant were both selected in the 2014 NFL Draft. Williams had four games in which he exceeded 100 yards during his sophomore season, including the team’s 40-6 win over Oklahoma in the Russell Athletic Bowl. In that game, he made nine catches for 112 yards and reeled in a touchdown. He finished the season with 57 catches for 1,030 yards and six scores. Williams and Artavis Scott combined for nearly 2,000 receiving yards that season.

The 2015 campaign ended up being a lost one for Williams, however. He fractured a neck bone in the first game of the season against Wolford, so he ended up receiving a medical redshirt. By the time he came back in 2016, though, quarterback Deshaun Watson had blossomed into a star and finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting, leading to excellent results for Williams.

As a redshirt junior, he had five games in which he exceeded 100 yards and one in which he surpassed 200 yards. Against Pittsburgh, he had the best game of his college career, making 15 catches for 202 yards and a touchdown. Clemson ended up winning the College Football Playoff National Championship game against Alabama, as Williams made eight catches for 94 yards and a touchdown in the win. He finished his final season with the Tigers with 98 receptions for 1,361 yards and 11 scores.

Shortly after winning the title, Williams announced his intent to forgo his senior year and enter the 2017 NFL Draft. The Los Angeles Chargers selected him seventh overall in the first round as he was the second receiver selected in the draft.

During rookie minicamp a few weeks after the draft, though, Williams suffered a mild herniated disk. The injury kept him out of the Chargers offseason training program. This also sidelined him for the first five games of the team’s 2017 campaign.

When Williams was out, Keenan Allen, Tyrell Williams and Travis Benjamin established themselves as the team’s preferred pass-catching options at the receiver position. Missing the preseason hurt Williams’ chances of being an impact player during his rookie season. Even though his first year did not go as planned, he is still a player to watch in 2018 assuming he is healthy.