Y11 Notes: Quian Williams, Walt Wells
Y11 Notes: Quian Williams, Walt Wells
Today we're going back to familiar places. Quian Williams is coming back to the gray turf. EKU coach Walt Wells finally back on the sidelines after his near-death experience.
Y11 Notes: Thursday, Sept. 22, 2022
EMU FOOTBALL: 10 of Quian Williams’ best games
Eastern Michigan’s going to host a familiar face this Saturday when the Buffalo Bulls come to town. Quian Williams, who originally signed with and played for EMU out of high school, transferred to Buffalo after the 2020 season and instantly became a big part of his new offense.
Williams’ 5 most-targeted games with EMU (per Pro Football Focus):
2019 at Toledo: 11 targets, 9 rec., 87 yards
2020 vs. Toledo: 10 targets, 8 rec., 86 yards, 2 TD, 2 kick ret., 27 yards
2019 vs. Central Connecticut: 9 targets, 8 rec., 115 yards, 2 TD
2019 at Kentucky: 9 targets, 6 rec., 54 yards
2020: vs. Northern Illinois: 8 targets, 5 rec., 49 yards
EMU career: 18 games, 98 targets (5.4 targets/game), 76 rec., 983 yards, 8 TD
Williams 6 most-targeted games with Buffalo:
2021 at Miami: 13 targets, 9 rec., 104 yards, 1 TD
2021 at Kent State: 13 targets, 8 rec., 86 yards
2022 at Coastal Carolina: 12 targets, 8 rec., 62 yards, 1 TD
2021 at Old Dominion: 11 targets, 10 rec., 146 yards, 1 TD
2022 vs. Holy Cross: 11 targets, 8 rec., 105 yards
2021 vs. Bowling Green: 11 targets, 5 rec., 87 yards
Buffalo career: 15 games, 133 targets (8.9 targets/game), 83 rec., 1,030 yards, 4 TD
Williams transferred during the winter of 2020-2021, months before then-coach Lance Leipold took the late job opening at Kansas. Maurice Linguist instantly came in as the new head coach and Williams has stuck out as the leader of the offense.
Last year, Williams finished the year tied for eighth in the MAC in total receptions (63) and seventh in yards (831). Through three games so far this year, Williams is second in the MAC in catches (19) and ninth in yards (195). Williams’ two touchdowns scored this year already match his season totals from 2020 and 2021.
Williams, however, isn’t the only receiver EMU will have to worry about this weekend. Justin Marshall, a Louisville transfer, is Buffalo’s true leading receiver with 17 receptions, 256 yards and three touchdowns.
Back in July when Williams was at MAC Media Day, I asked the graduate receiver from Oklahoma City if there were any cultural changes that he went through during his move from Ypsilanti to Buffalo. And when the MAC’s schedules were released, what was his reaction when he saw that he’d be coming back to play on the gray turf just one more time?
“As far as major differences from Eastern to Buffalo, I can’t really say too much because they’re just different people but both have instilled a lot in me as far as, like, hard work and toughness, mentally and physically. Both sides have been great for me. … I decided to transfer Jan. 2021, so that was before the coaching change at Buffalo. After coach Mo got in, I loved everything about the program and it made my decision so easy.
“As soon as I saw it, I definitely kind of smiled a little bit because it’s going to fun.”
SPORTS ILLUSTRATED: EKU head coach finally back on sidelines this weekend
Eastern Michigan’s Week 1 opponent Eastern Kentucky will finally get to have its head coach back on the sidelines this weekend.
A week before the EMU game, Walt Wells came *this* close from dying in his own office, had it not been for the prompt response of the highly-skilled training staff EKU has.
Truly a wild story that SI’s Richard Johnson covers well, and does a great job of emphasis on how good and necessary the folks that make up all these training staffs are.
While high-level FBS teams have large athletic training staffs, the size can vary across levels of the sport. Alcorn State had to cancel practices because they didn’t have training staff on hand. The National Athletic Trainers’ Association released a study in 2019 that showed 34% of public and private high schools in the country (nearly 7,000) did not have access to athletic trainers for its athletes.
“I think our profession is very undervalued in what we do,” Vigliotti says. “People think we are just here to tape ankles and hand out water, and we run out on the field and get people off the field, but they don’t see the behind-the-scenes stuff we do and all the training that we go into. We’re considered an allied health profession; we have to take 50 continuing education credits every two years. Most professions take 20 every three years.”
They also had access to the needed equipment. There are AEDs throughout Eastern Kentucky’s athletic facility that are regularly serviced. While the trainers and EMTs treated Wells, the device recorded his heart activity, and the data was shared with his cardiologist. The trainers were prepared for an emergency medical situation and how to use the devices. They did not think but rather simply reacted and started CPR within minutes. Peterson estimated that if Wells’s heart had been stopped for any more than about five minutes, he wouldn’t be here right now.
“[Thomas] could’ve walked out the door,” Wells says. “And if he had walked out the door and I had just laid there, they would have come back, and I would have been cold as a cucumber, just laying there. For him to have the discipline, the consistency to walk in to see if I needed anything else, to just check on me to see how I was doing and then see me laying there on the floor, it shows what kind of person he is.”
