Cornerback Marquis Williams accepts challenge of maintaining Pitt defense’s high standards
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Marquis Williams’ job as a Pitt cornerback is to watch the guy in the different color jersey who is trying to catch the football. Shadow him, follow him from sideline to sideline, all but crawl inside his jersey.
That’s a big part of his job, but since 2020, Williams has found success using more than his natural physical gifts. He also watches, talks to and listens to those friends, teammates and coaches around him who might be able to make him a better player.
It started this year when he was deciding whether to return to Pitt for his senior season or test the NFL market.
“It was kind of tough, thinking about family stuff and my daughter,” said Williams, who has intercepted five passes in three seasons as a starter, with two pick 6s in 2022. “Once I talked to coach (Pat) Narduzzi and (secondary) coach (Archie) Collins, everything seemed so real and planned out for me.”
He also talked to a couple of pros who stayed at Pitt an extra year instead of rushing into their NFL careers. Kenny Pickett and Damar Hamlin turned into productive starters with a paycheck.
“I’m on the same path as those guys. I get encouragement from those guys, and it’s a blessing,” he said. “I actually talk to Damar every day. That’s my best friend. I was here with Damar. I started two years with him. He’s always been a big brother to me. It’s a blessing to have Damar in your corner. He’s a guy, a great Pitt guy. He’s seen everything.”
While Hamlin and Pickett were off with the Buffalo Bills and Pittsburgh Steelers, respectively last season, Williams found another role model at home in the Pitt locker room.
Williams said he marveled at how defensive tackle Calijah Kancey “did everything like a pro.”
Williams said during game week, Kancey was focused solely on football.
“Calijah didn’t play a video game the whole week. He didn’t communicate with girls that whole week,” he said. “He was in the film room. He left the facility late. He came early. He was a pro a long time ago.”
In two weeks, Kancey could join Pickett as Pitt men who became first-round draft choices.
Meanwhile, Williams is returning to one of the strongest cornerback units in the ACC. Pitt has two other experienced corners, M.J. Devonshire and A.J Woods, both of whom have made big plays at crucial moments in their careers.
Devonshire’s pick 6 won the West Virginia game last year after Woods set an ACC championship game record with a 73-yard interception return in 2021.
Williams’ role is similar — disrupt the opposing aerial attack — but he also has become a teacher, instructing young Pitt players on how to maintain their diligence in simple tasks such as “following fundamentals and technique.”
“Whatever you learn in the classroom,” he said, “bring it out on the field.”
He hasn’t forgotten what former teammates did for him, and he’s trying to pay it forward.
If Williams, Devonshire and Woods can have a positive influence on others on the defense, Pitt might be able to mitigate the loss of Kancey and several starters from last season’s 9-4 team.
Pitt also must replace starting safeties Erick Hallett and Brandon Hill. At the moment, Javon McIntyre, Donovan McMillon, P.J. O’Brien and Stephon Hall (Central Valley) are competing for those two jobs.
Williams said there’s enough talent to continue the momentum that’s been building at Pitt for the past two seasons.
“I think we deserve respect overall,” he said, “and we’re going to put it on Front Street this year, and we’re going to show everybody again.”