Williams Talks About '08 Season

Stephen Williams had a fantastic season for the Rockets in 2007. He led the team with 73 receptions for 1,169 yards and 7 touchdowns, averaging 97.4 yards receiving per game. He is the fastest player on the team, running a 4.39 forty yard dash. Stephen recently talked to Rocket Digest about the upcoming season.

Stephen Williams had a fantastic season for the Rockets in 2007. He led the team with 73 receptions for 1,169 yards and 7 touchdowns, averaging 97.4 yards receiving per game.

He is the fastest player on the team, running a 4.39 forty yard dash. That speed and his 6-5 frame make him a deep threat that is also capable of turning a short pass into a touchdown at any point in the game.

Rocket Digest reporter Karl Rofkar recently chatted with Stephen about his summer and the start of the upcoming football season.

After just two practices it was clear that Stephen has picked up where he left off last season. In response to a comment that he looked like he was in mid-season form, he laughed and anxiously replied, "I'm ready. I've been working hard all summer. Everybody's excited to get back on the field."

Williams knows that the most media preseason reports do not expect much from Toledo this fall. "I know there's gonna be a lot of people downing us, so the weights started in the spring, the winter conditioning.......I'm ready," Stephen told Rocket Digest.

Stephen is a little more ready to get that first game going. This young guy is like a colt champing at the bit and ready to run. "We've seen the press.....they (opponents) come out there downing us, don't bring their A game, they're going to be in trouble" Stephen says with a laugh.

Asked about the tough schedule the Rockets face, he said, "that's motivation. That's why everybody's out here in the summer.....we know what we're getting ourselves into, so we just got to come ready, 100% ready."

Of course the Rocket defense lost several key players to injury in 2007, but all of the injured on defense, except for DB Nigel Morris, have returned for 2008. Asked about the return of so many injured players, Stephen said the defense is "just ready to explode, they're more frustrated than anybody (about last season)."

While Stephen cannot help the defense, he will be a key player on the Rocket offense this fall. Just to put it in perspective, his 1,169 yards receiving are more than the #2 and #3 receivers combined from last season. In fact, he had 198 more yards receiving than the 2nd and 3rd leading receivers combined for.

Keep checking in with Rocket Digest over the coming days as we continue to bring the best coverage of Rocket athletics with more coverage and features of current Toledo athletes and prospects for potential future recruiting classes.