SETH WILLIAMS

AUBURN UNIVERISTY  

POSITION: WIDE RECEIVER

RECRUIT RATING: 4-STAR

SIZE: 6’3″ 211LBs

BMI: 26

BIRTHDATE: April 10

YEAR: Junior

CAREER STATS: 132 REC / 2,124 / 17 TDs / 16.1 AVG

2020 DOMINATOR RATING: 32.35%

2020 YARDS PER TEAM PASS ATTEMPT: 2.10

DROP %: 14.55% (8)

BACKGROUND 

Rated as a four-star in the 2018 recruit class, Seth Williams hails from Cottondale, Alabama, where he attended Paul W. Bryant High School. He’s a multi-sport athlete playing football, basketball, track and field, and baseball in high school. He helped his basketball team at Paul W. Bryant have back-to-back appearances in the playoffs and won a state championship during his junior year. In two separate sprints, Williams qualified for the state finals in track.

He held 12 offers that included Alabama, Florida, and Georgia. Williams attended a football camp for the Crimson tide before his sophomore season, showcasing himself enough that Lane Kiffin and Nick Saban were impressed enough to offer him a scholarship. Even with the Crimson Tide not far from his home, he chose to sign with Auburn. A discussion with Lane Kiffin mentioning Williams could be a top-10 tight end didn’t sit well with Williams as he wanted to play receiver. According to an article by Ben Stansell of the Tuscaloosa News, Williams used Kiffin’s encouragement as motivation and fully dedication himself to football.

During his true freshman season, he made nine starts for Auburn, starting slow but came on during the middle of the season. He saw 40 targets that season and recorded a freshman breakout at age 19.

During his sophomore season, Williams came into his own, seeing over 100 targets and improving his yards after the catch from 119 yards in 2018 to 256 in 2019. He had a massive game against Georgia with 13 receptions for 121 yards and ended the season with 59 receptions for 830 yards and eight touchdowns.

2020 was a regression year for Williams as he had a career-high in drops with eight and looked disinterested at times, showing his frustration with quarterback Bo Nix. This season will drive the “what have you done for me lately” crowd, but Williams has an impressive resume with a multi-sport background that warrants him another look as a future NFL starter.

STAR-RATING SCOUTING KEY

Lacks the ability to beat NFL competition with a backup talent and skillset

Below-average ability to beat NFL competition with backup talent and skillset

Average ability to compete against most NFL competition with a starter talent and skillset

Above-average ability to compete and win against most NFL competition with starter talent and skillset 

Rare ability to compete and win consistently against all NFL competition with starter talent and skillset 

IMPORTANT POSITIONAL FACTORS

ATHLETICISM

At the time of the snap, Seth Williams displays adequate acceleration into his route stem, pumping his arms with effort but lacks the explosiveness to gain an edge on his opponent. His agility is adequate as he doesn’t possess the loose hips and weight shift needed to change direction quickly. His balance and body control are above-average offering his ability as a ladder climber to sustain contact and maintain very good body control.

MENTAL PROCESSING

In 2019, Williams displayed an excellent ability to diagnose his route path and play on his opponent’s weakness. Whether on a vertical route or in space, Williams understood how to use the space provided or created to benefit his plan for additional yards. His ability to read and react was quick, and he rarely wasted movement when beating man coverage or working his way open. Come 2020, Williams looked to have regressed in most of these areas. This could have come from this lack of trust in Bo Nix, as the frustration between himself and his quarterback become evident as the season progressed. It looked as though Williams was disinterested and got lazy, not reading his opponent, and relied on his functional strength to create separation. He maintained good judgment in making adjustments to recreate an open catch point but lacked nuance in his routes and the ability to separate with nuance.

PLAY SPEED

When viewing his straight-line speed on go routes, Williams starts out lacking initial burst but has a surprisingly good build-up speed once through the second level. His strides get longer, and he covers a fair amount of ground on breakaways. Williams has the stride coverage of a low 4.5 (40). His processing speed between the ears doesn’t consistently match up, but he does show he can identify the mismatch with his opponent and utilize subtle footwork to evade and execute extended strides for big multi-level plays.

COMPETITIVE TOUGHNESS

This is again the tale of two seasons. In 2019, Williams displayed above-average to elite competitive toughness. He vaulted over, through, or around defenders with excellent hands to snatch the ball out of the air, maintaining very good body control. In 2020, there were glimpses of this, but he lacked the consistent passion for playing with aggression. There were a few plays where you see the assertiveness in contested situations, but there were other times there was a lack of effort and want. The way the offense played under Bo Nix in 2020, there is evidence to think that Williams is more so the player seen in his first two years at Auburn that displayed above-average as a competitor.

PLAY STRENGTH

Pure strength is where Williams beats out the competition. His length and size are already a mismatch for coverages he faces in the SEC, but his above-average functional strength provides him an edge while beating man coverage, blocking, and winning the 50/50 ball. In traffic situations, Williams can use his frame to stabilize his position and secure the catch, not being thrown off balance or repositioned by contact. He channels his previous basketball and high jump skills in contested stations to box out defenders and time his leap perfectly to secure the ball in flight. As a blocker, he plays with power and momentum, driving his hands into the defender’s pads and leveraging his strength to force the opponent off his path.

POSITION SPECIFICS

RELEASE

Off the line of scrimmage, Williams displays adequate acceleration to attack the leverage of the defender. Against press coverage, he gets his hands on the defender, offering an initial push to create enough separation to execute his route path. Williams uses a slight swipe and rip to clear the defender’s attempt to get their hands on him. Williams lacks any creativity in his release moves other than a single move with a subtle head nod from the snap.

In off coverage, he does a good job to eat into the cushion of the defender with solid quickness and the right tempo in strides. Williams stems straight at the defender and shortens his strides while staying balanced to execute a space release with a single move, manipulate the defender into shifting his hips in the wrong direction. Williams shows enough in his release against press and off coverage to be a solid outside receiver with success against average starters at the NFL level.

SEPARATION QUICKNESS

Williams displays adequate separation quickness within his agility and ability to shift his weight to change direction. His route breaks lack sharp breaks, allowing defenders to stay at his hip throughout his route stem. In space, Williams provides more opportunities to execute quicker breaks with a more fluid change of direction. He maintains good eye discipline in his vertical stem to stair downfield to control the defender’s hips. When Williams executes his break, he quickly redirects his eyes and shifts to his new position, not allowing enough time for the defender to recover. Williams also wins with strength more so than finesse. He can create separation with active, violent hands and leverages his large frame to bully defenders off his route. At the NFL level, Williams will need to become more fluid and crisp in his breaks as he won’t be able to rely on his strength against NFL completion as his lack of athleticism won’t be there to help him recover if he doesn’t win with play strength.

HANDS

There is a frustrating level of inconsistency with William’s hands. He can be dominant at the catch point in contested situations while also dropping a wide open pass on a screen. From 2018 to 2020, he dropped more balls each year, thus regressing each season. His eight drops in 2020 showed some signs of awareness issues with a complete lack of concentration. Williams has demonstrated the ability to have gloves for hands in difficult situations, making very good adjustments to be on time at the catch point. This provides some hope that he can be consistent if he can maintain mental focus through the entirety of a game. This could be an area that will make or break William’s career as his role as a big possession receiver relies on him consistently possessing the ball with strong hands in difficult situations.

YARDS AFTER THE CATCH (YAC)

To gain yards after the catch, Williams manifests his strength to shake off contact or wipe away grabby defenders to gain additional yards. There were isolated plays where he did show some wiggle to elude pursuing defenders to gain more yards but his strength is within the use of his frame and active hands to evade consistently. Still, Williams wins with a dog mentality and competitive toughness to not allow himself susceptible to the first contact. As previously discussed, he lacks elite speed and quickness, but if he does find open space, he’s shown he can elongate his stride and get downfield with solid build-up speed.

STAR PROJECTION 

– Day 1 Projection

– Day 2 Projection

– Early Day 3 Projection 

–  Late Day 3 Projection

– UDFA

SETH WILLIAMS DRAFT PROJECTION

Overall, Williams possesses the skill set of a big possession receiver who is molded to play as an X at the next level. His lack of long speed will limit any breakaways along the perimeter but he can track the ball very well, win with strong hands in contested situations and make a home for himself in soft spots of zone coverage. Williams has the size and strength to present challenges to would-be tacklers, thus separating with his strength and making a living above the rim. He projects as a mid to late fourth-round pick in the 2021 NFL Draft but has the opportunity to be a productive pro with hopeful better QB play than what he had with Bo Nix. Williams should be viewed as a sophomore year fantasy producer and a WR3 with WR2 upside.