KEITH ENRIQUEZ/Daily Bruin Senior Staff Rusty
Williams has started despite injuries but will miss the
Sun Bowl due to surgery.
By Adam Karon
Daily Bruin Reporter
Ancient Greek Gladiators picked their armor of choice and
endured pain and injury in a fight to the death in front of a full
Coliseum. Only the toughest and strongest triumphed.
Rusty Williams is a modern-day gladiator. His armor of choice is
a football helmet, and his toughness is undeniable.
In the era of coddled college athletes, Williams stands out as a
man with a mission. While most players his age seek to produce
NFL-worthy statistics, Williams had one goal coming into
college.
“I wanted to start every game from the time I was a
freshman,” he said. “So far, so good.”
What is even more impressive than the redshirt sophomore’s
successive starts is the number of games he has finished. Until a
stress fracture left him without the use of his foot against Cal
earlier this year, Williams had played to the final bell in all 16
games he started.
“It was a horrible feeling,” the 6-foot-4 defensive
lineman said. “I’d never really been on the sideline
like that before.”
This year Williams started all 11 games, many of them with a
dislocated shoulder and a fractured foot. It would have been easy
to lie down, take a break and miss a week or two of practice. But
that’s not Williams’ way.
“The way I see it, if I’m not on the field,
I’m not earning my scholarship,” he said.
Williams is a refreshing example of an athlete who holds himself
accountable to his teammates as well as his university.
“I’m here to play football and get my degree,”
Williams said. “I’m the first person in my family to go
to college, and I always finish what I start.”
Teammates or coaches do not overlook his efforts.
“Rusty’s been a gladiator, a warrior all
year,” head coach Bob Toledo said. “He’s been
hurt, banged up, but he’s played anyway.”
It is clear that injuries have hindered Williams’ game. He
finished the regular season without a sack, and just one tackle for
a loss. But in a game that increasingly focuses on the big play,
Williams provides the intangibles that help build a solid defensive
unit.
“It’s exciting to see him out on the field with all
those injuries,” fellow defensive lineman Ken Kocher said.
“His shoulder would pop out, he’d jog to the sideline,
get some tape and run back out there.
“That’s how he expects it to be done,” Kocher
added.
Williams points to the countless hours on the practice field and
in the weight room as the driving forces behind his tenacity. He
figures that if he puts in the effort in the offseason, it’s
a waste of time to sit out during the year. Just the same, there
were times when sticking it out might not have been the best
decision.
“I leave it up to the coaches whether or not to play
me,” Williams said. “I had to beg them to let me play
at Washington, and they made a good call to go with Mat (Ball) when
he was needed.”
This season marks the first time in his football career that
Williams had been seriously injured. Most athletes who stay healthy
fear injuries and are unable to adjust when faced with adversity.
Williams has embraced the challenge.
Teammate Robert Thomas, who has played with a bad foot the last
four games, knows what it takes to play through injuries.
“Rusty has given it his all,” the junior linebacker
said. “It takes a lot of mental focus, you have to ignore the
pain and still go out there and stay physical.”
That is what makes Williams such a special player. He is able to
stay physical despite the pain and disability that comes from
injuries that would force most people to miss weeks of work.
Williams attributes his physicality to his upbringing.
“I grew up with a very physical group of people,” he
said. “We were always trying to prove who was
toughest.”
It looks like Williams doesn’t have a whole lot left to
prove. The 265-pound lineman leads all Bruin defenders in
consecutive starts and seemed well on his way to reaching his
goal.
Unfortunately, the story of this gladiator does not have a happy
ending. Williams will undergo surgery on both shoulders next week,
forcing him to sit out the first game of his career.
But one thing is for sure; he will be back, and he will return
with vengeance, ready for battle.