Senior Mychai Williams is a quintessential contributor to the offense and defense of the Dorsey Dons football team. During this season, he committed nine interceptions. He has also made the effort to excel in his classes. His dreams of competing in college, earning a bachelor’s and master’s degree, and going to the NFL keep him focused on his team and his studies.
His strong defensive performance this season is a product of the hard work he put in during the offseason.
“I did a lot of [defensive back] work, a lot of drills,” Williams said. “During this season, I decided that I want to focus on defensive in college.”
Being an upperclassman and a star player, he learned how to lead a team. He had to learn how to communicate to his teammates during the tough times in their season.
“The first two losses, that really put a toll on the team because a lot of people had their heads down,” Williams said. “I just tried to tell everybody to keep our head up and focus on our next game.”
After those two losses, the Dons went on a winning run that lasted for the rest of the season, holding teams to less than 10 points in matchups.
“We got a lot of great receivers that can make plays, catch the ball, run great routes,” he said. “On our defense, a lot of playmakers … we want to tackle, we want to hit and all of us want to play ball.”
Williams has dreams of competing in the NFL, however he works hard in the classroom to prepare himself for other career opportunities.
“I think being a good student is really important too just because not everybody makes it to the league,” Williams said. “You got to have a back-up plan, even though I want to make the league.”
During this season, Williams found a way to reach his academic goals while shining on the gridiron on Friday nights.
“I decided I really wanted a 4.0 this year, so I put my mind to it,” Williams said.
His favorite subject is chemistry, he enjoys conducting science experiments for the class. He knows that good grades are an important factor if he wants an athletic scholarship. Staying focused on his goals helped him persevere through Zoom learning during the pandemic.
“I’m more of an in-person learner, so it was kinda hard for me to get used to the over-the-computer thing,” Williams said. “But I managed through, I got a pretty good GPA that year.”
Along with playing corner, Williams plays wide receiver for the Dons. When he played Pop Warner football, he started as a wide receiver and transitioned to quarterback. Early in his high school career, he played quarterback but decided to return to wide receiver.
“I like actually scoring the touchdowns rather than throwing them,” he said.
Outside of academics and athletics, Williams occasionally helps at the elementary school his mother teaches at. Williams is one of four siblings; his older brother attends UNLV and tells Williams about his college experience.
“He gives me a lot of advice, telling me how college life is, school and being an athlete and how he manages it,” Williams said. “He gives me a lot of tips.”
