Why Virginia Tech commitment Lance Williams' mom knew he would be a star football player
The moment Lance Williams was born, his mother Melissa knew that her son was built to play football. He weighed nearly 10 pounds, despite being born nearly a week early.
Melissa's intuition was spot on. Now 6-3 and 275 pounds, Williams is one of the most sought-after offensive linemen in the Class of 2023. He has started in three consecutive state championships at Alcoa and is committed to play Division I football at Virginia Tech.
"It feels like just yesterday I was coming up as an eighth grader, and now its my final season here," Williams said. "I started playing football when I was six. It's just something I've loved for as long as I can remember. Going to play college football...is what I've spent all this time working for."
Williams, the No. 33-ranked prospect in Tennessee, is No. 4 in the Knox News Elite Eight, a collection of the Knoxville area's top football recruits for the Class of 2023, selected and ranked by the newspaper.
MEET THE ELITE EIGHT: Knox News Elite Eight: Meet the top Knoxville area football prospects in the Class of 2023
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'Since day one'
Williams grew up in an athletic family. His father Andy played football at Carson-Newman, and Melissa graduated from Tennessee. She she raised Lance and his older sister Ansley to be huge Vols fans. Ansley went on to play softball at Hiwassee College, but football was always Lance's passion. Melissa said he slept with a football as though it were a teddy bear when he was young.
"Every coach he ever had has always said, 'We're gonna be watching him play on Saturday and probably watching him play on Sunday,'" she said. "It's been like that his his entire life since day one. He tried to play basketball when he was little, and he was treating a loose ball like a fumble recovery."
Family always played an important role in Lance's athletics, but his biggest fan was his grandfather, Jim Powers. Melissa is an only child, and she said her father was more of a third parent than a grandparent to Lance.
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Though Powers died when Lance was just 10 years old, he still writes his grandfather's initials on his wrist tape every gameday.
"Lance was like his opportunity to have the son he never had," said Melissa of her father. "Dad was always right there watching him, yelling for him, saying, 'That's my boy.' He was just a man of good character, good work ethic, and he passed that on to Lance."
'I couldn't wait for this time to come'
Lance always knew he wanted to play football in college, but it wasn't until eighth grade — when he got his first offer — that he realized his lofty dreams were attainable. He was attending a camp at Georgia when he received an offer from Division II Newberry, and he received his first Power 5 offer from South Carolina less than a year later.
"After that (offer from Newberry), I was like alright, if I can get one in eighth grade, I think I'm going to be okay," Williams said. "I still wasn't satisfied obviously. When I was younger I couldn't wait for this time to come, and now I've gotten myself here.
Even with his college decision solidified, Lance has high expectations to finish out his high school career. He spent the summer focusing on his weight after fluctuating between 300 and 320 pounds for the last several seasons.
Thanks to a rigorous cardio regimen and strict low-carb diet, the three-star offensive lineman now weighs in at around 275 pounds. Still, he said he always makes room for his mom's specialty — homemade lasagna.
Melissa is struggling to see her youngest child leave for college, but the family has a plan to attend as many Virginia Tech games as possible. She and her husband purchased an RV this summer and intend to road trip through the Hokies' schedule.
"We kept talking about how we were going to do it, and his dad mentioned that the away games for the ACC are pretty easy," Melissa said. "Hotel rooms are hard to get for football weekends, and you need something to tailgate, so we got the RV. It has Virginia Tech tags already, and we've been practicing camping in it a little bit."
Contact Emily Adams at eaadams@gannett.com or on Twitter @eaadams6.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Virginia Tech football commit Lance Williams' mom knew he'd be a star
