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Ready to be graded, 1.5x media for draft profile, approximately 2672 words
Darrel Williams, one of the newer members of the DSFL, was nothing special in his first two professional games. He played backup running backup... well... like any other backup running back. But Darrel's journey to his first and second DSFL games weren't easy. It took nine years of playing high school and college football, on top of a ridiculous amount of training for him to be good enough. Here's the story of Darrel Williams, the running back who finally made it and is looking for more.
Darrel was born in April of 2010 in Marrero, Louisiana. At his birth, Marrero had a population of about 33,000 and was essentially right on the coast of Louisiana. Darrel's early childhood was nothing special. He was average, maybe a bit below average in school, was somewhat athletic and decently tall for his age, but only played sports every now and then for fun with some of his elementary school friends. When Darrel was about eleven years old, he was watching a NFL game when he realized that one of the players had his exact name. Sure, Darrel had seen a ton of Williams when he watched football, but there was actually a player named "Darrel Williams". He looked this guy up and realized how much they had in common. They were born in the same month, the same city, and were likely to go to the same high school. This inspired the eleven year old Darrel to become a running back in the NFL too. He began to practice and he actually began looking promising. He had always had some athletic talent, but when he combined a strong work ethic along with it, Darrel became basically unstoppable on the football field.
In Darrel's only season at the middle school level, he started at running back but struggled to really find his specific strength. He wasn't that much faster than anyone else, and he hadn't put on the pounds so he could break tackles consistently. He also needed improvement on his blocking and catching ability. That middle school year allowed him to develop basically all of his skills and he learned quickly how to develop each one to become effective. However, he never really figured out to effectively combine his skills at the middle school level, and finished an unremarkable season. When he went to John Ehret High School, however, he finally began to put the pieces together. In his freshman year at high school, he had developed all of his skills to the point in which he could truly combine them and become an all-around and all-purpose running back. He was incredible at catching passes out of the backfield and being able to outrun and outmuscle his competition. This allowed him to join the varsity team in his sophomore season and he still was able to play well. In his first season as a varsity player Darrel didn't have the same level of dominance that he did at the freshmen level(and this was telling for later in his career), but he still contributed as a pass-catching running back as well as occasionally filling in on third downs. Finally, in his junior season, he began to be a game-changer on every play for his offense. His speed, strength, and pass-catching ability had developed to the point where he could now combine the three skills to create an unstoppable all-purpose back who could do everything and always had to be watched on every down.
This development significantly boosted the success of his high school team, as they turned from an average team that could occasionally compete for a state championship into one of the main contenders for a state title. It wasn't easy, but his team was able to come together and win an impressive championship over some incredible teams in 2027. This gave Darrel and the rest of his team a massive confidence boost and after they heard many other teams considered their championship a fluke, they trained even harder to win it again. Darrel's dominance continued as his team won game after game. Darrel had been recruited significantly after his emergence as a top recruit in his junior season, but he quickly rose near the top of the Top 100 rankings for the class of 2028 and was recruited by tons of top-tier schools in the Deep South. Some schools were wary about Darrel and weren't sure if his talents would transfer to the college game. That didn't matter to Darrel as he knew, deep down, the only school he really ever considered was LSU. LSU had produced a ton of great talent for the NFL and NSFL, and he still wanted to follow in Darrel's footsteps. Following an impressive second consecutive state championship, Darrel committed to LSU.
Darrel had finished the season as the 12th best recruit in the entire nation, so there were a ton of expectations placed upon him. This pressure definitely began to get to Darrel, as he had spent most of his life as someone who wasn't expected to be the #1 guy. Even if he filled that role in high school, he never embraced it and he was expected to take it from Day 1 at LSU. When the team began scrimmages, it was obvious that not only Darrel wasn't the best running back on the team, he wasn't the best freshman running back on the team. Darrel tried his absolute hardest to stay competitive and make the roster, but they decided to redshirt him for his first year at LSU. While most expected this would cause him to train even harder and come back as a superstar running back to lead LSU to a national championship, he struggled with his failure. While he knew he wasn't the best on the team, he thought he had done enough to make the roster and was very disappointed about his redshirt. Either way, his first season as a player didn't go that well. He was used sparingly and rarely contributed anything significant to his team. He only made an appearance in three games due to an injury to the starter, and was only given sixteen touches in those three games. He made the most of them, but it wasn't enough to keep Darrel active for any other game that season.
Finally, in his third season at LSU and as a redshirt sophomore, Darrel finally began to make an impact. He started the season as a third string running back and was moved up to the second string about halfway through the season, and went from getting sixteen touches in the season to 92. Most of these came on runs that either occurred on third down or when the starter needed a break after a long run. Darrel was incredible at finding lanes and producing key yards when needed, and finished the season with an impressive 6.1 YPC. In the following year, Darrel was given extra touches and continued to be extremely effective with them, averaging now 6.4 YPC, and he also added six touchdowns on the ground and two in the air. As a team, LSU didn't do anything special, but Darrel was given his first ever start in the bowl game against Minnesota. He torched their defense, again impressing many at LSU.
Heading into his fifth and final season at LSU, Darrel had received the starting job after all of his hard work the past four seasons. In his first game as a starter, he once again dominated the opponent's defense and ran for over 150 yards and two scores. He was being talked about as an early Heisman winner and many thought the #12 prospect would finally pay off and deliver LSU a national championship. However, their high expectations were quickly shattered. Many opposing defensive coordinators began noticing how much Darrel slowed down later in games, and began to stack the box significantly early on while laying off later in games. Darrel struggled mightly in his next five games, as his YPC dropped from an earth-shattering 8.5 to 4.7. With LSU now sitting at 4-2, his head coach benched him with the idea that Darrel's touches needed to be limited. Darrel did perform slightly better once he was returned to his original role as an active second-stringer, but his draft stock had been basically destroyed after his five game stretch. LSU finished the season at 11-3 and Darrel was ecstatic, but most around him thought his career was over.
There was little chance of Darrel being selected in the NFL Draft. He hoped and hoped, but his phone remained silent throughout the three day process and was frustrated beyond belief. He tried out for a couple of NFL squads, but he still didn't have the skills to play at the professional level in any role. Finally, he decided his best course of action would be to join the DSFL, a developmental football league so he could work his way back up. He thought he could get a roster spot fairly easily; this wasn't the NFL or anything related to that... so it can't be that hard, right? He was wrong as again he couldn't make a single DSFL roster at the start of the season. His new plan was to was to wait until after the DSFL trade deadline and hopefully a team would take him up as a backup running back.
After months of waiting, the trade deadline passed and Darrel Williams officially signed up with a handful of other players to join the league as a last-second addition for S18. Darrel did individual workouts with each of the six teams, but didn't receive a call-back for two weeks afterwards. Finally, a couple of days after Week 12 ended, Darrel got a call from the Myrtle Beach Buccaneers. They needed an RB to take some carries when their star RB, Quindarius Tyerucker, needed a break. Darrel reported to practice the following day and couldn't believe it; he'd finally made the league. Sure, it was the DSFL, but that was better than nothing at all. However, he wasn't that pleased when he saw the Buccaneers opponents for the next two weeks. They had to play the Tijuana Luchadores, an 11-1 juggernaut, and then the Portland Pythons, the second best team in the league and another strong foe. Sure, Darrel wouldn't be playing much anyway, but couldn't he have played Norfolk twice instead? Or even SA/KC?
There was nothing Darrel could do about it. He had to go out and play with his 2-10 Buccaneers. They had been through a tough season without his help and Darrel knew that he probably didn't have the skill to sneak a win in either of their next two contests. But his moment finally came. He stepped out onto the field on a great day in Tijuana, and he had made it. His dream was achieved. But he still had an incredible journey left to complete. The start of that was on their first drive in Tijuana. Tyerucker muffed the kickoff and the Buccaneers were stuck on their own five. Driving 95 yards against a great team was no easy feat, but their quarterback ran for 33 yards on just two plays. Then, Darrel got the call. He was going in. Not only was he going to get to be on the field for his first ever professional play, they actually called a run; for him! On their own thirty-eight yard line, Darrel took the ball, tried to find the hole... and got stuffed for a two yard gain. Darrel promptly walked off the field and didn't touch the ball again until halfway through the second quarter. That had been one long wait for Darrel, but he still was able to get a four yard gain out of his next carry. He then ran for eight yards(his career high!), four yards, and two yards. Down big in the fourth quarter, the Buccaneers were facing a seemingly insurmountable third and 19. When Darrel heard the playcall, he couldn't believe it. A run, by the guy who wasn't even that fast? He wasn't going to say no to a carry, but he probably should have, as he got stuffed and only gained two yards. Darrel walked off the field to what he expected to be some boos from the Myrtle Beach supporters who had made the journey to make it to Tijuana like he had, but he looked up into the stands and saw nothing but fans in red. He assumed the fans had already left the game; there had to be at least one Myrtle Beach fan who showed up. But he looked and looked and saw no one. This game was over to basically anyone watching the game, but Darrel had to still finish it out. He took two more carries that went for seven and six yards, respectively. Darrel had to watch as Tijuana crushed every last ounce of dignity they had on that field. They handed the ball off to Dotson on five consecutive plays, but the Myrtle Beach run defense couldn't stop him. The game finally ended and Darrel tried to put it out of his mind. He still finished with a 4.4 YPC... but he knew he needed to do better.
In possibly Darrel's final game as a Myrtle Beach Buccaneer, his team and him traveled to Portland to face the eventual DSFL Champions. Myrtle Beach got the ball first, and on only the second play of the game, Darrel was given the ball. He promptly again only got two yards, but Myrtle Beach was entrusting enough to give him early-game carries, even when Tyerucker was available. Myrtle Beach then punted and Portland scored a touchdown. Later in the quarter, Darrel was given two runs that he took six and five yards respectively. The Buccaneers drove to the 39 yard line of the Pythons, but then the MB quarterback threw a pick and another drive was wasted. After a 1 run yard by Williams and a touchdown that took the score to 17-0 Portland, it was obvious that this game was probably already out of reach, even though it was only halfway through the second quarter. In the third quarter, the Buccaneers picked off the Pythons and Darrel had his longest carry of his professional career, a ten yard run. It was followed by another solid run by Williams, but the drive ended in a field goal. In his last carry of the season, Darrel ran for nine yards and finished the day with a 5.1 YPC and his season with 4.8 YPC. He didn't have a reception. His Buccaneers finished the season at 2-12, worst in the league, and Darrel watched his team only muster fifteen points in his two games on the team. His time with Myrtle Beach was short, but it was the best time of his life. He got to play alongside some incredible talents who will make their impact sooner rather than later in the NSFL and it motivated Darrel to continue to improve himself and become the best player he can be.
Darrel had an incredibly long journey just to get to this point. He barely was able to make the worst team in the DSFL, and made the most of it. He's still improving by the day, as his TPE continues to rise and hopefully his draft stock along with it. Starting in middle school until his fifth year at LSU, he played an entire decade of football and it ended up working out for him. He's got a great chance to make some noise next year in S19 and then hopefully do well in the NSFL following the S20 Draft there. I hope you enjoyed this read about Darrel's Journey, and I hope DSFL GMs give him a chance come draft night!