Samarja Williams '26 Recruiting Profile

SAMARJA A WILLIAMS: Never Give Up

As a kid I always wanted to be in the NFL and I've always done what I had to do to reach my end goal. I've dreamed of being on the big stage and being able to play the sport I  love while also being able to put my family in a perfect financial state. So to do that I started playing football when I was 6 years old and ever since I have been in love with the games from being able to dance and celebrate after wins and going back humble after losses. But what excited me the most was being able to hit people for an hour straight without getting in trouble for it. So it easily became my favorite sport and no one could ask me anything about football that I didn't know about. 

Now fast forward 8 years I was 14 years old and a freshman in high school and I was introduced to a new level of football especially the hits. I survived it because I really didn't play much but the season passed and I thought that was going to get me the enrichment credits i needed but it didn't so i found another sport that ran in my family; Baseball was one of the other sports I enjoyed playing and watching but little did i know where the love for this sport would lead me. I went to many practices and the season was very close to starting and I picked my number and pants. I was very excited for the season. I went through my first game against the noble academy without many problems just a lot of miscommunication but going into the next game against Noble street is where tragedy struck. 

We had a double header against Noble Street and we finished the first game and were going into the second and it was my turn at bat and I was happy. I was ready the first time I swung it was a strike but the second time the bat made complete contact with the ball and it was a low flier and a single hit. I felt like I deserved way more so I stole second and the pitcher didn't see me so I was safe and the next batter stepped up and he swung and my first mind said to run and that's what i did. He hit the ball but it was short and I headed to third base but so was the ball and I slid and I was safe but I wasn't. I felt a sharp loose pain in my right ankle area. I couldn't stand up on it for long so we called a time out and had another person take my spot. We ended up scoring so that was good but the ankle didn't get any better.

Later on that day I went to the emergency room. I found out later that day that my ankle was broken and split. I was devastated but there was nothing I could do at this point. So my parents made me stay home for the rest of the school year. During the summer I was destined to make sure I was good for the next football season which was in 4 months so I did everything that I could and I didn’t let anything stop me. Physical therapy went great and coming into my sophmore year I was still doing physical therapy and I had to miss the first two games against Orr and Reavis. So a day before our third game I went to the doctor for a monthly check up and she told me I was cleared to play against Noble Pritzker.

I was happy because I knew that I would start so coming into the game I played my heart out. We ended up coming out with the win and I knew that all of my hard work paid off. I was able to play the rest of the season without any problems. So this comes to show that whenever you have a great path and you mean a roadblock or a fork in the road to just keep going because no matter what if you put in the work for what you want you’re going to get what you want even if it doesn't happen as fast as mine did but if you put in the work you will love the resault.