BYU's Williams, USU's Mays see opportunity in Packers' young running back group

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Jamaal Williams was trying to be cool, calm and professional as he approached his first day of rookie minicamp with the Green Bay Packers.

But on Friday as he walked into the team’s practice facility, he was anything but that on the inside.

“It was exciting, honestly. I felt like a kid,” said Williams, BYU’s all-time leading rusher who was known for his broad smile and fierce dance moves in Provo. “I still want to be professional about it, but I felt like a kid coming into the locker room and seeing all the Green Bay stuff. I’m just grateful for the opportunity to show my talents and to be part of this team and show what I have.”

Williams, who remained unsigned Friday as the NFL teams opened rookie minicamps, has plenty of reason to be excited, too. The Packers’ running back room only has four players in it at the moment, with third-year back Ty Montgomery from Stanford being the elder statesman.

The list includes three rookies in Williams, Utah State bruiser Devantae Mays and Aaron Jones from Texas-El Paso.

“We’re all pushing each other, and we want to see each other succeed,” Jones said. “It’s a great opportunity for myself; we’re young in the running back room, so they are going to need somebody to step up. We just need to learn the offense.”

Sure, there’s plenty of competition. But mostly the group is getting along well and helping each other through the new experiences of pro football in Wisconsin.

“We’re just learning everything as a group,” said Mays, who had 1,225 yards and 12 touchdowns in two seasons at Utah State. “Jamaal’s helping me, and we’re all helping each other right now. I don’t see it as a competition right now; I just see it as us trying to learn everything. We’re going to push each other.”

Packers coach Mike McCarthy isn’t afraid of the youth movement in the team’s running backs room. He sees it as an opportunity for guys to make an immediate impact on his team.

“Having three in one year is unusual, but it makes for a very healthy running back room,” McCarthy told Packers.com. “We need to focus on all of these guys having an ability to play all three downs. There will be a lot of opportunities for these guys.”

Of the three running backs, Williams is the trendy pick to see the most time as a Packers rookie. The former BYU star was a fourth-round selection by Green Bay, while Jones went in the fifth and Mays was a surprise seventh-round move.

Williams also lit up the room with the Green Bay media following his first official day on the job, highlighting his exuberance that became a standard in five years at BYU since he arrived as a 17-year-old freshman.

“I’m still out there, having fun; I’ve been dancing and everything,” he said, taking note of the Packers’ practice music. “I’m just enjoying this time and looking around at the environment, great people, great reporters, everybody smiling and making me feel at home.

“I’m really enjoying my time right now.”

Green Bay is the home of Williams’ former offensive coordinator Ty Detmer, who was the backup quarterback with the Packers from 1992-95, and also teammate Taysom Hill, who signed an undrafted free agent deal. Southern Utah running back Raysean Pringle was also invited to Green Bay for a minicamp tryout.

Mays, who signed his seventh-round contract already, was also just trying to take in the experience of pro football in one of the league’s most storied franchises with one of the greatest quarterbacks to play the game.

“It was a cool experience to go out there and put on this Green Bay stuff,” said Mays, a physical power back during his two years at Utah State who could see a similar role with the Packers. “It’s a blessing.”

Related topics