Catching Up With… Bernard Williams

Standing at nearly 6-foot-10, massive Bernard Williams entered Georgia in 1990 as perhaps the most highly touted defensive end in the nation for his class, after totaling 48 sacks in three seasons at Hamilton High School in Memphis, Tenn.

As a true freshman, he immediately demonstrated a knack for blocking placekicks and was selected on the All-SEC Freshman Team, despite not starting a single game as a newcomer. As a sophomore, Williams switched to offensive tackle on the other side of the ball. The move paid off, as he totaled 140 pancake blocks from 1992-1993, was a first-team All-American as a senior, and became the 14th overall pick in the 1994 NFL Draft. He remains the second-highest Georgia offensive lineman ever selected in the draft, including the highest Bulldog picked at the position for nearly the last half-century.

Still, because of multiple failed drug tests, Williams also remains the only player in NFL history to start every game his rookie season, but then never play in the league again. Yet, he eventually played professional football again, before becoming the successful entrepreneur he is today.

UGASports.com caught up with Bernard Williams from his home in the Atlanta area.

UGASports: Especially growing up in Memphis, how did you eventually decide to attend and play football at Georgia?

Williams: Originally, my plan was to go to Arkansas, because I was initially told I could play both football and basketball there. Honestly, basketball had always been my favorite sport—my first love. But, when Coach Hatfield left the Razorbacks, that threw things off for me (Ken Hatfield left Arkansas in 1990 to become head coach at Clemson).

I had met Andre Hastings (eventual UGA signee in 1990) when we both visited Notre Dame on a recruiting trip, and he had mentioned something about his interest in Georgia during our visit. I had never really thought about the possibility of signing with Georgia, but had kind of looked at Georgia Tech because I was interested in their agricultural engineering program. This is where my interest in Georgia Tech actually led me to Georgia, because I soon learned that UGA, not Tech, had the better football program.

UGASports: Early in the 1990 season opener against LSU, as one of your first plays as a Bulldog, you blocked an extra-point kick. In fact, in a 19-game span during the 1990-1991 seasons, you blocked five kicks (four PATs, one field goal). How do you explain your knack for blocking placekicks?

Williams: It really just had to do with getting my timing right and judging the trajectory of the ball. I wouldn’t necessarily try to jump through the line, but just jump straight up and try to get my hand on the football. Me blocking kicks kind of came from my basketball roots of blocking shots.

UGASports: Explain your sudden move from the defensive line to offensive tackle as a sophomore in 1991.

Williams: As a freshman, I had played most of the snaps at the defensive tackle spot I was at, but I never started. One day, Coach McDuffie (Wayne McDuffie, Georgia’s new offensive coordinator in 1991) came to me and said that if I didn’t want to worry about not starting, and I wanted to eventually make some money in the NFL, I should come over to the offensive side. Ray Brown (20-year offensive lineman in the NFL from 1986-2005), my double cousin, told me that if I moved to the offensive line I would likely play longer and make more money. I’ve always been “about the numbers,” so after the numbers—both money-wise and longevity in the league—were broken down to me, I told Coach McDuffie that I’d gladly move.

UGASports: Was suddenly moving from the defensive line to offensive line challenging for you?

Williams: Football had never really been that hard for me, and I think that’s why I preferred basketball. It was more challenging for me. Honestly, the only real challenge in moving to the offensive line was playing under Coach McDuffie. Since football was hardly a challenge, I often didn’t give 100 percent in practice. But, under Coach McDuffie, he wanted his players to practice as hard as they played in games—and we were sometimes at odds with one another because of that. Coach McDuffie was a great football coach, but I found it really hard at times to be coached by him.

UGASports: When do you think you started receiving national attention as one of college football’s top offensive linemen?

Williams: I probably started to get really recognized after we beat Ohio State (1993 Citrus Bowl—Williams’ final game his junior year). Big Daddy (defensive tackle Dan “Big Daddy” Wilkinson) played for them and would be the No. 1 pick the next year (1994 NFL Draft). He was playing a lot of three-technique against us. So, we faced off against one another pretty much the entire game. And, I’ll be honest, I pretty much owned him. (After totaling 10-1/2 tackles for loss and 6-1/2 sacks during the 1992 regular season, Wilkinson was limited to two tackles, none for loss, and no sacks against Georgia.)

UGASports: You could’ve entered the NFL Draft early following your junior season. Why didn’t you, and what was it like to have a losing record after that, as a senior in 1993, after the Bulldogs had gone 10-2 the year before?

Williams: Well, I really needed one more year to grow and improve my draft status. In ’92, we had been really good with Garrison Hearst. But 1993 was looking like it’d be a really good year too. Although Garrison entered the draft, Terrell (running back Terrell Davis) was coming back and Eric (quarterback Eric Zeier) had gotten better each year. So like a lot of people, I thought we were going to have an exceptional season my senior year.

But we got off to such a bad start (1-4 record to start the season). Terrell was hardly 100 percent [healthy] for most of the year, so we just didn’t have much of a running game. And, our defense struggled for most of the season. (The 26.3 points and 381.3 total yards per game yielded by the Bulldogs in 1993 both rank among the worst single-season marks in school history.)

UGASports: After being selected 14th overall by Philadelphia in the 1994 NFL Draft, you started every game your rookie season for the Eagles. However, testing positive for marijuana, you then failed enough drug tests under the NFL’s new drug policy to be suspended for the entirety of the 1995 season. Simply what was the deal with your marijuana usage?

Williams: On draft day, my mother told me she had a lump in her breast. We went to the doctor and, come to find out, she had stage-four breast cancer. My grandfather had passed away while I was in college. My aunt, Alice Johnson, who would drive down with my mother to watch me at Georgia, was suddenly out of my life when she was arrested and would eventually be sentenced to life in prison (Johnson was incarcerated for 22 years before being pardoned and released by Donald Trump after socialite Kim Kardashian pleaded her case to the President.).

Also, around that time, my aunt’s youngest son Corey, who was like a little brother to me, passed away. My father had passed away when I was a junior in high school. After he died, I took just one day off before returning to practice, so I had never taken the time to mourn my father.

All of this just kind of culminated at the same time. I wanted help and started to see a psychologist in Philadelphia. But by the end of my rookie season, through all the wear and tear of playing football, I was also going through a lot of physical pain. I had teammates who had pain pills shipped to them in training camp, but I never liked taking pills. I didn’t drink or take drugs while in high school, and smoked [marijuana] some in college when, honestly, I didn’t think it was that big of a deal. There was no drug policy during my rookie season in the NFL, so I picked up the habit of smoking pot. Marijuana was my way of dealing with the pain and the stress of football.

UGASports: Still, you could’ve applied for NFL reinstatement beginning with the 1996 season. Why didn’t you?

Williams: At the time, I really didn’t even want to think about football. It was a lot for me to handle back then—to go through—and football, at that point, was just kind of nagging at me. I was always good at football, and liked the sport, but, as I said, I was never really a “football guy.” Plus, outsiders had started to tug at me from different directions, so the sport became unattractive to me after a while—and I wanted a way out. If I could have taken a second year off and then returned to the NFL, I probably would have done so.

UGASports: You eventually played professional football, but not until 2000. What did you do up until then?

Williams: Yeah, I was off the scene for a couple of years and (laughing) a lot of crazy things went on. For one, I was good friends with Mike McCrary of [R&B group] Boyz II Men, so I hung out with the group for a bit. Also, my agent at the time was [singer] Patti LaBelle’s nephew, so I spent a year with Patti on a book signing tour just hanging out. My mom passed in ’97, and that’s when I moved back to Memphis and tried to get my life together. At the time, my agent said that there were still teams calling to see if I would play football.

UGASports: How did you get back into the sport?

Williams: At the time, I was informed that I could play right away if I played in the Canadian League (CFL), so I signed with the BC Lions (June 2000). By the end of the season, the XFL had been established, so I signed with the Memphis Maniax. The defensive coordinator when I was at BC was also coaching in the Arena League, so I went straight from the XFL to the Arena League (AFL), where I played for the Detroit Fury for a couple of seasons (2001-2002). I eventually made it back to the CFL with the Toronto Argonauts, where I played for four seasons through 2006. (Williams was an All-East Division tackle with the Argonauts in both 2005 and 2006.)

UGASports: I’m curious--did you like living in Canada?

Williams: I love Canada. When I was there, I really dove into the culture and people. It’s one of my favorite places in the world.

UGASports: At what point did you start a family?

Williams: I actually met my wife, Lee, in college. Besides a brief time during the late ‘90s, we’ve been together ever since then. We got married in 2000 and we have a daughter, Dahlia, who is 14. From a previous relationship, I also have a son, Tyler, who is 22.

UGASports: After playing the sport professionally, you started coaching football at the local level, right?

Williams: Yes, I moved to the Atlanta area and started coaching at MLK High School. However, my brother-in-law, James Berry (running back at Tennessee, 1978-1981, and father of Eric Berry, five-time Pro Bowler with the Kansas City Chiefs), had open heart surgery around that time. I wanted to help him out, so I left MLK and came over to Duncan Park (part of the parks and recreation department in Fairburn, Ga.). I coached James’ youngest sons, twins Evan and Elliott, in under-14 rec. football. I then followed the twins to Creekside High School, where I was a parapro at the school and coached football through their senior year.

UGASports: Since then, I read that you’ve been really busy professionally, including working with your nephew, star defensive back Eric Berry.

Williams: Yes, after I had started my own security company, I began working with Eric. In fact, during the football season, I would move to Kansas City where I took care of Eric’s affairs. Since then, I’ve started my own consulting company, I Make Players. With my business, I’ve found that there are always football players who need some degree of guidance. With Eric, together we run Stunt MotorSports, where we buy, sell, and customize classic cars. Also, Ruby Jean’s Juicery is a juice bar offering healthy juices/beverages and snacks at two locations in Kansas City. Eric and I will soon be opening locations in Fairburn and Atlanta.

I’m really fortunate. When I was coming into the league, and during my first year in the NFL, I had a lot of ideas I eventually wanted to pursue both professionally and in the community—but I got sidetracked and wasn’t able to do so. However, through Eric—a combination of my old ideas and his ideas—I’ve been able to work towards and carry out these ideas. Fortunately for me, everything worked out in the long run.