John Williamson’s dream of playing college football came to fruition on Thursday morning.
Williamson, a senior wide receiver at Holtville high school, signed his National Letter of Intent to play college football at the College of the Desert on Thursday in Holtville’s gym.
The College of the Desert is a public community college in Palm Desert, California.
“It really means everything to me. Not too long ago, I wasn’t sure what I was going to be doing next year. Then God opened up this opportunity for me and I’m just so grateful to have the opportunity to play at the next level.”
Williamson had offers to play college football from a number of different schools, including some in Alabama and others in California. But once he started chatting with head coach Jack Steptoe and visited the campus, he knew there was no where else he’d want to play at.
Moving across country to play football was a big decision for Williamson, but he said it wasn’t a very hard one to make. He will miss all of his friends back at Holtville, but the chance to play college football and live in a city made the decision less difficult.
“It was definitely a decision where I thought ‘Dang, I’m going to move far away,’ but I do think it’s worth it,” Williamson said. “I just want to play and it’s worth it to move. A lot of colleges from California were hitting me up, but coach Steptoe pursued me more and I loved the playbook and the location of the school when I visited. I just fell in love with the school.”
Williamson is going to the College of the Desert as a wide receiver, and he said the offense that the Roadrunners run is the same offense that Holtville runs.
That could mean big things for Williamson, who thrived for Holtville this season. During his senior year, Williamson recorded 35 catches for 521 yards and three touchdowns. He only had one game this year where he had less than two catches.
He also played defense, recording two interceptions and 41 tackles on defense while also making plays everywhere on special teams.
Williamson was named the Wetumpka Herald’s best special teams player after his senior season. He led the state of Alabama in return yards during the regular season and blocked two punts as well. He scored two special teams touchdowns this year.
He will primarily play receiver in college, but was told he’d have the chance to play special teams as well.
“He likes to move the receivers around, so he’s going to move me around the offense,” Williamson said. “It’s a pretty diverse offense. As a receiver, I am bringing really good route running there while I can make a lot of plays in the return game. That’s something that was mentioned to me in the recruiting process. I just think that when I get the ball in my hands, I can do special things. That’s what I want to do for them.”
