Pooka Williams opts out for remainder of the college football season

Electric Kansas running back Pooka Williams decides to sit out for the rest of the 2020-21 college football season for family reasons. Williams will be missed on the football field, but will one day be dicing it up on Sundays.

The speedy Jayhawk running back who was on this year’s Maxwell Award preseason watch list, Pooka Williams, announced on October 19th that he will move back home to Louisana to be closer to his family. In Williams’s statement via Twitter, he stated that his mother fighting some health issues and he wants to be with her and his family while she battles.

Jayhawk fans will miss watching the electric runner who is Pooka Williams and maybe will never see him line up for the Jayhawks ever again. At the beginning of the season, CBS Sports had Williams in their top 100 big board of 2021 NFL Draft prospects.

In Williams’s first and second year at Kansas, he ran for over 1,000 yards each season and lead Kansas in all-purpose yards in all three seasons as a Jayhawk. Williams did a lot for Kansas and showed to be an elite player in the Big 12.

Standing at 5-foot-10 and weighing in at 170 pounds, Williams is an exclusive back that can be put into a lot of different packages and schemes. Pooka Williams has great hands out of the backfield and ankle-breaking moves to create separation in open space. Williams was also used in kick returns in his time at Kansas and even took one to the house last week against West Virginia for 92 yards.

Williams has highlight-reel abilities and crazy speed to dodge defenders. He is a problem in open space and can take it to the house on any play. Also has great route running ability for a running back and could be a special player in the NFL who can line up anywhere similar to how the Saints use Alvin Kamara.

The only weakness in Williams’ game is he shies away from running inside and between the tackles. Being a smaller back he uses his speed to his advantage when he can, but could see some trouble in the NFL with some guys playing on defense at the next level can match his speed. Williams needs to adapt more patience and not bounce outside whenever there may not be a whole, even though it worked in college it is not as likely in the pros.

Pooka Williams is a great football player and has a lot of potential to make a name for himself on the next level. Williams could be a nice third back and the way NFL offenses are forming, a nice gadget player for an NFL team. It shows a real maturity of him to opt-out and be with his family in these troubling times for the Williams family.