‘Boogie’ Williams Ready For Challenge in Shorthanded Secondary

LARAMIE -- Therman was a bestowed upon him through lineage.

His nickname, though, was earned just moments after his birth.

"I guess I had a lot of boogers," Wyoming cornerback Therman Williams said with a smile and a shoulder shrug. "Ever since, I've been 'Boogie.'"

The Riverside, Calif., native will need to be extra sticky this Saturday with Hawaii in town. Not only do the visitors average 270 yards per game through the air, Micah Alejado leading that patented run-and-gun attack, the Cowboys are down two in the secondary.

Fellow freshman Kendall Griffin underwent surgery on his right hand. So did Tyson Shamsid-Deen.

This will look much different than last Saturday when Central Michigan ran the ball 59 times and put just seven passes up in a 24-10 victory in soggy Mount Pleasant.

"Very big losses," Williams said of his fellow cornerbacks. "They're both very talented people, so it's not only a big thing on me to make sure that I step up but the other guys in the room. We all have to step up."

Wyoming's coaching staff is confident he can get the job done, too.

Aaron Bohl expected some wide-eyes -- and potentially some missed assignments -- throwing the rookie into the fire in a Week-1 road tilt at Colorado State. That didn't happen. Head coach Jay Sawvel said Williams, along with Shamsid-Deen, were the best two options on the island.

"He felt like he deserved to be out there, and he definitely proved that," Bohl added, referring to Williams, who allowed three catches on five targets for just 13 yards in a 35-13 loss to the Cowboys' Border War rivals.

It's not often in this program -- or any, for that matter -- that a player fresh out of high school gets the gig.

Sawvel said throughout the spring and winter, Williams showed he had the mentality and maturity for the position. He also went to work in the weight room, adding 17 pounds from January to July.

Like Bohl, the third-year head coach wondered if there would be a "melt down" in Fort Collins.

That didn't happen.

"Those two guys were great," he said, speaking about Williams and Griffin. "They came back last night and practiced like it was a Wednesday, like they didn't even play on Saturday. They both played over 30 plays on Saturday."

Jovon Bouknight's receiver group has been doing battle with Williams since the day he arrived on campus. Instead of a timid kid learning the ropes, it was quickly apparent that confidence wasn't an issue with No. 25.

"He's a tough, gritty corner, man," Bouknight said. "You would have thought he would have been in this program for about three years or so. The first time he stepped on the field, even as a true freshman, he's talking stuff to the older guys and stuff like that. He's challenging guys.

"He's got the fight. He's got the dog in him, man. That's everything you want. He's going to be a phenomenal player."

Through three games, Williams has been on the field for 141 snaps, including 45 pass plays. He has tallied six tackles in the process. Is the game starting to slow down for the former three-star product who received scholarship offers from Colorado, Marshall, Akron and Sacramento State?

It was never all that fast to begin with, Williams said. He played in one of the most-competitive conferences in southern California.

"The first game when I went out there, it wasn't too fast for me or nothing like that," he added "I think now, though, going into the fourth game, it's definitely slowed down a little bit more."

He says the fact his coaches share a common belief in him only gives him more juice.

"That's something I've strived for my whole life," Williams said. "That's been the goal since I was 4 years old. Being able to come here and start as a freshman, as you know, it feels like I'm living a dream right now."

Wyoming (1-2) and Hawaii (1-2, 0-1) are scheduled to kickoff at 1 p.m. Mountain Time inside War Memorial Stadium. The game will be televised on The CW.

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