I’m grateful for my family being here and helping me get through this. They always support me, no matter what round I go in. – Jamaal Williams
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. — A steady stream of relatives and close friends trickled into Nicolle Williams’ home Friday night.
While many of them had their eyes glued to a large flat screen television to watch National Football League Draft, the man they came to support, former BYU running back Jamaal Williams, couldn’t sit still.
It was just Jamaal being Jamaal.
“I can’t get him to watch a football game,” said Jamaal’s uncle, Bo Thompson, said, shaking his head. “If he’s not playing, he’s not interested.”
That was fine with Jamaal's agent, Leigh Steinberg, who is participating in his 43rd draft.
“I don’t want players to obsess over every pick,” Steinberg said. “It’s not healthy.”
“You have to take your mind off it,” said Jamaal, wearing a white BYU T-shirt with a throwback logo. “You see the names come up and it’s not your name and it can get to you.”
Williams, BYU's all-time leading rusher, was projected to be taken in the third or fourth round of the draft. He wasn’t selected Friday but he’s expected to be picked in the fourth round Saturday morning.
When the third round ended, Williams was upbeat and unflappable, joking with his friends and family.
“I’m grateful for my family being here and helping me get through this. They always support me, no matter what round I go in. A village raised me. I’m grateful to have everybody here supporting me,” he said. “Hopefully, I get my name called (Saturday). The mindset for us is, we don’t care where we start at. It’s where we finish. I’m grateful for this opportunity. Every day that goes by and my name isn’t called, it makes me want to be the best running back. Down the line, people will see that Jamaal didn’t start out in the first round but I’ll work hard to be the best back in the class overall.”
Midway through the third round, there was a palpable buzz at the Williams’ home, as many here were hoping that the Philadelphia Eagles would take him at pick No. 99.
Instead, the Eagles selected a defensive back, West Virginia’s Rasul Douglas, who scored on a pick six against BYU when the Cougars and Mountaineers played at FedEx Field in Landover, Maryland last September.
There was some disappointment among Jamaal's family and friends when the third round ended and Williams remained undrafted.
“We’ll live to fight another day,” Steinberg said. “We thought coming into this he’d go late in the third round or early in the fourth. It will work out.”
Steinberg has represented a record eight No. 1 overall picks during his illustrious career. But he’s also learned patience over the years.
Some picks to watch for in the fourth round as possible landing spots for Williams, according to Steinberg, are No. 118 and No. 139 (Philadelphia), No. 121 and No. 137 (Indianapolis).
Meanwhile, Williams’ family and friends are always there to buoy him. And he knows he has BYU fans and coaches who are excited for him to take the next step in his football career. BYU offensive coordinator Ty Detmer called Williams Friday to lend his support.
Friday’s gathering at Nicolle Williams’ house was part draft party and part graduation party.
It’s been a big weekend already for Jamaal, who graduated from BYU Thursday. He and his mom, flew to Utah Thursday morning, participated in commencement exercises at the Marriott Center that afternoon before returning to California Thursday night.
Years ago, Jamaal promised his mom that he would graduate from college.
Nicolle and her family spent much of Friday setting up tables and preparing food — there was plenty of barbecue — for the crowd that came to her home in Jamaal's honor.
One of them was Ron Brown, who started coaching Jamaal when Jamaal was six years old.
“The people who are here have been with him in the trenches, from the beginning. It’s been a journey,” Brown said. “When he’s drafted, the team is going to say they got the best player in the draft because of his will and his work ethic.”
Thompson, Jamaal’s uncle, watched other running backs picked Friday, like Dalvin Cook, Alvin Kamara, D’Onta Foreman and James Conner and shook his head.
“I wanted him to play safety,” he said. “He got a (scholarship) offer from Arizona as a defensive player. He was defensive MVP in high school.”
Then he smiled. “If he’d listened to me,” he joked, “he’d be off the board already."
But this night was not just about the draft. "The most important thing is that degree," Thompson said. "But this is his dream. He loves to run the ball.”
The waiting game continues.