Jason Williams (American football)
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Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
 Williams with the Carolina Panthers in 2013 | |||||||||||
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| Position | Linebacker | ||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||
| Born | April 23, 1986 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. | ||||||||||
| Listed height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | ||||||||||
| Listed weight | 245 lb (111 kg) | ||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||
| High school | DuSable (Chicago) | ||||||||||
| College | Western Illinois | ||||||||||
| NFL draft | 2009: 3rd round, 69th overall pick | ||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||
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| Awards and highlights | |||||||||||
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Jason X. Williams (born April 23, 1986) is an American former professional football player who was a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL) for the Dallas Cowboys, Carolina Panthers, Philadelphia Eagles and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He played college football at Western Illinois.
Williams was born in Chicago, Illinois and attended DuSable High School. As a senior, he contributed to his team's undefeated record in the Chicago Public League’s Intra-City Central Conference.
He rushed for 2,988 yards, threw for 3,015 yards and recorded 71 total touchdowns (35 rushing and 36 passing) in his career. He was a two-time All-City and All-Section selection.
College career
Williams accepted a football scholarship from Western Illinois University where he majored in exercise science. As a redshirt freshman in 2005, he played in 10 out of 11 games, making 23 tackles (14 solo), one tackle for loss and one blocked kick. He started the final two games of the season at strong safety.
As a sophomore in 2006, he started all 11 games at weakside linebacker. He recorded 92 tackles, three sacks, 10.5 tackles for loss (led the team), three forced fumbles, and one interception. He also earned honorable-mention All-Gateway Conference and earned the team’s Green Beret award for his significant contributions to the kicking game. He had 15 tackles against Illinois State.
As a junior in 2007, Williams recorded 107 tackles (third in the conference), eight sacks (led the conference), 16.5 tackles for loss (led the conference), five forced fumbles (led the conference), and six passes defended. The five forced fumbles tied a school and league record, while ranking fifth in the nation. He ranked among the nation's top 50 defensive players in tackles for loss, total tackles and sacks. He was a runner-up for the Gateway Defensive Player of the Year Award. He was named the team’s defensive MVP at the teams annual awards banquet.
As a senior in 2008, he started all 11 games at weakside linebacker, posting 67 tackles (39 solo), four sacks, 14.5 tackles-for-losses and led the nation with a school-record six forced fumbles. He had two sacks and two forced fumbles in a 24–28 loss against Arkansas. He finished fourth in the Buck Buchanan Award voting. He was also named to the Associated Press All-America First-team, the Sports Network All-America First-team and the College Sporting News All-America team. He became the first player in school history to earn repeated All-American honors, he was also named the team's Defensive MVP and played in the East-West Shrine Game.
Williams ended his college career by setting a FCS record and tied the NCAA all-division record of 14 career forced fumbles. He recorded a career total of 289 tackles, 15.0 sacks (10th in school history), 45 tackles-for-loss (seventh in school history), 14 forced fumbles (tied NCAA record), 12 pass breakups, one interception, two fumble recoveries, and one blocked kick while starting 35-of-43 games.