Get to Know Your Orange Man: #98, P James Williams

Name: James Williams

Position: Punter/Placekicker

Year: Freshman

Height: 6’1”

Weight: 208 lbs.

Hometown: Watkinsville, Ga.

High School: Athens Academy

2020 stats: Although he was the backup to Nolan Cooney all season, Williams wasn’t needed and didn’t play in any games.

2021 projections: With Cooney graduating, Williams is the presumptive starter at punter for the Syracuse Orange. The assumption is that he’ll also take kickoffs for SU, with the last two Orange punters in Sterling Hofrichter and Cooney doing the same. Given his rankings coming out of high school, Williams looks set to be the next successful player to join “Punter U.”

How’d he get here?: Air Force, Army, and Hawaii all had offers out to Williams.

What’d recruiting sites say?: Three stars from 247sports, Rivals, and ESPN. Kohl’s Kicking gave Williams five stars and ranked him the No. 4 punter in the class of 2020.

Money quote: The scouting report on Williams is pretty promising for Syracuse fans that enjoy flaunting our superior punters.

“Williams had some very impressive moments at camp and had multiple 50+ yard, 4.5+ second hang time punts. He is a tall athletic specialist who has a bright future ahead of him at the next level.”

Twitter feed: @jameswill2020

Tweets of wonder: Williams made sure to let his coaches know that he was still practicing during the start of the pandemic last year.

What movie would Dino recommend for him?: I bet Dino is a Star Wars fan. He probably enjoys John Williams’ soundtrack to the Star Wars films like everyone else does.

Interesting nugget o’interest: Williams went to the same high school as former Georgia kicker Billy Bennett, who holds the FBS record for field goals in a season with 31 in 2003. Andre Szmyt came close to breaking that mark with 30 in his freshman season with the Orange.

Let’s get a look at ya: Some punting and kicking footage from Williams at Kohl’s Kicking camps.