Lions' first-round pick Tyleik Williams is uniquely athletic for a man his size, and his former position coach has gone all the way with a comparison along that line.
The Detroit Lions didn't go as against the grain as you might think to make Ohio State defensive tackle Tyleik Williams the 28th overall pick in the draft on Thursday night. Defensive tackle was a need to some degree, and if they hadn't taken him a team picking shortly after them in the first round was apparently ready to do so.
One of the comps for Williams, ironically enough, is Lions' defensive tackle Alim McNeill. Williams (6-foot-3, 334 pounds) is bigger than McNeill (6-foot-2, 315 pounds), but the skill sets are similar and Williams is in line to cover for McNeill's likely early-season absence as he works his way back from a torn ACL.
Williams had his first session with Lions' reporters on Friday. After that, Ohio State defensive line coach Larry Johnson had a conference call with Detroit reporters, of course to talk about his now-former pupil.
Ohio State DL coach offers very lofty comp for Tyleik Williams
Williams fits the physical profile of a prototypical run-stopping nose tackle. But Johnson noted his quickness and athleticism.
"Two things that jump out right off the bat is his initial quickness off the ball and for a big guy to be able to bend and turn corners like he does is just unprecedented," Johnson said. "I saw him do that very easily."
Johnson then told a story about how Williams came to Columbus carrying extra weight due to inactivity during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ohio State coaches had only interacted with him virtually to that point, and they were taken aback. Then he ran a 4.9 40-yard dash with a 10-yard split of "1.6 something" at that size, to put those concerns to bed.
"We said, ‘Ok, we’re good. We’re good,’” Johnson said. “That’s special, right? He’s been very quick. He’s got some running back skills with a big body. But, obviously, the thing we did to increase that, it’s just his mindset, how to play, how to play with his hands and feet, disengage and get off blocks.”
Johnson then noted Williams' football IQ as something that sets him apart.
“I think the thing that separates Tyleik from anybody else is his football IQ,” Johnson said. “He’s really brilliant picking up things, picking up technique, picking up signals from the line of scrimmage. I think that’s his advantage. He’s really smart, and he studies videotape. It makes him really separate himself from most guys I’ve coached.”
"If you watch him real close, you’ll see him sometimes standing and pointing where the play is going,” Johnson said. “He has a way of picking up their signals. Zoro could be left, or Cowboy could be right. He would understand exactly where the ball is going. He’d start telling the guys, ‘It’s going right, it’s going right! It’s going left, it’s going left!’ He would come to the sideline and say, ‘Coach, here’s their signals. Here’s their calls. Here’s their run-game calls.’ He’d listen for that, and I think that’s what separates Ty.”
Johnson has been at Ohio State since 2014, helping Nick Bosa, Joey Bosa, Chase Young and others become high NFL draft picks. At Penn State before that (2000-2013), he coached Tamba Hall and Courtney Brown. So when he offers heady praise of someone, it's not hyperbole.
Well, unless he invokes the name of a future Hall of Famer.
"Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying he’s Aaron Donald, but you know, his movement skills, how he can be able to change directions,” Johnson said. “Aaron Donald is really good at going, you know, what we call, ‘Jab-Ole inside-outside.’ He’s got—and then he can go power. I think Tyleik has the same kind of movement because he can go power, he can go finesse up the field if you give him the opportunity. But you know, Aaron Donald was in a league by himself, you know what I mean? I don’t want to put that pressure on Tyleik going into the league as Aaron Donald.”
Johnson knew the implications of what he was saying when he brought up Donald. Getting past that part, the athletic comparison is a sign of the belief Williams has a lot of upside as a pass rusher after not showing much of that in college.
