DeAngelo Chondon Williams, born on April 25, 1983, is an American professional wrestler and former football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL). He made a name for himself both on the football field and, surprisingly, in the wrestling ring. While many fans remember his time with the Carolina Panthers and Pittsburgh Steelers, his brief stint in professional wrestling is often overlooked.
DeAngelo Williams in Impact Wrestling
Early Football Career
Williams was considered the top running back in the state of Arkansas in 2001, having played for the Yellowjackets football team at Wynne High School in Wynne, Arkansas. As a junior, he gained 1,044 yards rushing and scored 14 touchdowns, leading him to be named to the Arkansas All-State team in 2000. As a senior, he rushed for a single-season record 2,204 yards and 34 touchdowns, averaging 10.4 yards per carry while leading his squad to the state 4A championship.
College Career at Memphis
Entering Memphis, Williams was a highly touted signee. He played in 10 games as a true freshman. In his first career game, a 52-6 victory over Murray State, he racked up 129 rushing yards, on 12 rushes, and a touchdown, marking the second most rushing yards in school history by a true freshman. For his performance in the Tulane game, he received the Conference USA Player of the Week.
In the 2003 regular season opener against Tennessee Tech, Williams had 61 rushing yards and one rushing touchdown in the 40-10 victory. He had career highs of 135 receiving yards and two receiving touchdowns playing against the Golden Eagles. The following week against Mississippi, he recorded 131 rushing yards, 36 receiving yards, and two rushing touchdowns in the 44-34 victory. After a 108-yard game in a 38-16 victory over Arkansas State and another 107-yard game in a 24-10 loss to UAB the following week, he tied the school record with four consecutive games with at least 100 rushing yards.
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With 118 rushing yards in the 20-13 victory, he made it 11 consecutive games with over 100 rushing yards, continuing the streak he began the previous season, and having a career-high 37 attempts. While playing against Chattanooga, Williams gained 136 rushing yards, three rushing touchdowns, 87 receiving yards, and a touchdown reception in the 52-21 victory. His four touchdowns marked a career-high for a single game. In the Tigers' regular season finale against South Florida on the road, he had 28 carries for a school-record 263 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns in the 31-15 victory.
Williams's junior season ended when he broke his leg while playing Bowling Green in the GMAC Bowl on December 22. He finished his junior year leading the nation with 22 rushing touchdowns and second with 1,948 rushing yards to go along with 18 receptions for 210 receiving yards and one receiving touchdown.
Williams started his senior season being held to 85 rushing yards on 24 carries in a 10-6 loss to Ole Miss but followed that up with ten consecutive games with over 100 yards rushing. He finished the regular season with 127 rushing yards in a 26-3 victory over Marshall. In his final college game, the 2005 Motor City Bowl, Williams helped Memphis defeat the Akron Zips 38-31, by running for a Bowl record 238 yards and scoring three touchdowns.
Williams finished his collegiate career with 6,026 rushing yards. In addition, he totaled 55 rushing touchdowns, 19 more than Casinelli and Henderson. Williams was the only player in school history to have ten 100-yard games in a single season, a feat he accomplished in three separate seasons. As a result, his 34 100-yard rushing games are more than double the next highest total of 16 by Henderson. He holds the Division I National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) record for 100-yard rushing games (34) and All-purpose yards (7,573).
Here's a summary of Williams' college rushing statistics:
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| Year | Rushing Yards | Rushing Touchdowns |
|---|---|---|
| Freshman | 815 | 7 |
| Sophomore | 1,423 | 14 |
| Junior | 1,948 | 22 |
| Senior | 1,964 | 12 |
| Total | 6,150 | 55 |
NFL Career
On April 29, 2006, he was selected by the Carolina Panthers in the first round with the 27th overall pick in the NFL Draft. Williams played in the first five games of the 2006 season and looked promising as an alternative to DeShaun Foster in the Carolina backfield, compiling an average of 5.3 yards per carry. In Week 2, against the Minnesota Vikings, he had 13 carries for 74 rushing yards and his first professional touchdown, a three-yard rush in the second quarter, in the 16-13 loss.
In Week 11 against the St. Louis Rams, Williams filled in for Foster, who had injured his elbow, and totaled 20 carries for 114 rushing yards in the 15-0 victory. In a Monday Night Football game against the Philadelphia Eagles, Williams started for an injured Foster and managed 74 rushing yards on 17 carries and an impressive 101 receiving yards on seven catches with a receiving touchdown in the 27-24 loss. He appeared in 13 games, of which he started two.
Williams established himself as the starting running back for the Panthers prior to the 2008 season. Despite having a great statistical season, he was unable to make the Pro Bowl over Clinton Portis, despite having more total yards, touchdowns, and yards per carry. The Panthers finished with a 12-4 record, won the NFC South, and earned a first-round bye with the #2-seed. Williams made his playoff debut against the Arizona Cardinals in the Divisional Round.
In Week 6, he had 30 carries for 152 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns in a 28-21 victory over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In Week 7, Williams recorded a 77-yard run against the Arizona Cardinals for the longest rushing play in franchise history, breaking his own mark set in 2007. During the 2010 Pro Bowl, Williams scored a touchdown on a seven-yard run, the first by a Panthers player in team history.
In Week 17, against the New Orleans Saints, he rushed 21 times for a career-high 210 rushing yards and two rushing touchdowns in the 44-38 victory. Although he played every game of the season, he only started 10 of the games. He recorded 737 yards on 173 attempts. In Week 3 against the New York Giants, Williams had 23 carries for 120 rushing yards in the 38-0 victory. In Week 15 against the New York Jets, he had 168 scrimmage yards and a receiving touchdown in the 30-20 victory.
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He missed the second and third games of the season against the Detroit Lions and the Pittsburgh Steelers respectively, because of a hamstring injury that he suffered during a practice in between the first two games of the season. In a Week 4 loss versus the Baltimore Ravens, Williams suffered a high ankle sprain and was taken out of the game. In a Week 13 loss to the Minnesota Vikings, Williams fractured his right middle finger.
In 2015, Pittsburgh Steelers superstar running back, Le'Veon Bell found out that he would be suspended for the first two games of the NFL season due to marijuana usage. This and the loss of LeGarrette Blount to the New England Patriots left the Steelers with no great options to start. Then, news broke that the Carolina Panthers were going to cut their former running back, DeAngelo Williams. Pittsburgh saw this opportunity and jumped on it.
DeAngelo Williams with the Pittsburgh Steelers
Without Bell, many fans were nervous, but Williams would go and ball out for the Steelers. He would rush for 147 yards and have three touchdowns in the two games that Bell had been suspended for. During Week 8 of the 2015 season, Bell was on a tear looking like he once did, but would then tear his ACL in a game against the Cincinnati Bengals and would not be able to return for the rest of the season. It was here where Williams really stepped up to the plate and made it look like our offense didn't skip a beat.
A Surprise Career Turn: Professional Wrestling
Even though he had over 1,000 rushing yards during his time in Pittsburgh, many fans tend to forget that he even played there. One of the most forgettable things about Williams is his stint in professional wrestling where he was considered to have one of the best celebrity performances ever in the ring.
Although it was a short-lived career in the wrestling ring, Williams made the most of this opportunity. On July 2, 2017, Williams made his debut and only match at Impact Wrestling's Slammiversary. He tag-teamed this match with former NFL player Quinn Ojinnaka who goes by the nickname "moose" in the wrestling world. They wrestled against Eli Drake and Chris Adonis.
Pro wrestling journalist Dave Meltzer even made comments on how impressive he was: "It was freaky how good he was. This guy probably has the potential to be one of the greatest wrestlers I've ever seen."
Williams joined ESPN's Adam Schefter on Wednesday and said that it was his first and last pro-wrestling event. Williams explained that he wanted to participate in the event to honor his late uncle.
Though Williams went out and made a name for himself in wrestling, he made it clear that this was a one-time thing and that it would most likely never happen again. He did this one match more for his uncle who used to watch wrestling with him when he was younger. So, when this opportunity came, he thought more about his uncle rather than just having the opportunity alone.
"It was a one-shot deal. A lot of the things that I do, if not all the things that I do, has a meaning to it. I don’t do it just because the opportunity came."
Jeff Jarrett on DeAngelo Williams in Impact
The free agent running back made his debut in Impact Wrestling’s Slammiversary XV on Sunday, and while he mainly looked the part, he narrowly escaped a serious neck injury when he attempted to land a “frog splash” from the top of the rope.
This was the close call from Sunday: You can see how Williams overshot his leap onto the table and landed face first on the mat. Luckily, he was not injured.
When Schefter asked Williams about the table mishap, Williams said that the video looked way worse than how it actually was: "It wasn't my face that hit the mat. I kind of protected my face with my hands, my arms. But you couldn't see that part. What happened is in practice when I was coming off, I didn't have the adrenaline going. So I didn't get high and it was easy. When I got in the ring and the crowd was cheering and my adrenaline was pumping, I got super high and I was up there forever. And I'm like, 'This is not how I practiced it.' And when I came down, I overshot it a little bit. And when I overshot it, the way that I landed, my back took most of the force. But the table gave a little bit. It goes to show too that the tables are real ..."
Although many football players have had antics outside of playing in the sport, is this one of the best? Could we ever see Williams back in the ring?
If this is the end of his career, which seems certain, he finishes it with 1730 carries, 8096 yards, and 61 rushing touchdowns.