Williams makes his return to the field: 'This is what I love to do'

Tré Williams made his season debut last week after shoulder surgery this March.

by Ariana Pensy - Correspondent - Wed Nov 01 13:30:13 GMT-04:00 2023

CLEMSON - Redshirt junior defensive tackle Tré Williams made his season debut on Saturday at NC State, returning to the game he loves.

“As a competitor, you never want to be away from the sport that you love, especially since you only get 12 days a year for it and you spend (the) whole rest of the year training for it. So, I was excited to get back out there,” Williams said. “This is where I love to be at. This is what I love to do. So, it was very easy after that (first play).”

He had his most recent shoulder surgery back in March and has been rehabbing ever since then.

“I had a little bit of a bigger surgery…Kind of got a scar from the top of my shoulder all the way down to the top of my armpit,” Williams said. “So, kind of just like the real tightening down the shoulder, ‘make it stay’ surgery.”

Despite all of the injuries in his career, Williams, who has played in 26 games over four seasons, feels like he is 100 percent and ready to go. However, because the plan is to redshirt him this season, he must sit out one game in the last four that Clemson has on the schedule.

“I feel like I’m ready to go. I’ve bought into the weight room and just practicing every day,” Williams said. “So, every day I was approaching practice like it was my game, and I ultimately became more accustomed to it, and it started getting better and better and better, and now I feel like I’m all the way there.”

This is also an important time for Williams academically. In the spring, he will be graduating with a major in Sociology and a minor in Communication Studies. Then, he will be pursuing graduate school and continuing his football career with the Tigers. Luckily, he has some eligibility left, which is something that he enjoys since this is where he loves to be, and as a competitor, he wants to play.

Seeing games mostly from the sidelines this year, Williams is proud of this defense and what they have accomplished this season.

“I wish I was out there with them, obviously,” Williams said. “But, I couldn’t be more happy, more proud, of what they’ve done over the year, and we just got to keep doing what we’re doing. We got a couple more games to play.”

The road to keeping Clemson’s bowl chances alive starts with facing No. 15 Notre Dame this coming Saturday (Noon / ABC). It will be their first home game in almost a month and also their only game left in the regular season against a ranked opponent.