By the time the penultimate game of his freshman season rolled around, Kentel Williams had all but locked up a spot on the Ohio Valley Conference's All-Newcomer team and etched his name in the record books with one of the finest first-year performance in Austin Peay State University football history.
Then he went and broke the league.
Against Eastern Kentucky in the final home game of Williams' rookie campaign, the Knoxville native obliterated the OVC record for single-game all-purpose yardage, rolling up 399 total yards thanks to 176 rushing yards, 42 receiving yards and 181 yards on kickoff returns.
Six of Williams' 26 touches went for more than 20 yards, including a 97-yard kickoff return for touchdown in the second quarter. He also added a seven-yard touchdown run in the third quarter.
Williams' all-purpose yardage mark was tops in the NCAA across all levels in 2016 and 20th-most ever in an FCS contest. That effort made him the first player in OVC history to earn three different weekly honors—Offensive, Specialist and Newcomer of the Week—in the same week, in addition to the first Governor to earn STATS Inc. FCS National Freshman of the Week.
And he's got three more seasons to come on the gridiron.
2016-17 Top 10
No. 10 – Austin Peay claims OVC Institutional Sportsmanship Honor
No. 9 – Govs host inaugural ESPEAY's
No. 8 – Pitts closes APSU career in style
