Olympian, NCAA champion and UO record-holder Micah Williams taking a shot at football
Oregon football’s latest roster addition has no high school recruiting profile or star rankings attached to his name.
But he is an Olympian.
And his speed is world class.
Micah Williams, a record-setting redshirt junior sprinter for the Ducks' track and field program, is chasing a spot on the football team.
Listed as a wide receiver, Williams was wearing No. 84 Tuesday afternoon and fielding kickoffs during the portion of practice open to the media.
“Micah wanted to play football and we want to give him a chance to see if he can," Oregon coach Dan Lanning said. "It’s been a long time. He hasn’t really played since his freshman year in high school, but you can't coach fast, right? He's fast. No we’ll see what he's able to do out there for us.”
Despite his obvious gifts — his wind-legal 100-meter school record of 9.86 seconds makes him the second-fastest performer in collegiate history — the sculpted 5-foot-8, 176-pound Williams appears to have no notable football experience beyond what Lanning described as playing "wide receiver in a Wing-T offense" as freshman in 2016 at Benson High in Portland.
“He's pretty good when you give him the reverse, right?" Lanning said. "There's a lot of catching up to do and there's a lot of things to pick up. He's came here with a great attitude and he's working his tail off. We'll see what happens.”
While his football experience is limited, Williams has always excelled on the track.
He was a three-time Gatorade Oregon boy’s track and field runner of the year, a two-time state champion and remains the Oregon high school record-holder in the 100 (10.21) and 200 (21.03).
At Oregon, he won an NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships title in the 60 as a freshman in 2021 then went on to finish fifth in the finals of the 100 during the U.S. Olympic Track & Field Trials to earn a spot in Team USA's relay pool for the Summer Games in Tokyo.
Williams injured his left hamstring early in the 2023 indoor season and was limited for the start of the outdoor season as he eased his way back into 100-meter races.
He won his second straight Pac-12 title in May then finished seventh at the NCAA Outdoor Track & Field Championships despite running a season-best 9.99.
Lanning said Williams has made the move to football this fall with the blessing of track and field coach Jerry Schumacher.
“Jerry is a team guy, right?" Lanning said. "Jerry and I talked before and he said ‘Yeah, if this is something he wants to do, then this is something we want to let him do.' It's our job to see if it's going to be a fit for him because he's obviously got a long career ahead of him in track. That doesn't change and that's certainly his first priority, but right now it gives him an opportunity to see what he can do.”
Williams remains on his track scholarship unless he plays in a game. Once that happens, he'll have to count against football's limit of 85 scholarships.
Follow Chris Hansen on Twitter @chansen_RG or email at chansen@registerguard.com. For more sports coverage, visit registerguard.com. Want more stories like this? Subscribe to get unlimited access and support local journalism.
This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Sprinter Micah Williams chasing a spot on Oregon football team
