Joseph Williams has spent this year following in DeAndre Moore Jr.’s footsteps. On Saturday in Waco, Texas, he walked beside them.
Moore took a big hit over the middle in the second quarter of and lay still on the field for a while. When he came to, the first thing he saw was a ring of faces.
“I came to and I saw all these people on top,” the Colorado receiver said Tuesday.
The trainers were ready to bring out a cart. Moore had other plans.
“First off, no cart, and I’m playing in this game,” he said he told them. The answer he got: “We’ve got to get you off the field first, buddy.”
He walked off with help, Williams beside him. At halftime, in a meeting with the receivers in the locker room, Williams broke the group down with a message about Moore, who wears No. 3. “For three.” The moment was captured in a video posted by Well Off Media.
The next day, Williams was at Moore’s house.
“He’s my brother,” Williams said. “We were just chilling together, just chopping it up, talking about football and stuff like that.”
Head coach Deion Sanders Saturday when Colorado (2-2, 0-1 Big 12) hosts No. 12 Texas Tech. What Moore carried out of the Baylor game was a look at a side of his teammates he hadn’t seen before.
“They came up to me after I came to. It was like, ‘Dude, you scared us,’” Moore said. “I got to see real emotion from some of my teammates who don’t necessarily show emotion. Some real tears, some real vulnerable moments.”
He called it “a really cool turning point in where we are in this brotherhood.”
Following footsteps
The two came to Boulder by different roads. Moore, from Bellflower, California, was a part of two College Football Playoff appearances in three seasons at Texas. He caught 77 passes for 988 yards and 11 touchdowns in Austin. Williams, from Arlington, Texas, was the American Conference’s freshman of the year at Tulsa before transferring to Colorado, where he caught 37 passes for 489 yards last season.
This season, he has been the constant in Colorado’s offense. Through four games, Williams has 22 catches for 361 yards and four touchdowns. At Baylor, he caught 11 passes for 127 yards and also threw a 49-yard completion to Quanell Farrakhan Jr.
Williams credits Moore for a share of it.
“He’s been a great part of how successful I’ve been so far, just because how much he pushes me every day, not only in practice but in games,” Williams said. “Every time we see each other, we want to be the best duo in the country.”
Moore saw it coming. When he arrived, he said, he told Williams he only had to “polish some things.”
“I knew (Joseph) was like that,” Moore said. “He already had it, man.”
The version of Williams he sees now is louder than the one he met. “The way that he’s rallying the guys, the way he’s vocal out there, the way he’s leading men,” Moore said. “That’s my kind.”
Williams traces the change to last season. It was his first time on a stage that big, he said, and he admitted he “got a big head,” before an injury “kind of humbled me a little bit.”
The injury showed him what he’s really playing for, he said. It isn’t money. It’s a game he has loved since he started playing at 5 years old.
The chain keeps going. Farrakhan had two career catches before he caught seven for 117 yards at Baylor. Williams calls him “almost like a little brother.”
“As I was following Deandre Moore (Jr.), he was kind of following my footsteps,” Williams said. “It was just special seeing him go out there and dominate like he did.”
Next man in
Williams had one more teammate to look after at Baylor: the new quarterback. When Isaac Wilson replaced Julian Lewis to start the second half, Williams said his job was to remind Wilson he could make every throw on the field.
“Keep telling him, no matter what, I’ve got you,” Williams said.
Sanders has not named a starter for Saturday. Moore said it shouldn’t matter to the receivers. They have been catching passes from all of Colorado’s quarterbacks since January.
“That’s really it,” Moore said. “Just reps.”
Williams got banged up himself at Baylor and was back on the field soon after. Asked how important it was to get back in, both for himself and as an example for his teammates, he sounded a lot like Moore on Saturday.
“Whatever I need to do on the field, no matter what it is, whether I have one leg or one arm, I’m going to go out there and try to help however I can,” Williams said.
Colorado welcomes Texas Tech to Folsom Field at 5:30 p.m. MT Saturday (FOX). Moore, back on his own two feet, sees plenty left to play for.
“Everything that we want for this season is still there for us,” he said.
