Fordyce fortress gets to big game

Kevin Williams’ path to playing nose tackle for the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XLIX today in Glendale, Ariz., started nearly 20 years ago when his coach at Fordyce High School tried him at tight end.

Steve Baxley was in his first year as Fordyce’s head coach and said he had no idea how physical Williams was going to be.

Williams, who also was a basketball player, tried tight end for the first six weeks of the 1996 season.

University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale, Ariz., 5:30 p.m. Central today, NBC

“He looked at me and he said, ‘Coach, let me try defense,’” said Baxley, who coached at Fordyce in 1996-2002. “I said, ‘well, get on over there.’”

Williams had 60 tackles, including 20 for a loss, 5 sacks, 1 fumble recovery for a touchdown and an interception return for another score for Fordyce in 1997 when the Redbugs finished 10-2.

“How dumb am I? He’s the best defensive player in the state of Arkansas and I’m playing him at tight end,” Baxley said, jokingly. “I couldn’t find anybody who could block him.”

Not too many players in high school, college or in the NFL have been able to block Williams, 34, who will be the second-oldest player in today’s Super Bowl that features the NFC champion Seahawks against the AFC champion New England Patriots. (Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, 37, is the oldest player in the game).

Williams, 6-5, 311 pounds, played collegiately at Oklahoma State before being drafted by the Minnesota Vikings with the ninth pick of the 2003 NFL Draft. He’s made six Pro Bowls, earned five All-Pro selections and a spot on the NFL’s All-Decade team from 2000-2009.

Baxley, now the defensive backs coach at Texarkana High School, had an idea Williams was bound for bigger things outside his hometown of Princeton, an unincorporated town in Dallas County 20 miles northwest of Fordyce and 68 miles southwest of Little Rock.

“Kevin was the most talented player I ever coached,” Baxley said. “You never tell a high school kid this, but that’s the body that plays on Sunday. I never told him that. You could just tell that.”

Williams has played in 198 regular-season and playoff games and has missed three because of injury. Nearing the end of his career, he signed a one-year, $2.1 million deal in June with the defending Super Bowl champion Seahawks over the Patriots after 11 seasons with the Vikings.

Williams’ original role was to provide depth on the defensive line, but he moved into a starting position when nose tackle Brandon Mebane suffered a hamstring injury Nov. 9 against the New York Giants and was lost for the season. Williams has started the past nine games for Seattle, including the last seven regular season games, and has performed well at a position that is a departure from his usual defensive tackle spot.

“A 12-year vet that played three-technique pretty much the last 11 years, and to be able to step up and play nose guard in this scheme and be very productive at it, it’s been awesome having him on the team,” Seahawks defensive end Cliff Avril told The Sporting News.

Williams has 30 tackles and three sacks for Seattle this season, helping a Seahawks defense that led the NFL in fewest points allowed (15.9 points per game). He’s totaled 493 tackles, including 349 unassisted, 63 sacks and 5 interceptions in his career.

Williams made it to the postseason three times with the Vikings, and the closest he came to the Super Bowl was in 2009, when Minnesota lost in overtime in the NFC Championship Game at New Orleans.

Williams told reporters in Seattle before the team headed to Arizona for the Super Bowl that getting to this point was tremendous.

“A lot of guys play, you get the contracts, you can play for the Pro Bowl but to be able to play in the Super Bowl, I think that’s the ultimate goal and being able to do that with this great group of guys is huge for me,” he said.

Baxley said he talked to Williams on Jan. 18, one day after the Seahawks came back from a 19-7 deficit to win 28-22 in overtime against the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship Game at CenturyLink Field in Seattle.

“All he had to say was, ‘Coach, have you ever seen anything like that?’” Baxley said. “Then bam, bam, bam, he’s in the Super Bowl.”

Williams, who lives in Maumelle in the offseason with his wife Tasha and three children, said winning the Super Bowl could provide a storybook ending to his carer, but Baxley said that his former player isn’t talking much about retirement.

“He’s been fortunate that he’s been healthy,” Baxley said. “He’s feeling good this year. He’s had a good year this year because he hasn’t played all of the snaps.”

Baxley said he will watch the Super Bowl today from his Texarkana home.

“I’ll be camped out in front of that TV,” Baxley said. “When he’s in the game, I’m just watching him. Hopefully, he’ll come in and make a big impact. Tip a pass, pick one off. That would be great.

“He’ll play hard. He’ll play well.”

Baxley said he hopes to get Williams to visit Texarkana during the offseason or when he retires. He wants Williams to give his players a good look at what it takes to be a professional football player.

“Young players think they’ll go to the NFL in high school. Then, I say, no, no, guys, that’s what he looks like,” said Baxley, referring to Williams. “They’re not 5-9, 220. They look like him.”