FAYETTEVILLE — There will be plenty of familiar faces on the opposing sideline for Arkansas running back Rawleigh Williams on Saturday.
It’ll be the first time the sophomore will take the field against the program for which he almost wound up playing. Williams initially committed to the Rebels in April 2013 before flipping to Arkansas in July 2014.
He signed with the Razorbacks in February 2015.
As a result of being an Ole Miss commit for more than a year, he’s markedly more familiar with Ole Miss’ staff and roster than most opposing players.
“I have a lot of guys on their team that are my friends and I’m excited to compete against them,” Williams said. “… I do keep in touch with them, but I haven’t talked to them this week.”
Williams didn’t get the chance to play against the Rebels last year after suffering a severe neck injury against Auburn two weeks before the Hogs’ trip to Oxford, Miss. He enters this season’s matchup as the fourth-leading rusher in the SEC, with 605 yards. His five touchdowns are the most by an SEC running back.
Williams is averaging 5.4 yards per carry and his 18.8 carries per game rank third in the SEC. Conversely, Ole Miss’ starting running back Akeem Judd is averaging 11.2 carries per game in an offense that ranks 13th in the SEC in attempts at 33.4 per game.
Williams’ Razorback career took a road bump with the neck injury that could’ve threatened whether he continued to play the sport, but his emergence as a sophomore feature back has afforded him more exposure than he likely would’ve received at Ole Miss, which has made his college choice hard to find fault with in retrospect.