For Nebraska wide receivers coach Keith Williams and his son, wide receiver Keyan Williams, Nebraska football truly has become a family affair. Although this is the first season Keith has coached his son in a team setting, this is nothing new for Keyan.
"I've been working out since I was about six," Keyan said. "We've been doing cone drills together since I was little, so it's kind of just normal now."
Keith said he has worked with Keyan during off-seasons for many years. In high school, Keyan set school records at Lusher High School in New Orleans for total yards and total touchdowns in his career. He caught 22 passes for 397 yards and seven touchdowns, was named to the 11-3A All-District team and was Lusher's Offensive MVP his senior season.
Keyan took his talents to Fresno State in 2014 where he redshirted his freshman season. During the 2015 season, Keyan caught seven passes for 34 yards in five games as a Bulldog.
Around the same time, Keith left Tulane where he had spent the past three seasons as a wide receivers coach to join the staff at Nebraska. When he got to Lincoln, he knew it was where his son needed to spend the remainder of his college career.
"When I got here, I realized that this place was better than where he was at, the whole situation from top to bottom," Keith said. "We talked about it, and he understood where I was coming from, and it's good for my wife obviously."
Keith said once his son took a visit to Lincoln, he knew where his dad was coming from.
"The football, the atmosphere here, the opportunities to develop as a young man, it's better here I feel like," Keith said. "He came to visit a few times and kind of got that same feel, so it was kind of easy."
Due to NCAA transfer rules, Keyan was forced to sit out a year when he arrived in Lincoln. Keyan said knowing what the future held and having experienced wide receivers like Jordan Westerkamp there helped him cope with watching games from the sideline.
"That was my third season so it was pretty hard, but just knowing what I had in the future made me keep going," Keyan said. "Having Westy right there, being able to watch that, I was ok with just sitting behind him and learning."
Now, the waiting period is over and spring practice has begun. Keyan is back to playing at a collegiate level, but this time it's on the same field as his dad. All of those offseason father-son practices have paid off, because Keith's advice is entrenched in Keyan's head.
"What he expects is what I expect now," Keyan said. "He's built that inside of me, so now what he expects, I expect the same thing. If I mess up and he comes up to tell me something, I already know what he's going to say."
Keyan will hope his father's football advice will pay off as well as it has with other receivers his dad has coached. The list of top-notch products that Keith has produced is nearly endless. During his first season with Nebraska, the Huskers wide-out corps combined for more than 200 receptions, nearly 2,800 yards and 23 touchdown catches.
The Huskers ranked in the top three in the Big Ten in passing offense, scoring offense, total offense and third-down conversion percentage while passing for the most yards since 2008 during the 2015 season. Keith has helped the Huskers recruit top wide-receiver products and has current NFL wide receivers come to the practice facility for workouts.
While all of workouts have helped Keyan become the player he is today, Keith said having his son around has helped increase the efficiency of his coaching as well.
"A lot of times during the course of practice I can't spend 10, 15 minutes with Keyshawn (Johnson Jr.) on a certain play," Keith said. "So you coach him up, get to the next play and while he's back there waiting on his next turn, Keyan can give him a little more of a detailed explanation."
If you have ever seen Keith in action, you know he's a fiery guy. All it takes is one look at his "Technique Tuesday" and "Wideout Wednesday" videos on Twitter to see that.
"Technique Tuesday"
Attack - choose inside
Body language #SavageProfessionalism#CTB
????
???#GBR pic.twitter.com/bSB8ejSppL— Keith Williams (@wideouts) March 21, 2017
Keyan said he's always seen that side of his dad, but maybe even more so now that it's at a collegiate level in a team setting.
"It's harder now just because we're in college and everyone knows what the next level is, but I think it's about the same," Keyan said. "He coaches hard on everybody, not just me."
Nebraska fans will get their chance to see what Keyan can do at the Red-White Spring Game at Memorial Stadium on Saturday, April 15 at 1 p.m.
