CARENCRO — In Carencro's veer offense, there's a lot of opportunity to eat. The Bears began 2019 with a dynamic duo in the backfield: Kendrell Williams and Traylon Prejean. But midway through the season, Prejean tore his ACL and MCL and was out for the year.
"Trayjan is a big part of our program," Williams said. "When he got hurt, it felt like we had a missing piece. I had to pick up as much slack as I could. Just put the whole team on my back."
What followed was the running back going into beastmode. He rushed for 1,935 yards and 25 touchdowns during his junior campaign. Williams also pushed the Bears to their first quarterfinals appearance since 2016.
"Kendrell took that running back position on his back and he carried us to the quarters," Carencro Head Coach Tony Courville explained. "We call him a BYOB. Be your own blocker. If he gets to that hole and it gets clogged up, he's going to open that hole up again."
"I describe my play to be... I'm a fast downhill running back. Who makes cuts when he has to. And if I don't have to, I'll just run you over," Williams said with a grin.
The tailback earned all-state honors, but Williams is dominant in any sport he touches. In track and field, he's the 400 meter champion in Class 4A. In wrestling, he won state gold in 2019.
I like to get physical. That's fun. I used to wrestle with my brothers. Used to do all kinds of WWE stuff. I really like to slam people.
But wrestling is more than slamming opponents for williams. It's helped him to improve his conditioning for football...and it's taught him that you're never out of a match...which will come in handy in carencro's title chase in 2020.
"You can be down 7-6 in wrestling and you got a second left, you make one move, you up 8-7 and win the whole match. It's complex but it can all be so simple. If it's done right, it's simple."
NOTE: Williams committed to the Ragin' Cajuns on Wednesday.
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