Oklahoma football: Roy Williams officially inducted into College HOF
By Chip Rouse
Former Oklahoma football All-American Roy Williams was formally inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame on Tuesday.
Williams was part of a class that consisted of 21 newly inducted Hall of Fame members (18 former players and three coaches were honored at the 64th National Football Foundation Annual Awards Dinner at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas.
Williams played at Oklahoma from 1998-2001, and “by the time his career was over he was more feared by offensive opponents and more respected by his defensive peers than any player in the country,” according to a news release posted on the Oklahoma athletic website.
The California native was one of the key contributors in Oklahoma’s 2000 national championship season. He finished the 2000 season with 99 tackles, 13 tackles for loss, two interceptions, 10 pass breakups and two fumble recoveries.
Williams was even better the 2001 season, ending the year with 107 total tackles, 14 tackles for loss, five interceptions, 22 pass breakups and three fumble recoveries. He won the Nagurski Award that season as college football’s top defensive player and the Jim Thorpe Award as the top defensive back.
He finished seventh in the 2001 Heisman Trophy voting, the highest finish that season by a non-quarterback.
Williams will forever be linked to the “Superman Play” in the 2001 Red River Showdown with Texas. With the Longhorns pinned up against their own goal line late in the game, Williams leaped high over the Texas lineman and deflected a pass by Longhorn quarterback Chris Sims. The deflected pass ended up in the hands of OU linebacker Teddy Lehman, who took one step into the end zone for a touchdown sealing a 14-3 Oklahoma win.
Williams declared early for the NFL Draft, leaving OU after the 2001 season. He was selected eighth overall in the first round by the Dallas Cowboys in the 2002 NFL Draft. He spent nine seasons in the NFL with the Dallas Cowboys and Cincinnati Bengals.