FT. LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Mykel Williams is looking ahead to the future. It’s understandable given the year he had.
“For me honestly, it was below the standard,” Williams said. “But I have an offseason this upcoming year and I’m ready to get some work in.”
After leading in Georgia in sacks as a freshman, the Columbus, Ga., native only has 3.5 to this point. He missed one game due to illness but Williams did not have the impactful year many thought he would have.
That has led to a lot of questions for Williams and what his future looks like.
Such as what he can improve on.
“A load of things. Really I want to improve my game as a whole,” Williams said. “Especially within my pass rushing. I want to use my hands better and get the ball better.” --
Or whether he might be better suited as an outside linebacker, something that has been floated as a possibility as the Bulldogs have had three outside linebackers transfer out of the program this offseason.
We could possibly see Williams at the position against Florida State, as Georgia is also expected to be without Damon Wilson due to a knee injury.
“He’s trained to play on the edge a lot of times in his role,” Georgia defensive coordinator Glenn Schumann said. “As a D-end, he’s on the edge already. There’s actually been times this year that he’s played in specialty roles that way. He definitely is an athletic enough guy that has enough length that he can potentially do that.”
Williams even answered a question regarding the possibility of entering the transfer portal. Williams was a one-time USC commit during the 2022 recruiting cycle, the same school that pulled former Georgia defensive lineman Bear Alexander out of the transfer portal last offseason.
“That’s not my focus right now,” Williams told reporters. “Right now I’m focused on the now and that’s currently getting ready for this game against Florida State. That’s really all I’m thinking about right now. I’m not worried about the transfer portal right now.”
Williams, like the Georgia program as a whole in 2023, didn’t end up building off what happened at the end of the 2022 season. Williams had sacks in both College Football Playoff games last season, as the Bulldogs won their second consecutive national championship.
Georgia will be ending this year by playing Florida State in the Orange Bowl. The Seminoles will be without a number of contributors, while the Bulldogs may not have Brock Bowers and Amarius Mims.
Still, Williams wants to end the 2023 season on a high note, even if it was a disappointing year for him.
“Mykel’s an edge player,” Schumann said. " I mentioned this earlier, he’s always cross-trained at other positions. Sometimes you say changing role, the things that you’ve cross-trained in terms of hey, being able to play D-end and be a bigger outside linebacker, you decide that based on who’s your best 11 on the field and what’s your opponent doing.
“I know this, we’d like to play him on the edge more, whether that’s at D-end, Jack, anything from that standpoint. He’s one of our best players and we want to make sure that he’s doing what he does best more often.”
