The last time quarterback Dexter Williams II took the field at Memorial Stadium in November 2022, Indiana football was taking on Purdue in a battle for the Old Oaken Bucket.
There was just less than a minute left in the first quarter when Williams suffered a non-contact right knee injury. He was carted off the field and taken to a nearby hospital.
Williams is now in his sixth collegiate season. He left Indiana after 2023, transferring to Georgia Southern University for the 2024 season. Williams then entered the transfer portal and committed to Kennesaw State University, where he won the starting job.
Now, Williams will lead the Owls into Memorial Stadium at noon Saturday to face off against the No. 23 Hoosiers.
But his path back to being a starting quarterback hasn’t been a linear one.
The gruesome injury
Then-Indiana head coach Tom Allen described Williams’ injury as a “devastating loss.”
Up to that point — Williams’ redshirt sophomore season — he had played in just three total games. He’d completed 12 passes and had accumulated 156 yards rushing.
Despite struggling through the air, Williams’ 86 rushing yards against Michigan State on Nov. 19 helped guide the Hoosiers to victory.
“We came off the Spittoon game that year, and the next game I got hurt and I was really heartbroken,” Williams said on The Rock Report podcast — hosted by former Indiana offensive lineman Ricky Tamis and long snapper Sean Wracher — on Monday.
The Hoosiers led the Boilermakers as the first quarter winded down. Freshman running back Jaylin Lucas notched a 71-yard touchdown as the Cream and Crimson held a 7-3 lead, looking to prevent Purdue from earning the Big Ten East-clinching victory.
But with 55 seconds left in the first quarter, Williams caught the snap out of the shotgun. He faked a jet sweep to wide receiver Andison Coby before stepping back in the pocket. Williams rolled to the left.
Then, his season and on-field Indiana career was over.
“I had just finally gotten to a place where I felt like I was in the spot to keep the job and move into the next year with the job and it all came crashing down,” Williams said.
The injury taught Williams that football could be taken away at any time. And without any warning.
But Williams still drew positives from such a negative occasion.
“It took a toll on me, especially those first couple of months, but then it taught me how to maneuver when things aren’t going your way, like how to still be a person of faith and a person that is there for others that’s not just there for themselves,” Williams said.
In 2023, which became Allen’s last season at the helm of the Hoosiers, Williams said he was essentially treated as a graduate assistant. Not only was he around his teammates, but he spent an equal amount of time with the coaching staff.
Williams said that it was “really good” for him and his perspective. It showed him how the coaches gameplan for opponents, and the numerous other aspects of the job.
“So, it taught me not to take advantage of the time that I do have when I’m on the field and when I’m in the film room,” he said, “but it also taught me to appreciate the people around me — not just what they can do for me but what I can do for them because that’s what it’s all about.”
Football players sometimes get caught up in worrying about what the game gives to them, Williams said, instead of thinking about what they can give to the game.
That’s the area in which Williams said he thinks the injury made him grow the most.
“It made me more selfless as a person because I had to put my focus on other areas of my life,” he said.
Williams never returned to the field during his time as a Hoosier. Allen was fired at the end of the 2023 season and Williams entered the transfer portal, landing at Georgia Southern.
After beginning the season as the third-string quarterback, Williams eventually became the backup due to the original backup’s shoulder injury. He appeared in five games before entering the transfer portal with just under a month left in the season.
Williams committed to Kennesaw State just over a month later.
New place, new journey at Kennesaw State
Not only did Williams spend the offseason acclimating to a new team and environment, but he also welcomed his first child into the world.
On Jan. 30, Delaney Williams was born.
“It puts things in perspective, man,” Williams said. “It’s definitely an effort because I got my faith, my family and I got football now, and it’s not just family and it’s not just mom and dad anymore. It's my girls, both of my girls — my old lady and my daughter.”
He said he has to be “very intentional” about where he’s spending his time, and it’s been good for him as he’s become focused on faith, family and football.
Williams entered spring ball competing for the starting job, which he ultimately won. He said he had a “good” spring and fall camp, staying focused on his three main aspects of life.
Williams and the Owls, who are in just their second season at the Football Bowl Subdivision level, began their season with a 10-9 loss to Wake Forest University in Week 1. Williams largely struggled, finishing 12 for 33 for 149 yards passing while also accumulating 44 yards rushing on 14 carries.
First-year Kennesaw State head coach Jerry Mack said in a press conference Monday that the Owls’ success starts and ends with Williams. Mack explained the quarterback needs to do a better job of putting the offense in better positions to succeed.
But the season is still young.
Williams and the Owls still have 11 games remaining on their schedule. Eleven games to make their mark on a program that is still beginning its FBS journey. Williams said there’s “so much legacy to leave.”
A bowl berth would mark the first in program history. It’ll take reaching six wins and a .500 record.
“We just got to stay focused and stay down,” Williams said. “We got an older group of guys, so as long as my head, my focus, is in the right place, our posture is in the right place, usually everything really handles itself.”
Although Williams’ return to face the Hoosiers on Saturday will be a homecoming of sorts, he said, football-wise, he wants to go out there and put up a battle.
Off-the-field, Williams is excited to see “a whole bunch of people,” he said, as he still has friends in Bloomington.
While just one on-field coach, offensive line coach Bob Bostad, remains from the Hoosiers’ 2023 staff, Williams said he’s excited to spend time in the training room — something he became accustomed to doing since suffering his knee injury.
Of course, Williams and the Owls are aiming to knock off the Hoosiers, who haven’t lost a game inside Memorial Stadium under second-year head coach Curt Cignetti.
But inside, Williams hasn’t forgotten about the place he spent his first four collegiate seasons.
“It’s always go, Hoosiers,” he said. “Right now, it's go, big Owls for me.”
Follow reporters Conor Banks (@Conorbanks06 and conbanks@iu.edu) and Dalton James (@DaltonMJames and jamesdm@iu.edu) and columnist Quinn Richards (@Quinn_richa and qmrichar@iu.edu) for updates throughout the Indiana football season.
