38 Days Until Kansas Football: Video Game All-Stars - Pooka Williams

We return to our series looking at the best Kansas players that didn't make it into an NCAA Football video game. Up next is RB Anthony "Pooka" Williams.

The return of the NCAA Football video game is scheduled for next summer, and that gives us the perfect opportunity to highlight some players that didn't get an opportunity to appear in the series during it's hiatus.

Contents

1. Recruiting Bio
2. Production at Kansas
3. Best Game
4. After Kansas
5. Video Game Rating

Thanks to a rating system that includes individualized ratings of college players that we discussed on the Rock Chalk Podcast, we are able to take correct that oversight. This rating combines their base talent level with their actual college production to come up with an overall look at their performance.

A reminder that our Video Game All-Stars series will look at recent Kansas players who played well at Kansas but never got an opportunity to be captured with a virtual version of themselves. We will look back at their careers, and include a projection of what their overall rating would have been had the games been around.

Today we continue on the offensive side to highlight the highest rated recruit that Kansas had ever signed (at that time): RB Anthony "Pooka" Williams..

Other Player Spotlights in this series:

Daniel Wise
Mike Lee
Joe Dineen
Andrew Parchment

Recruiting Bio

A 5'9", 175-lb athlete out of Hahnville High School in Boutte, LA, Williams came to the Jayhawks as the highest rated recruit ever in the history of the program. In his senior year of high school, he rushed for a ridiculous 3,118 yards and 37 touchdowns.

Williams was a 4-star athlete that was recognized early for his speed. He was recruited to Kansas by running backs coach Tony Hull and committed over offers from LSU, Memphis, Mississippi State and Ball State.

Production at Kansas

Season	Rushing Attempts	Rushing Yards	Average	Rushing TDs	Receptions	Receiving Yards	Average	Receiving TDs
2018	161	1.125	7.0	7	33	289	8.8	2
2019	203	1,042	5.1	3	27	214	7.9	2
2020	51	196	3.8	2	6	31	5.2	0

Williams being included in this series was a no-brainer. He started out hot for the Jayhawks, with a 14 carry, 125 yard effort for 2 touchdowns as the Jayhawks broke the longest ever road losing streak against Central Michigan. And he continued to prove just how much of a weapon he was in his time at Kansas.

While his distinction as the highest rated player to be recruited to the Jayhawks has since been surpassed, he was the first big recruit that came to the program under David Beaty. And some might say he paved the way for bigger recruits to pick the Jayhawks despite the abysmal record.

Williams' time wasn't without its controversy. He was suspended for the first game of the 2019 season due to some off-field incidents, and there was some debate about the way he ended his career with the Jayhawks, but it is impossible to deny the impact he had on the field and for the program as a whole.

Best Game

The difficulty in picking the best games for Pooka is not that there aren't enough, it's that only one game truly stands out. After that, there are a lot of really good games that are all very similar to each other. But for this section, let's highlight the game where he burst onto the scene (hint: it was super early in his career), and then the one that is without question the best game of his career.

September 8, 2018: 31-7 Win over Central Michigan

Stat line: 14 rushes, 125 yards (8.9 average) 2 touchdowns

It didn't take long for Pooka Williams to make an impact, as he absolutely ran all over Central Michigan in the first game of his career. The Jayhawks went into half of this game only up by 7 points, but touchdown runs of 20 yards and 41 yards by Williams early in the third quarter put the game away and earned him honors as the 247Sports True Freshman of the Week.

November 17, 2018: 55-40 Loss at Oklahoma

Stat line: 15 rushes, 252 yards, 2 touchdowns

There is absolutely no doubting that this was Williams' best game, as he ran up and down on an Oklahoma defense that was still pretty widely respected. The rushing defense had allowed a few teams to run over 150 yards total, but other than Army (which ran a super run-heavy triple option offense), Williams had 75 more yards than the next highest Big 12 team rushing total.

The Jayhawks finished the day with 348 total rushing yards, but Williams was the unquestioned star of the day, almost single handedly keeping the Jayhawks in this game.

After Kansas

Williams ended his career partway through the pandemic-affected 2020 season. After four games that season, he opted out of the rest of the year to be closer to his family as his mother was working through some health issues.

Going into the 2021 NFL Draft, many expected Williams to be drafted in the later rounds, but he was not selected. He instead signed with the Cincinnati Bengals as an undrafted free agent. After converting to wide receiver, he ultimately ended up on the practice squad.

He was called up for a single game in the 2021 season, playing as the kick returner against the Los Angeles Chargers. He has signed a reserve/futures contract and is currently in camp with the Bengals.

Video Game Rating

Base Rating: 81
Production Bonus: 12
Total Rating: 93

Pooka Williams was a fantastic talent that had a high pedigree coming into college, giving him a great base rating. And he performed spectacularly in his two full seasons with the Jayhawks. It's hard to imagine he would not have been one of the top running backs in the Big 12 had the video game been available during his time in Lawrence.

While the ratings we have are not broken down into the individual attributes that you would typically see in a game like the Madden series, it is possible to guess which attributes would be the highest. There are a lot of options here, but his blazing speed and ability to read defenses and make quick cuts means that I would likely rate his speed and awareness as his highest traits.

A reminder that our video game ratings are provided by CFB Winning Edge, which is an independent outlet focused on college football analytics that has developed team, player and coach ratings based on a wide range of current and historical data.

Patreon supporters have access to their FBS Team Profiles, which includes ratings for over 11,000 individual players across all 131 FBS teams, as well as ratings for every head coach, offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator, and strength of schedule metrics. In addition to stats, recruiting data, injury reports, and player movement information, they also offer three sets of projected point spreads for every FBS game based on separate projection models, as well as projected win totals.

You can find more information about what they offer by going to their Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/CFBWinningEdge

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