Inside The Huskies

UW Offers Former Husky Linebacker Coach's Son in Dallas

Tre Williams is a sought-after edge rusher and the offspring for Tom Williams.

Dan Raley

In this story:

Tom Williams used to stick his helmet in the chest of University of Washington football players and they didn't forget it. Then as a coach, he taught the Huskies how to hit people.

This past week, Williams and the UW crossed paths once more — Kalen DeBoer's staff offered his son, Dallas-area edge rusher Thomas "Tre" Williams, a football scholarship.

The younger Williams is a touted 6-foot-3, 220-pound prospect for the Parish Episcopal High Panthers, who have won three consecutive private-school state championships in Texas.

Tre Williams, who currently holds 22 offers, is a handful. He finished his junior season with 129 tackles, which included 26 for lost yards and 12 sacks, and broke up 6 passes and forced a pair of fumbles.

He apparently was taught well by his father, who once was the Yale head football coach, a three-year starter for Stanford in 1989-92 and the Husky linebackers coach for Rick Neuheisel's staff in 1999-2001.

Tom Williams, 52, went from Fort Worth, Texas, to play linebacker for Stanford and he was a fierce competitor, earning All-Pac-10 honorable-mention honors as a senior.

He made several coaching stops in the college ranks and NFL, ultimately getting elevated to Yale head coach. However, a resume discrepancy, when he claimed to be a Rhodes Scholar candidate but actually passed up the opportunity to pursue an NFL career, caused him to resign in 2011. 

Tre Williams is a lot taller than his father but no less aggressive in coming off the edge using his significant speed. The 3-star prospect currently holds a Michigan offer, with the Wolverines envisioning him to be another Aidan Hutchinson, who went No. 2 overall in the NFL draft last week to the Detroit Lions. 

This Williams is the second Parish Episcopal player in the past few days to receive a UW scholarship offer, joining 4-star safety Daniel Demery.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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