An Unexpected Influence Is Responsible For The Innovative New Orleans Saints Wide Receiver Rugby Ball Drill

New Orleans Saints wide receiver coach Keith Williams is an innovator on the practice field, a reputation that took a major step forward thanks to a keen contribution from his daughter.

May 11, 2024; New Orleans, LA, USA; New Orleans Saints wide receivers coach Keith Williams runs drills during the rookie minicamp at the Ochsner Sports Performance Center. Mandatory Credit: Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports / Stephen Lew-USA TODAY Sports

Sometimes inspiration comes from those closest to you. That was certainly the case for New Orleans Saints wide receivers coach Keith Williams. The accomplished coach has been using rugby balls during OTAs and rookie minicamps while working drills with his wideouts. He does this to help with hand placement as well as the spread of hands and fingers. The process also makes a football feel much smaller the next time a player catches one.

Players have enjoyed it so much that they apparently have asked to do it more. The practice did not start with a rugby ball, however. The idea actually came about with a soccer ball—his daughter's soccer ball.

Kaya Williams just wrapped up her senior season as a defender for Lamar University soccer in 2023 after transferring from Jacksonville University. She receives credit from her dad for spurring the idea and developing one of the more intriguing NFL drills. It was during a private training session where Keith was working with some NFL wideouts alongside Kaya.

"I thought about I thought about it because my daughter plays soccer," Keith said. " And when I would work out Tyreek (Hill), (Davante Adams), (Brandin) Cooks and all those guys. She worked out with them, but she would be using her soccer balls. One day she threw me a soccer ball. I caught it and somebody threw me in football and like I felt like a freaking first-rounder when I caught the football."

Following the inspiration from there, Keith went on to workshop the idea. "So I went home and kind of went the garage," he said. "I played around with both a soccer ball and football and found out that there was something to it."

Seen folks asking about the rugby balls the Saints WRs were using during drills this week. Ross explains it well here ⤵️ https://t.co/MML9gVMtuC pic.twitter.com/JZVfzllcZU

— Jeff Nowak (@Jeff_Nowak) May 14, 2024

Keith would eventually moved over to rugby balls to better mimic the feel and shape of a football. The practice itself will not completely eradicate drops. But he explained that the implementation of this procedure keeps receivers from dropping passes because of bad hand technique. Instead isolating any concerns to other workable adjustments. It has proven successful already as there have not been many drops to note in the practices that have been open to media.

Beyond the physical adjustments one has to make in catching these rugby balls that are slightly larger than footballs, there is a mental element to it as well that may be just as important." Let's say someone threw you a basketball even if you weren't a basketball player, right?" he said. " You would catch it with your hands because like psychologically there's a notion in your brain that says no one body catches a basketball. So with a rugby ball, no one would think that body catch a rugby ball.

Whether considering the physical or psychological, the method works, and Keith is clear that the credit goes to Kaya for this one. "It started with my daughter," he said." If my daughter wouldn't have been out there, I'd never thought about it because she threw me a curveball."