The LSU Tigers went through a very rough patch over the last month. Since their 34-10 road win over Arkansas, the Tigers had lost three games in a row and completely eliminated themselves from SEC and CFP contention. It would've been easy to roll over and lose to Vanderbilt this week, but instead they came out with a new energy which helped them take down the Commodores, 24-17.
Earlier in the week, news released that some of the players called for a players only meeting. One of those guys was Josh Williams, who was awarded the No. 18 before the season because of his leadership role on the team.
After the Tigers win over Vandy, Williams spoke to the media about his message to the team and how they responded this week in practice.
"We let them know what the deal was and how we felt going into this week, and every day it was focused, very tight nit and very deliberate...Throughout the week we were going hard. I feel like with most teams it would be easy to set it down and quit after the last loss we had against Florida, but going into this week we were more fired up than ever and we wanted to prove a point, and we did."
LSU Head Coach, Brian Kelly, told us after the game that Williams spoke up many times over the week, and after their three-game losing streak, he was determined to get this team back to their winning ways.
"He was one of our leaders this week," said Kelly. "He spoke up many times. He spoke up before our meal today. He really was committed to making sure that we found a way to win this game."
Williams' biggest contribution this week wasn't his leadership though, it was his performance on the field. Williams totaled 151-yards (a career-high) and hit pay dirt two times. He was running defenders over and hitting the right holes in the run game while adding another 61 yards through the air.
Kelly talked about Williams' performance and how he played with a physicality that set the tone for the entire team.
"He ran through the face of a number of defenders. It was physicality, it was want to, it was desire, it was all those things in one. It was a guy that was committed to, no matter what, the first guy's not going to bring me down. He set a ton for our entire team."
There was a lot of questions about why Williams was out-snapping freshman phenom, Caden Durham, over the past couple weeks. While he may not be as explosive as the young buck, he is a savvy vet who put the team on his back when they needed it most.
It was arguably Williams' best performance in his six-year career, and it came in the game where LSU needed it the most.
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