Football Spotlight on Cristian Williams

Spotlight on Senior Cristian Williams
#3 Cristian Williams • 6-0 • 180 • Senior • Nickel Safety

What I like most about football…
It's not a one-man sport, you can't do it all alone. You have to depend on others to make a team successful and that's what makes us family. We have to depend on each other and come together as one.

Moving from New Orleans to Dallas…
We moved from New Orleans to Dallas in 2005 when I was 9 because of Hurricane Katrina. We left a day or two before the storm hit. We ended up in Dallas and had an adopted family through FEMA to help us get situated and they helped get my brother and I back in school. It was hard because our family had to split up. My brother and I moved to Dallas with our mom, and my two sisters stayed with their dad.

Favorite thing about New Orleans…
It was the fact that my entire family stayed together. My brothers and sisters were all together. We celebrated every holiday together. We loved to see each other's smiles. When I left New Orleans and went to Dallas, we all had to split up because of Hurricane Katarina and we weren't able to experience the same things together as we went with different family members. But we found a way to get through it as we'd go from Dallas to New Orleans a lot.

Favorite thing about Dallas…
I found a lot of brothers that I would love forever through football. Football has helped make me the person I am today. I grew up not having a father figure, so football was the first time I ever experienced someone being a father figure to me and being there every day. My little league coach was Coach Billy King, who coached me from ages 9 to 12, and he did so much for me. He was definitely a father figure and mentor in my life.

How I started playing football…
We were out one day in Dallas looking for apartments when I saw kids fundraising on the corner. So, I wondered what they were doing (fundraising for their team), so I asked the coach if I could help and join, and from that point I started playing football. It was kind of hard to persuade my mom to let me play, so I got the coach to talk to my mom, and after she was convinced from there, I developed a passion for football.

In high school …
I ran track and played football and baseball all four years at Dallas Lincoln High School, and that's where I started culinary arts.

My love of culinary arts…
I used to watch my grandma cook a lot growing up. Dallas Lincoln High School started a culinary arts program when I was a freshman, which I was actually the only boy that joined the program. I did it all 4 years and received my restaurant management certificate as a senior. We won a lot of competitions through the process. My main dish was firecracker shrimp. I'm forever grateful for what they taught me.

My football career was over…
(after the Texas game in 2018, Cristian Williams was told his football career was over when he was diagnosed with Arnold Chiari Type 1 malformation – a fluid-filled syst commonly known as a syrinx) … When I found out I couldn't play football any longer, I was really hurt. Over the next couple weeks, I was prayed a lot, and through talking to him I got a lot closer to God. I thought everything in life happens for a reason and maybe God didn't want me to play football my whole life, so maybe I should start coaching. I didn't dwell on it too long, my teammates made sure of that. The situation definitely opened my eyes up to a lot of things. I'm forever grateful that even happened. As I turned to coaching, I saw the field a lot better and learned a lot more of the defense. When the doctors told me I could play after the surgery and rehab, the first thing that went through my mind was that I need to call coach (Luke) Olson, my position coach. As soon as I was able to, I called coach Olson and we shared tears together. After I made that call, I thought let's get back to work so I could get back on the field as soon as possible. I made sure I followed every protocol the doctors told me to follow. I didn't rush anything.

Why I wear No. 3…
There's no specific reason why I wear No. 3, but I like it. I wore No. 1 up through high school. I started out with No. 30 here, but I wanted to wear a single digit number, so I moved to No. 3. At the time I changed numbers, Michael Mudoh was wearing No. 1.

What I love about TU…
It's a very small campus. Not just on the football side of things, but on campus everybody knows everybody. We're all from different backgrounds and we all came here to get out of our comfort zone and find out who we are in life. I originally committed to SMU, but when I came on a visit and I absolutely loved it. I loved that it was more of a family-oriented atmosphere instead of strictly football. It was everything I would dream of it being.

What drives me…
One thing you have to learn in life is that not everything is about you. You have people around you that are affected by things you do. In football, my teammates expect me to do my job, my 1-11, just as they're doing their 1-11. It drives me that people are depending on me as much as I depend on them.

My favorite NFL team…
My favorite NFL team used to be the New Orleans Saints, but now it's the Chicago Bears since my best friend and former TU teammate Trevis Gipson plays for the Bears.

My twitter handle … @_cwill504

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