Georgia Southern Impact Transfer: Dexter Williams II

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As the countdown continues toward the 2024 football season, we will be taking a look at some of the new faces in the program. Today we turn to redshirt senior quarterback Dexter Williams Jr. 

Born and raised in Macon, Williams excelled as a dual-threat quarterback at Mount de Sales Academy. He completed 99 passes for 1,524 yards and 15 touchdowns while rushing for nearly 1,000 yards and 14 more scores. His eye-popping stats earned him two 7A Offensive Player if rhe Year awards, an all-state selection as a senior, three all-region honore, the Macon Telegraph’s Middle Georgia Player of the Year award and even an invite to the 2020 Blue-Grey All-American Bowl.

Williams was rated as a three-star athlete in the class of 2020 and fielded plenty of offers from FCS and G5 teams. However, it was Indiana — his lone Power Five offer — that lured in the talented signal caller. Then-offensive coordinator Kalen DeBoer (yes, that Kalen DeBoer) was the primary coach pursuing Williams for the Hoosiers.

Williams’ time in Bloomington did not live up to expectation, as he tore his ACL after redshirting as a freshman. As a sophomore, Williams finally earned his first taste of playing time at the collegiate level. In four appearances and two starts, he racked up 184 yards and two touchdowns through the air while adding 165 yards and another score on the ground. But another ACL tear against Purdue ended his time as a Hoosier.

After spending only one month in the transfer portal, Williams decided to return home and committed to Georgia Southern. When asked what led him back, Williams mentioned being closer to his family, but also elaborated on Southern’s passionate fan base. “I could see the passion and the love for football in everybody that I talked to,” Williams said. “I knew the coaching staff before this, and then in meeting the staff here now, I could feel their passion for the game and Georgia Southern. I was really attracted by the feeling of being at home and the love of the game.”

The question on the mind of virtually every Eagle fan is the same: what should we expect from the fifth-year senior?

Williams has some Power 4 experience, excellent speed and athleticism (he ran a 4.6 40 back in high school) and possesses good football IQ and decision making skills. This is offset however by his playstyle: he has less than 200 yards passing in his college career. Whether this is due by design in a Tom Allen led offense, or to his own skill set remains to be seen.

Head coach Clay Helton is playing his cards close this offseason. I expect that a starter will not be named until the Eagles take the field against Boise State on August 31. However, QB1 is the most important position on the team and we can’t get ahead of ourselves at GATA Central: our expectations at quarterback will be laid out in our upcoming season preview episode.