News Photo by Jonny Zawacki Charlie Williams (middle) made his big decision to continue his athletic and academic career at Alma College. Williams is joined by his mother Angie Hanners (left) and father Chad Williams (right) during the special signing held at the APlex in Alpena on Wednesday.

Charlie Williams spent time lifting weights at a young age with his father, who introduced him to the importance of weight-lifting and working hard.

Williams carried those lessons with him growing up during middle school and high school with a goal to become the best football player he could possibly be and chase a dream of playing football at the collegiate level.

After a long recruiting process, Williams made the decision on Wednesday to continue his athletic and academic career at Alma College as he signed his National Letter of Intent, choosing Alma over three other schools on his list, Adrian College, Olivet College and Benedictine University.

“This means everything to me. I’ve played football since third grade, so all of my life I’ve been wanting to further my education and play college ball just like my dad did,” Williams said. “It was a lot of hard work and this was the hardest decision I’ve had to make up to this point in my life, but Alma had a great coaching staff who showed me all around the campus. One of the things I really liked was that they actually go to church before the games and we all walk to the game together and the atmosphere of that college was overpowering and I knew that Alma College was going to make me become the man I’m supposed to be.”

The recruiting process for Williams started when he started attending football camps around the state as an eighth grader. Throughout high school, Williams spent time playing other sports early on, but later shifted his attention to football, while continuing to put in work inside the weight room to become bigger, faster and stronger.

“The first camp I ever went to was at Grand Valley State University and at the time, I had no idea what I was getting myself into, but later, all of these camps and lessons I learned there helped me develop my skills,” Williams said. “Going to the camps allowed me to see how I fit in with the other talent around me and I was always the only kid from Alpena at these camps and I think that helped me in the long run.”

Williams is now a Scot and will be a part of a football program that finished with a winning record (6-4) in its last season of play in 2019.

During his time as a Wildcat, Williams proved to be a capable playmaker on both sides of the ball.

Offensively, Williams lined up as both a back and receiver and displayed his willingness to run through tacklers, while being able to catch balls out of the slot and backfield.

Williams was among the top pass catchers in the Big North Conference during his senior season and was used in the secondary on defense, spending time at both a corner and safety position.

“Alma is getting a swiss-army knife, plain and simple. If they need a guy to score a touchdown, give me the ball, if they need someone on defense to strip the ball, run down on kickoff to make a tackle, I’m their guy. If they need someone for anything or to run through a wall, I’m that guy,” Williams said. “The hard work doesn’t stop here. I’m going to take everything I learned in order to get to this point and continue to apply it at the next level and continue being the very best that I can be both on and off the field.”

Williams will be majoring in Criminal Justice at Alma College and understands his work off the football field is just as important as his work on the field.

Williams is grateful to all of his hard work over the years culminate into being able to fulfill a dream and play college football.

“My dad was my trainer throughout my life and we started out doing small stuff, going from not even knowing how to squat to squat 415 pounds and it’s crazy to think about how far I’ve come and I’m grateful to have had my dad by my side as a trainer,” Williams said. “I want to thank my parents, my grandparents who always came to my games and (are) my number one fans. I’m just thankful for my entire family and blessed that this dream of mine that I’ve worked so hard for has come true.”