BLOOMINGTON — Indiana football quarterback Kurtis Rourke knew a linebacker wasn’t going to be able to keep up with Ke’Shawn Williams.
At the end of the first half of last week’s win over Charlotte, Williams ran a slant and up route that left linebacker Cam Burden just grasping at his jersey. Rourke tossed an easy 19-yard touchdown pass that left members of the secondary throwing up their hands in frustration.
Williams has taken center stage in the offense with three touchdowns over the first two weeks as Rourke spreads the ball around on offense.
The selfless attitude in the receiving room is a key factor to IU’s success and is a perfect example of the winning culture coach Curt Cignetti has instilled.
“When Cig recruited us he told us exactly what he wanted to do and what his goals were,” Williams said, this week. “We have a lot of guys that came from schools who won games and understand winning culture. It translated and turned into wins.”
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During Indiana’s 4-0 start, the offense had a different leading receiver each week from Omar Cooper Jr. (FIU), Elijah Sarrat (Western Illinois), Miles Cross (UCLA) and Myles Price (Charlotte).
The Hoosiers have five receivers with at least one receiving touchdown.
“We have a group of guys in our room who are extremely talented, anybody that’s on that field can go out there and start and make plays,” Williams said. “We just want to win games, whoever is out there just knows to give their best effort.”
“We play fast, we are going to rotate guys and you are going to get a chance, as long as you go out there and be ready when you get your chance, you’ll get another one. We all understand.”
Williams and Price are competing for reps at slot receiver on a daily basis.
“Y’all see him make play after play after play,” Williams said, of Price. “It makes me go harder, if I’m not doing my job it’s not that hard to be replaced. It makes you go out there and work harder to be the best every day. You learn how to practice and be competitors.”
Price, who transferred from Texas Tech, said it hasn’t been hard for everyone in the room to check their ego at the door. Price has played in 46 career games and put up more than 400 receiving yards in each of the last three seasons.
“It’s about winning, at the end of the day,” Price said. “Everybody wants to win, when you win everybody gets looked at. When you look at all those teams that go on to win championships, they have 15-20 players that may get drafted and that’s just because they are winning. It’s bringing more attention, it’s bringing more eyes.”
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Indiana football’s Ke’Shawn Williams waits his turn in crowded receiver room
Williams battled for playing time at Wake Forest against the likes of A.T. Perry, a sixth-round draft pick in 2023, Jaquarii Roberson, who holds the program’s single-season receiving record, Jahmal Banks (122 career receptions) and Taylor Morin (181 career receptions).
That competition prepared Williams for being “surrounded by great receivers” in Bloomington and the limited amount of reps he got at the start of the year. Williams played less than 20 snaps in each of IU’s first two games and was only targeted once.
He only played less than 20 snaps in one game from 2022-23 while averaging 31.9 snaps per game.
“Being a fifth year guy it’s definitely challenging, but if I don’t go about it the right way, I only do nothing but hurt myself and the team,” Williams said. “Me doing the right thing waiting for my turn allowed me to be successful and help the team win games once I got out there.”
Williams had a breakout game for IU with a pair of touchdowns against UCLA. He scored another touchdown last week against Charlotte and put up a season-high in snaps (34), receptions (four) and yards (46).
“I haven’t shown too much yet, it’s still early in the season and we are just getting a chance to get rolling,” Williams said, with a smile. “I do a lot of things that obviously the coaches recruited me to come here and help us win games.”
Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Indiana football: Talented receivers are taking turns in the spotlight
