Cornelius Williams is a veteran when it comes to the state of Alabama.

The Birmingham, Alabama, native attended Hoover High before playing wide receiver at Troy, helping lead the Trojans to four Sun Belt championships.

After his playing career was over, Williams began his coaching career as a GA at South Alabama. He then moved on to North Alabama before going to Jacksonville State and UAB.

Williams spent the past six seasons back at his alma mater as the wide receivers coach at Troy.

But now, he’s got his big opportunity.

“When I finally got this opportunity, or even when I had that chance when he gave me that call, I was so excited. At the same time I was nervous, at the same time I felt like everything that I have done up to this point in my career from a coaching standpoint had prepared me for this,” Williams said. “I am just thankful and blessed for the opportunity that Coach Harsin saw in me because all I wanted to do in this whole thing was just an opportunity and I am going to take that and run with it.”

A lot of Auburn fans may have been unfamiliar with Bryan Harsin when he was hired in December.

But for Williams, while coaching at Troy his team had gone against Boise State twice while Harsin was there.

Williams tuned in to Harsin’s introductory press conference on Christmas Eve.

“Even when he first got hired I watched the press conference. I told my wife ‘this is actually a really good hire,’” Williams said. “I said ‘A lot of people probably don’t know who he is or what he stands for but this is a really good hire because of what he’s been able to accomplish and what he’s done over at Boise.’”

And 39 days later, Williams was hired by Harsin.

From what he saw across the sideline while at Troy, he’s seen Harsin do in his first few months at Auburn.

“What he’s brought here in, in my opinion, is the mindset and culture and what Auburn stands for. You walk around here and see all this stuff on the walls talking about working hard, believing that you can be the best, all those different things,” Williams said. “That’s what he’s pushing and making sure these guys understand this program. He talks about being in the moment. That’s a really big deal. That’s something I believe in and I have believed in my whole career, just understanding going 1-0.

“What that means is just waking up and putting yourself in the right mindset and being on time. Then it’s being consistent doing that over and over and over. That’s what it’s going to take. Everybody knows to win in this league you have to be consistent, you have to be disciplined, and of course you’ve got to have the players. It starts from the top to the bottom and everybody being on the same page.”

Harsin, Williams and the rest of Auburn resumed spring practice with its seventh practice of the spring on Monday. They’ll have 14 before A-Day, and a 15th makeup practice after A-Day.

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