Seth Williams climbs record books, defenders in opener

Not all of Seth Williams’ best qualities as a receiver were developed at the college level.

He’s an instinctive player, he said, often drawing from a mantra instilled in him by coaches early in his playing career: “Once the ball goes up, it's your ball. Don't let anybody take it from you. It's your ball.”

And Williams didn’t let anyone get in his way Saturday. He was a machine for the Tigers’ offense in their season opener, climbing over defenders — and climbing up the program receiving leaderboards — during a dominating performance in Auburn's 29-13 home victory over Kentucky.

The 6-foot-3 junior had one of the best games of his career, snaring six passes from sophomore quarterback Bo Nix for 112 yards and a pair of highlight-reel touchdowns — one in the corner of the south end zone on a fade, the other jumping between two defenders in the north.

“When the ball goes up, it's just like you've got to have that feeling that you're going to come down with it,” Williams said. “You’ve got to know it's your ball when it's in the air.”

Williams’ big day bumped him into the top 10 on Auburn’s all-time receiving touchdowns record book, now at the No. 8 spot with 15 scores, tied with Byron Franklin (1977-80) and Frank Sanders (1991-94).

“I already knew [Williams] was a star when he first got here,” said fellow receiver Eli Stove, who caught Nix’s third touchdown pass of the day. “I knew he was going to be big-time and he was going to make big plays. Definitely. He definitely showed out today.”

Williams’ first score came on a critical third-and-goal, with Auburn up 8-7 with less than five minutes in the third quarter. Nix said he saw the safety “squared” away in a bad spot when the ball was snapped and knew his No. 1 target had a chance to make the play if he could get it to him.

“They did actually a good job of covering it,” Nix said. “Seth just made a great catch.”

On another third-and-goal a few minutes into the final quarter, Nix saw single coverage all the way, with Williams working against LSU transfer Kelvin Joseph out wide.

Joseph had been jawing at Auburn’s receivers all day — and was also flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct in the first half when he shoved freshman receiver Ze’Vian Capers — but Williams got the last laugh, palming the ball away from Joseph after the grab and shoving him off once the catch was made.

“Seth does that all the time — just throw it up and let him go get it,” Nix said.

Not all Williams’ damage was done near the end zone, however. Auburn’s offense preached an increased emphasis on creating explosive plays, and Williams helped deliver in Game 1, as three of his four other catches besides the touchdowns went for 26, 32 and 25 yards.

Most of the attention will go to his flashy touchdowns, and rightfully so, but Gus Malzahn thought his leading receiver was equally as effective helping the Tigers’ new offense get down the field.

“There were a lot of really good plays between the two today,” the head coach.

Williams said this month he had been working hard in the offseason to better his route-running and ultimately get lighter on his feet, hoping to become a threat to every level of a defense.

With the fourth 100-yard game and fourth multi-score outing of his career, Williams feels he’s on the right track to taking another step in year 3.

“He took a lot of those underneath wounds and make guys miss and got good yardage after catch,” Nix said. “So that was really good.”

Williams was looked at often in the offseason as a probable candidate to become the third receiver in program history to have 1,000 yards in a season. The downgrade from 12 regular-season games to 10 SEC games didn’t help his chances, but if Game 1 is any indication, Williams is well on his way to being one of the conference’s — and maybe the nation’s — most unguardable weapons.

“They're starting to develop that special connection between a quarterback and a receiver,” Malzahn said of Nix and Williams.

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