PULLMAN — Kyle Williams could have sworn the snack was a donut. It was shaped like a lollipop, a sphere of a light brown something on top of a wooden stick, handed to him by a greeter at this week’s two-team Pac-12 media day. As he walked into the dimly-lit ballroom in Las Vegas, a glitzy chain with giant “K$” lettering hanging from his neck, Williams wasn’t sure what to make of this treat.
Washington State’s senior wideout made a number of guesses. Finally, he settled on a donut. Then he took a bite.
He laughed as he realized his mistake. It was chicken. Turns out, it’s one of the few missteps Williams has taken this summer.
All of the sudden the Cougars’ most tenured wide receiver, Williams has stayed in Pullman during the break, hitting the field for workouts that have gotten him in the best shape of his life, “which is actually crazy,” he said. He’s taken care to build relationships with teammates new and old. “That leadership role,” Williams said, “I’m a lot more comfortable with it.
” At least among the wideout corps, that might be the best news yet for WSU, which will need Williams to replicate the electric year he submitted last fall — and perhaps top it. Gone is the Cougs’ No. 1 receiver last year, Texas Tech wideout Josh Kelly, and none of WSU’s returners wield the kind of experience Williams will.
It puts the spotlight on the Los Angeles native in a way he has never experienced. Which is why, he says, he’s taken this offseason.
