Williams and Edwards
Richie Williams, who led Appalachian State to its first NCAA Football Championship Subdivision national title in 2005 and who played four seasons in the Canadian Football League, is lending his athletic ability and exploring a new career possibility in stock-car racing.
Williams, part of NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity program, has been a jack man on a pit crew for four events, most recently for driver Max Papis in a NASCAR truck series race at Las Vegas and for driver Joey Coulter in an ARCA race at Kansas City.
He said it keeps him on his toes.
“It’s intense,” Williams said. “Last week, as a matter of fact, out in Vegas I almost got hit.”
Just like when he was a quarterback?
“Not really,” Williams said. “I’ll take a defensive lineman over a truck any day.”
Williams took a backseat to Armanti Edwards as ASU’s career leader in passing yards last Saturday.
Edwards passed for 327 against The Citadel and surpassed Williams at the top of the Mountaineers’ all-time list. Edwards now has 7,857 yards passing.
Williams, who is serving as a special assistant at ASU, basically in a mentor’s role, was on hand Saturday to see Edwards break his record, and accepted some good-natured ribbing afterward.
“It’s all good,” Williams said.
Edwards said that he and Williams have become good friends.
“We talk all the time,” Edwards said. “We talk about quarterback stuff, football, everything.”
Edwards leads the FCS in completion percentage this season, having completed 60 of 82 passes (73.2 percent).
He gained much notice last week for a 16-yard completion against Samford, after scrambling, eluding tackle attempts, fumbling, recovering and finally completing a pass to Cedric Baker while being tackled.
The bizarre play got a lot of television time, ranking as the No. 2 play of the weekend on ESPN behind Brett Favre’s last-second, game-winning touchdown pass against the San Francisco 49ers.
Edwards was glad it was among the top plays.
“I think about how close it could have been to a blooper,” he said.