By HAUNANI TOMAS
\nManaging Editor<\/p>\n
Showing all signs of discontentment with the Momiji menu, Tyrell Williams closes it. A firm believer in cooked-through foods, Williams settles on chicken katsu. The Salem native prefers burgers to sushi always, his favorite being McMenamin\u2019s bacon cheeseburger for as long as he can remember.<\/p>\n
Since the age of seven, Williams was running routes and dreaming of National Football League stardom. Countless drills, practices and circuits later, he is prepped for one of the biggest days of his life: pro day.<\/p>\n
Formerly a Philadelphia Eagles fan, his new favorite team has become \u201cwhatever team signs me.\u201d In his career at Western, he was named to the GNAC first team thrice, among being named player of the week an innumerable number of times \u2013 in addition to being a national track standout.<\/p>\n
Distracting himself with smaller matters, Williams tastes the miso soup. His dislike for Japanese cuisine is confirmed. When his chicken katsu arrives, his reaction is anything but that of an empty-stomached man.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s not gonna help me lose any weight,\u201d says Williams. Worrying about shedding a few pounds before pro day is just one of many aspects that have consumed his attention.<\/p>\n
When describing Williams, the term \u201ccommitted to the game\u201d is an understatement.<\/p>\n
He is better described as hungry. Hungry for success, hungry to fulfill his dreams, and hungry for more. Always hungry for more. Hungry \u2013 all six feet and 200 pounds of him.<\/p>\n
On football<\/p>\n
\u201cThe first time I played football was in second grade; it was flag-football and I sprained my wrist. I pursued college football because I always had a dream of playing in the NFL. Obviously, college was the first step. Once I saw my brother get a scholarship for football, I knew that I wanted to follow his footsteps. If I weren\u2019t playing football, I\u2019d be playing basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n
On staying motivated<\/p>\n
\u201cMy family has always been there, and I want to make sure I can take care of them for the rest of our lives and repay them for everything they\u2019ve done for me. I look up to my dad and brother. They do everything the right way. They\u2019ve always been there for me for everything. They\u2019re great role models.\u201d<\/p>\n
On training<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been working out and doing circuits with [Cori] Metzgar, and I went to New Jersey for 16 days for [NFL Prep]. I did track for a couple of weeks. I\u2019ve just been running routes with Trey [Shimabukuro] and [Oregon State quarterback Sean] Mannion. My shoulder surgery hasn\u2019t really affected my training. I just wasn\u2019t able to run for eight weeks after my surgery.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Pro Day<\/p>\n
\u201cI haven\u2019t been sleeping well. I had a dream that I ran slow. I\u2019m most excited for the chance to prove myself coming from a small school. I\u2019ve always been a very competitive person. I always want to be great at whatever I do.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NFL Star receiver gears up for pro day, set for Friday, March 13<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":367,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"modified_by":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/925","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/367"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=925"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/925\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=925"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=925"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wou.edu\/westernhowl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=925"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}