Ga Tech Week, Volume 5 (Williams Wins edition) ...

Here’s something you didn’t know: Ryan Williams is the ACC Player of the Year. Unofficially. Six games into the season. But still, pretty good for a freshman who wasn’t supposed to be starting this season.

With Williams set to face Georgia Tech’s star tailback, Jonathan Dwyer, last year’s league Player of the Year and the unanimous preseason pick ... I got curious. So I conducted a little straw poll with writers around the league. There were 13 voters, plus me. Beat writers from nine of the league’s teams participated, along with ESPN’s Heather Dinich, who covers the entire ACC.

Williams ran away with the voting, as you’ll see below.

A few notes in comparing Dwyer and Williams this year:

* Williams has 126 carries for 734 yards (5.83 ypc) and nine touchdowns. He has seven catches for 143 yards. He has 877 all-purpose yards, good for 6.6 yards per touch.

* Dwyer has 79 carries for 511 yards (6.47 ypc) and five touchdowns. He has one catch for 11 yards. He has 522 all-purpose yards, good for 6.5 yards per touch.

* Williams has 24 plays of 10-plus yards. Dwyer has 11 such plays. Williams has 12 plays of 20-plus yards. Dwyer has four. Williams’ best plays so far include runs of 25, 28, 29, 31, 32, 44, 46 and 57 yards, along with receptions of 23, 23, 36 and 43 yards.

* So, yeah, forget ACC Rookie of the Year – even though he has won Rookie of the Week four times in six games. Williams is angling for the conference’s big hardware. And he might just help the Hokies collect a nice trophy, too.

OK, so here’s how the voting went ...   

*** MID-SEASON ACC PLAYER OF THE YEAR (unofficial)

* Points assigned in reverse order (first-place is 3 points, third-place is 1 point)

1. RB Ryan Williams, Virginia Tech              35 points, 9 first-place votes

2. QB Jacory Harris, Miami                           25 points, 3 first-place votes

3. QB Riley Skinner, Wake Forest                14 points, 2 first-place votes

4. QB Christian Ponder, Florida State           4 points

4. QB Josh Nesbitt, Georgia Tech                 4 points

6. QB Thaddeus Lewis, Duke                        2 points

*** VOTER BREAKDOWN

* Team each writer covers in (these)

Andrew Carter, Orlando Sentinel (FSU)             1. Williams    2. Ponder    3. Harris

Steve Conroy, Boston Herald (BC)                      1. Williams    2. Skinner    3. Harris

Susan Degnan, Miami Herald (UM)                     1. Williams    2. Harris    3. Skinner

Heather Dinich, ESPN (ACC)                               1. Williams    2. Harris    3. Skinner

Doug Doughty, Roanoke Times (UVA)               1. Williams    2. Lewis    4. Nesbitt

Eric Prisbell, Washington Post (MD)                  1. Skinner    2. Williams    3. Harris

Shandel Richardson, Sun-Sentinel (UM)          1. Williams    2. Harris    3. Ponder

Doug Roberson, AJC (GT)                                    1. Harris    2. Nesbitt    3. Williams

Darryl Slater, Times-Dispatch (VT)                    1. Williams    2. Skinner    3. Harris

Patrick Stevens, Washington Times (MD)       1. Skinner    2. Harris    3. Williams

Kyle Tucker, Virginian-Pilot (VT)                         1. Williams    2. Harris    3. Skinner    

Ken Tysiac, Charlotte Observer (NCST)           1. Harris    2. Williams    3. Nesbitt

Larry Williams, Tigerillustrated.com (CU)       1. Williams    2. Harris    3. Skinner

Norm Wood, Daily Press (VT/UVA)                    1. Harris    2. Williams    3. Ponder

    And now a few words from Williams’ coach ...

RB COACH BILLY HITE

ON GEORGIA TECH’S STAR BACK JONATHAN DWYER: “He’s strong. He’s powerful. And he can run. He’s got great speed. He can hit that hole, and you better be wrapping up and tackling him if you’re going to get him on the ground, because he is so powerful. If you don’t, once he gets into that secondary, he’s going to make some big plays. So I think he’s an outstanding back.”

ON WHETHER HE FEELS LIKE, THOUGH, HE HAS AS GOOD A BACK AS THERE IS IN THE ACC IN RYAN WILLIAMS: “No doubt, and I think the one that’s injured (Evans) is, too. I think Ryan, he has already exceeded my expectations of him. He’s been unbelievable. To me, he’s gotten better every week since the season started.”

ON KNOWING HE WAS GOOD IN PRACTICE BUT BEING GENUINELY SURPRISED BY WHAT HE HAS SEEN IN GAMES: “Some of those things he does, it amazes me. When you’re that good ... he’s just a special guy. I’m going to say at the same time, too, he’s getting a lot of help up there. Our offensive line has been absolutely outstanding. Our tight ends, our fullbacks, it’s a team thing. They’re all working together. That’s why he’s having all that success right now.”

ON WHAT HE THINKS WHEN WILLIAMS RUNS RIGHT, INTO A WALL OF DEFENDERS, THEN REVERSES FIELD ALL THE WAY TO THE LEFT: “That’s when I start dog-cussing him under my breath. You say, ‘No, no, no!’ Then all the sudden, boom, he’s 30 yards down the field. I went through that with Kevin Jones all the time. He did the same thing. It’s just knack that he has. Right when it first starts happening, that’s when you go, ‘Oh, no, go north!’ Then all the sudden he makes a play like he did the other day, breaks it big.”

ON WILLIAMS BEGINNING TO GET HEISMAN BUZZ AND WHETHER HITE SEES THAT BEING A LEGIT HOPE FOR HIM AT SOME POINT IN HIS CAREER: “I think it’s too early to tell that right now. He’s having a great, great year. If he finishes this year like he started, it’s going to be a great year. And that’s really the key to next year (in the Heisman race). I think that’s good for him and good for our program. But we can’t worry about that right now. We’ve got a big ball game this weekend, and he’s been very good about it. He and I have talked about it. He’s worried about Georgia Tech, not anything else after that.”

COMMENTS ADVISORY: Users are solely responsible for opinions they post here; comments do not reflect the views of The Virginian-Pilot or its websites. Users must follow agreed-upon rules: Be civil, be clean, be on topic; don't attack private individuals, other users or classes of people. Read the full rules here.
- Comments are automatically checked for inappropriate language, but readers might find some comments offensive or inaccurate. If you believe a comment violates our rules, click the report violation link below it.