A veteran safety that held an injury-plagued defense together all season long, Marcus Williams is our 2025 Rice Football Defensive Player of the Year.
The 2024 Rice Football defense was one of the better units to come through South Main in several seasons. That group was stacked with experienced playmakers, several of whom went on to get opportunities in NFL camps the following offseason. That exodus left a 2025 unit that had talent, but few proven veteran leaders.
Redshirt Junior Marcus Williams had been around the program for four years, but injuries scattered across multiple seasons had prevented him from accruing the level of on-field production that mandated veteran deference, at least from the outside looking in. But as all the other pieces moved around him, Marcus kept showing up and working.
Williams won a starting spot out of the gate this fall, not a first for the talented defensive back. This time, though, no ill-timed injury thwarted his season. As multiple teammates missed time around him, Williams stayed healthy and never slowed down.
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The years spent studying the defense, even when he wasn’t on the field, would pay massive dividends, allowing defensive coordinator Jon Kay to move him all over the field. He primarily operated as the Owls’ free safety, but would slide into the slot to cover receivers one-on-one and work all the way across the field, showcasing a level of versatility the team prizes in its defenders.
Near the midpoint of the season, head coach Scott Abell reflected on how invaluable Williams’ consistency had been to the team.
“I don’t know where we’d be without him, in all honesty,” Abell said. “When I think about Marcus, I tell him this all the time, I love the way he handles himself. When you walk through our building, when you walk through our locker room, you get on our field. He is a professional. You never know how high he is, how low he is, he’s doing his job. He’s making everybody around him better.”
Not one to showboat or make a scene, Williams quietly shattered his career statistical highs. He became one of the select few Owls to play in every game, starting 12 of the 13 games. Williams finished third on the team in tackles and third in passes defended, a testament to how well-rounded he was as a player and how necessary he had become all over the field.
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Even if it was uncharted territory to some degree, Williams never seemed overmatched or overworked. He was as even-keeled as they come, always prepared for whatever challenges awaited him.
“I kinda expected myself to be in the position that I’m in,” he said. “I worked hard and I’m just proud to be where I am.”
Williams would graduate and enter the Transfer Portal after the season, turning his only true healthy season on South Main into an opportunity as a potential starter in the SEC. But even as he moves on from Rice football, the standard he set for quality and reliability on the back end of the defense will endure because of his efforts.
** Photo credit: Maria Lysaker **
