NFL trailblazer Doug Williams says: ‘I’m looking at Michael Vick and DeSean Jackson tonight’
The former Grambling State quarterback and coach, an HBCU legend, will be watching as Norfolk State and Delaware State square off at the Linc.
Even at 70 years old, Doug Williams looks at the current landscape of historically Black colleges and universities and wishes he could still get back on the sideline to coach just one more time.
Williams was a trailblazer for Black quarterbacks, becoming the first to start and win a Super Bowl in 1988. He knew he always wanted to get into coaching, even when he chose to play at Grambling State of the Southwestern Athletic Conference in the late 1970s.
“When I went to Grambling, I didn’t go there to be an NFL player,” Williams told The Inquirer. “I went there to get a degree and maybe go back to coach high school [football]. And fortunately, I guess I played well enough to warrant opportunity in the NFL.”
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Fortunate indeed. Williams was a four-year starter at Grambling State, compiling a 36-7 record. He led the NCAA in several passing categories in 1977, including yards (3,286), touchdown passes (38), and yards per play (8.6). He became the first Black quarterback selected in the first round of the NFL draft when Tampa Bay selected him 17th overall in 1978.
He spent five seasons with the Buccaneers, had a brief stint in the United States Football League, then returned to the NFL with Washington in 1986. Williams led the team to a Super Bowl win a season later. His playing career ended after the 1989 season. Williams had coaching stops that included two high schools near his hometown of Harvey, La., before he his first college coaching opportunity at Morehouse in Atlanta. He replaced legendary coach Eddie Robinson at Grambling State the following year.
“Morehouse was not a football powerhouse, but it gave me an opportunity to get my feet wet,” Williams recalled. “Fortunately [at Grambling] we won three SWAC championships in a row, which is good, and that’s what it’s all about. And that was some great experiences. [To] go back where you played, replace the coach who had been there 57 years. … Grambling was home for me.”
Williams had a 62-33 record as Grambling’s coach.
‘I’m not looking at the NFL tonight’
Williams was among the early crop of former NFL players to become head coaches at the college level at an HBCU, but it has been a growing trend recently. Deion Sanders got his coaching start at Jackson State in 2020, Philly native Eddie George followed suit in 2021, and former Eagles Michael Vick and DeSean Jackson have joined that club this season.
Jackson is coaching Delaware State (5-3, 1-0 Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference) and Vick is at Norfolk State (1-7, 0-1). The two former teammates will face off Thursday night at Lincoln Financial Field in a game called the “HBCU Battle of the Legends.”
Ahead of Thursday’s game (7 p.m., ESPNU), Williams said he texted Jackson to congratulate him on his early success at Delaware State and was complimentary of the other former NFL players who got their coaching starts at HBCUs.
“DeSean Jackson, at this time, [is] doing a heck of a job up at Delaware State. I don’t think [anybody] expected that to happen. I didn’t, but I like what he’s doing,” Williams said. “Michael Vick, who had a couple of intern stints in the NFL, he is down in his hometown. I know he wanted to coach and Norfolk gave him that opportunity. I think that is great.
“Eddie George over at Tennessee State did a yeoman’s job there. … And we know what Deion [Sanders] did. A lot of people were disappointed when Deion left, but you can’t get disappointed from a man who did a yeoman’s job at Jackson State. Got an opportunity to go to Colorado, and I was pulling for him, man.”
Williams added: “I just hope these other guys [Jackson and Vick] do the same thing. Get an opportunity to move up, too, because that’s what life is all about.”
Williams said he wishes he could attend Thursday’s game, but the longtime NFL quarterback added that he’ll be watching the game from home Thursday night.
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“I’m not looking at the NFL tonight,” Williams said with a smile. “I’m looking at Michael Vick and DeSean Jackson tonight.”