UNC Football: Javonte Williams named one of biggest risers for 2021 NFL Draft

UNC Football running back Javonte Williams is starting to climb up NFL Draft boards as the season winds down this year

The 2020 college football season is starting to wind down here on championship weekend and while the focus for the UNC Football program is on the Orange Bowl, one player is receiving some national attention. Running back Javonte Williams is coming off an historic performance in the Tar Heels’ win over Miami last weekend and his future is a little brighter now.

While Williams is only a junior, it’s very likely he will leave the program and enter the 2021 NFL Draft after this season.

That’s in large part due to him receiving some national attention and seeing his draft stock climb over the course of this season. A few weeks back, we wrote on Williams and his draft stock that was starting to climb and potentially rise to RB2 in this draft.

Now, with just the bowl game left Williams was named among the biggest risers in terms of draft stock this season. CBS Sports’ Chris Trapasso wrote on players who used this 2020 season to raise their stock the most and included Williams up there near the top with BYU quarterback Zach Wilson.

Here is what Trapasso wrote on Williams:

"In 2019, Williams amassed 933 yards at 5.6 yards per pop as part of a legitimate timeshare in North Carolina’s backfield. His teammate, Michael Carter, ran for over 1,000 as technically the “lead” back.This season, Williams has 1,140 yards on the ground at 7.3 yards per rush on one more carry to date than Carter. He’s also scored a gargantuan 19 touchdowns and averaged a hefty 12.2 yards per catch on his 25 grabs.Diving deeper into his quantifiable profile, he’s accumulating 4.59 yards after contact on the year, the sixth-highest figure among collegiate backs with at least 75 carries this season. Williams has also forced 83 missed tackles, the most among any FBS player in the country and 15 forced missed tackles clear of No. 2 on the list, Najee Harris from Alabama.Williams has inserted himself into the discussion of top backs in the 2021 class and is now the favorite to be the third runner off the board in April."

As it stands now, Williams is right there in that conversation for RB2 or RB3 going into April’s draft due to his performance this season. And he’s doing it while splitting time with Michael Carter as well, making it that much more impressive.

While Williams doesn’t have breakaway speed, he’s one of the toughest runners in all of college football and has the ability to break multiple tackles as he’s shown over the past two seasons at North Carolina. He can be a big, bruising back in an NFL backfield to pair up with a speed back.

It wouldn’t shock us to see Williams as a second-round prospect in mocks when they start being released in the coming weeks. He has the chance to improve that stock with one more bowl game and it could be a big one.

For more on Williams and the UNC Football program, please make sure to check back with Keeping It Heel.