FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – From the Palouse to the tundra of New England, Kyle Williams never missed a beat.
The star wide receiver dazzled in his two seasons for Washington State, putting up just shy of 1,200 receiving yards and 14 touchdowns in a monster senior season, which set him up to be drafted by the New England Patriots.
“You got to mentally come into plays where you got to be mature,” Williams said. “You got to handle certain situations a different way, and so it’s just like that accountability and maturity is something that I had to get used to.
Williams joins a Pats squad in a renaissance, returning to the playoffs and hosting an AFC Divisional game, but the Baltimore native remains grounded in what got him here.
“You know, I used to look at the graphics that they post and everything. I used to be like, ‘man, I can’t wait till I’m one of those Cougs that’s on that graphic’, but I think it’s really good, because I think we’re an under-the-radar school,” Williams said. “I feel like a lot of people overlook us just because of what’s been going on with the conferences and everything, and because it’s in a small town.”
The 23-year-old came to Pullman off just a nine-game 2022 season at UNLV, capping off his third season in the Mountain West. He says his time at WSU laser-focused his mind.
“Pullman brings out those dawgs, you know, it’s a small town, you don’t really got too many opportunities and options to do things, so you solely focus on football,” Williams said. “So, to have the whole Coug Nation behind me, and to be one of those Cougs, it means the world to me.”
Williams joins another elite rookie player from nearby: former Eastern Washington star wide receiver Efton Chism III.
“Even though we come from under radar schools, don’t mean we got to be under radar guys,” Williams said. “We could put our foot out and we could make a name for ourselves. I’s good to have a guy that’s experienced the same thing, same location, kind of knows what you’re getting yourself into and kind of knows where we came from.”
Now the Patriots move to take on the Houston Texans, owners of one of the best defenses in the NFL.
“I feel like not even just me, just as a team, we’re competitive,” Williams said. “And we want people’s best. So it’s just like when you hear all the talk about how this team’s the best and they’re so good at this, it kind of gets you going because it’s just like, OK, I hear it now. I just want to see it.”
New England kicks off against Houston today at noon on ABC, and a win would lock in their first AFC Championship game appearance since 2018.
COPYRIGHT 2025 BY KXLY. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THIS MATERIAL MAY NOT BE PUBLISHED, BROADCAST, REWRITTEN OR REDISTRIBUTED.
