Ja:göh Zed!
May 12, 2024 | By Katherine Fitzgerlad | buffalonews.com
Ja:göh Zed Williams, Onöndowa’ga, Hota:yö:nih, Tganegahgës, a Silver Creek High School Graduate and current member of the NLL Colorado Mammoth was invited by the Buffalo Bills to their rookie minicamp 2024.
Buffalo News Article:
“I’ve been thinking about it for a long time, actually,” Williams said. “Football is always my first love, then lacrosse. My dad always loved football, always pushed me to be the best football player I could be growing up, since like four or five. So, I knew I always wanted to come back to it. So, this is kind of my chance.”’
But switching between those positions wasn’t as big of a change as the move he’s attempting to make now – transitioning from professional lacrosse to professional football.
The 6-foot-2, 230-pound Williams was a part of the Buffalo Bills’ rookie minicamp, competing on a try-out basis at linebacker.
Williams’ athletic abilities are well proven. A lacrosse standout, he’s competed at the highest level in both the Premier Lacrosse League and National Lacrosse League. In 2020, in his rookie PLL campaign, he won a title with the Whipsnakes and was named the Jim Brown MVP of the Tournament. He was the tournament leader in both goals (20) and shots (59).
Williams, a forward, has also captured a championship in the NLL with the Colorado Mammoth over the Buffalo Bandits in 2022.
But for all his success in the lacrosse world, something was still missing. When the chance to try out for the hometown Bills came along, Williams couldn’t pass up the opportunity to get back into football.
“I’ve been thinking about it for a long time, actually,” Williams said. “Football is always my first love, then lacrosse. My dad always loved football, always pushed me to be the best football player I could be growing up, since like four or five. So, I knew I always wanted to come back to it. So, this is kind of my chance.”
Williams is a member of the Seneca Nation, and he grew up on the Cattaraugus Reservation. He wants kids – especially Indigenous kids back home – to see it’s never to late to chase another dream.
Williams said he hasn’t played football since high school. He thought about it in college, but his academics at Virginia were so demanding that he stuck with lacrosse.
But football always called.
“I love the contact of football, I’ve always been a really contact person,” Williams said. “But just trying to learn fast and try not to make the same mistakes once and trying to ask questions. And you know, obviously, I’m making mistakes on the learning side of it. So, I’m just trying to pick it up as fast as I can.”
There is some crossover between the two sports, he feels. “I would say just reacting to plays,” Williams said. “Just using your skills, your hand eye coordination, and just reacting things are the best translation I feel like from lacrosse.” But the biggest advantage for Williams in this journey is his mindset.
“I think if you’re a competitor, you’re a competitor, and if you want it bad enough,” Williams said. “That’s how I was raised. So, I’m just kind of taking my chance, trying to work as hard as I can.”
NLL lacrosse star, Zed Williams addressed the media on Friday after practice. Topics included: trying out for the Buffalo Bills in rookie mini camp, being a role model from Irving, NY, the lack of indigenous players in the NFL, and working with the Bills coaching staff.
Watch the clip HERE!
