Centralia native Javon Williams Jr. declares for 2023 NFL Draft

Centralia, Illinois, is a 12,000-person town roughly an hour north of Carbondale.

Among its claims to fame are its high school basketball team, which is the winningest program in America. But soon, it could be the hometown of an NFL player.

On Jan. 11, Javon Williams Jr. announced that he would be forgoing his final year of eligibility and declaring for the NFL Draft after a five-year Saluki career. The Centralianative served several roles for Saluki football, including running back, quarterback, receiver, and kick returner.

“It’s starting to grow on me more and more, just knowing that I’ll never be playing on that field as a Saluki, or ever again,” Williams said. “Knowing that the next time I go watch a football game, I’ll be in the stands... It’s the next step to growing up as well. Being more of an adult than just, ‘oh, I’m a college student still.’”

Typically, NCAA rules grant players five years to play four seasons worth of games. When the COVID-19 pandemic canceled several sports and derailed others, an extra year of eligibility was given to all affected athletes.

Despite this opportunity, Williams’s decision to not take advantage of it came partly from his academic progress. He is set to graduate in May, and will be the first in his family to do so.

“The end goal has always been making it to the NFL, but main focus was always getting a degree,” Williams said. “I was making sure I went to college until I got my degree, and when I get it, I’m ready for the next step, the next chapter, which is the NFL, the highest you can play.”

Williams finishes his Saluki career sixth all-time in rushing yards and third in rushing touchdowns. He tallied 50 total touchdowns: 43 on the ground, five thrown and two caught. He was named an AllAmerican twice by Stats FCS, and received All-MVFC honors four times.

During Williams’s career, the SIU football program reached highs not seen since its mid2000’s golden age. The Salukis reached the playoffs in backto-back seasons, and notched marquee wins against nine-time National Champions North Dakota State and a Power Five team in Northwestern.

“That’s one thing me and Coach [Nick] Hill talked about. It was at the end of the year meeting. He said, ‘you’ll be able to say when you leave college that you were part of the team and a part of producing to make the team a winning team and a playoff team,’” Williams said.

While he played a vital role in bringing Saluki football back to national prominence, Williams credits his teammates for helping raise the bar in Carbondale.

“I stay humble with it, because I know it wasn’t just me out there on the field,” he said. “Avante Cox, Nic Baker, Branson Combs, Zach Burrola on the defensive side, P.J. Jules. We had weapons on each unit and each side of the ball.”

Originally recruited to Carbondale as a quarterback, Williams made the transition to running back during his first year. As a freshman, he spent much of practice on the scout team, which allowed him to prove his ability against some of SIU’s best defenders.

“Because of my running ability throughout high school, they could tell, ‘this kid has some sense of how to run good, how to run hard,’” Williams said. “Just going out there and just executing when I was running the ball. It was like ‘this would probably be the best transition for you.’ I couldn’t agree any more. I told coach ‘yeah, I want to play some running back,’ and it was up from there.”

Some of those defenders included Jeremy Chinn and Madre Harper, who are two of the 42 Salukis to have played in the NFL, and among the five still active in the league. Chinn was the most recent Saluki drafted into the NFL, being picked at the end of the second round by the Carolina Panthers in 2020.

Even though Williams was officially listed as a running back, he got several reps at other positions. A few times per week, Williams would line up as the quarterback in the Wildcat formation, while other plays featured him as a receiving threat.

“I’m blessed and thankful that my career was drawn out and blueprinted out that way, where I would get my opportunity to play some receiver, some tight end, blocking, play quarterback, kick return, punt return,” he said. “Just being able to be a part of every position. Like they say, this army Swiss knife, like you can do everything. That’s good because you play in different positions, and it’s beneficial to the team at all positions of the game.”

Later in his career, he split playing time in the backfield thanks to SIU’s abundance of talent at the position.