Temple safety Rodney Williams | Q&A

Safety Rodney Williams has made an impact in what will be his only season at Temple. A graduate transfer from Syracuse, who is in the Temple's master's program for marketing, Williams appeared in 33 games for the Orange, including 21 starts. He has played in all four games for Temple, making three starts. Williams has 17 tackles, including one for loss, and two pass breakups.

Williams was an all-South Jersey performer in high school at Cherry Hill West.

We talked to Williams on Tuesday as Temple (2-2) prepared to visit Boston College (3-1) on Saturday.

Question: How has it been for you at Temple?

Rodney Williams: It is an awesome system to play in. This is why I came here, to play with a lot of talented players. It's a great coaching staff. I am excited to be here. The last two games, we played really well and scratched the surface a little bit on how well we can play. We have to get a little better on third down [on defense] and continue to execute. I feel the sky is the limit for us.

Was the chance to come close to home a reason you chose Temple?

RW: Coming home and being able to be around my family and brothers. They are growing up playing sports, and I am now able to go to their games and help them out. Being able to see my family and also playing in a different scheme of defense. When I came to Temple and saw everything it was, I knew this was the perfect opportunity for me.

Temple lost its first two games but then won at Maryland, 35-14, in a game in which the defense didn't allow a point. How big was your first win at Temple?

RW: It was a big one because we prepared really hard the first two weeks and everything didn't come together as well as we hoped. Those were two games we thought we should have had. We had to put it behind us and continued to dig deep in practice and practice hard. For the hard work to pay off was great. That was a talented Maryland team, and I thought we dominated and showed how we could play as a defense. Then in a short week, we came back against Tulsa [in a 31-17 win] and I thought we did a pretty good job as well. It was a confidence booster for us, these last two weeks.

What was your best memory in football at Syracuse?

RW: I had a lot, but No. 1 had to be Clemson [when Syracuse beat the Tigers, 27-24, last year]. Them coming into the dome on Friday night last year, it was the only game on, so everybody in the country was watching our game on ESPN, and coming in and beating the defending national champion. It was so much fun coming off the game we had against them before [a 54-0 loss at Clemson in 2016]. It was a big one for us.

In last year's win over Clemson, you had four tackles, including one for a loss. How do you think you played?

RW: I played very well. I had the opportunity to cover one of the better receivers in Hunter Renfrow. He is a really good player. I got to play against a lot of tough receivers in the slot, and he was one of them. I thought we played well as a team, and that has to be my No. 1 football memory.