Jimmy Williams is in his first season as defensive line coach for the Broncos in 2016. Williams has coached with UAB, Eastern Michigan, Buffalo, Toledo, Grand Valley State and Nebraska in his career. His most recent stop was with Eastern Michigan this last season. Prior to that he was the assistant head coach and defensive coordinator at UAB.
A standout player at the University of Nebraska, Williams spent 12 seasons in the NFL playing for the Detroit Lions, Minnesota Vikings and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Since joining the coaching ranks, he has been a part of two teams that participated in the Mid-American Conference Championship game as well as another that advanced to the Division II National Championship game.
In his first season in Ypsilanti, Williams’ defensive line showed vast improvement on the field, as the squad recorded more tackles-for-loss (63) than it did in all of 2013. Individually, junior defensive lineman Pat O’Connor earned first team All-MAC honors. O’Connor became just the second EMU player to lead the conference while sitting at No. 44 nationally with 7.5 sacks.
At UAB, he served as the team’s assistant head coach. During the 2013 campaign, he worked directly with the inside linebackers before also taking over as the defensive coordinator midway through the season. In 2012, Williams coached the UAB defensive line.
Prior to coming to UAB, Williams was the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach for the University at Buffalo, where he spent three seasons. Williams’ college coaching career includes stints at the University of Toledo as well as Grand Valley State University and Nebraska.
While at Buffalo in 2007, Williams mentored a pair of linebackers to All-MAC honors. Overall, the Bulls had four defensive players selected to All-MAC teams in 2007.
At Toledo, Williams helped lead the Rockets to a 9-5 record, a berth in the MAC Championship game and an invite to the Motor City Bowl.
Williams also has coaching experience as a defensive line coach at Grand Valley State in 2001, when he helped lead GVSU to a GLIAC Championship and to the Division II playoffs for the first time. Grand Valley State posted a 13-1 record, losing only in the Division II championship game to North Dakota, 17-14. Three of his defensive linemen earned all-conference honors.
He also served an internship with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2004.
One of the greatest defensive players in Cornhuskers history, Williams walked on to the team from Washington, D.C. He was the 15th pick of the 1982 draft and played nine seasons with the Lions (1982-90), one with Minnesota and finished his stellar NFL career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1992 and 1993. During his career with the Lions, Williams recorded 653 tackles (sixth all-time), 25.5 sacks and 11 interceptions. Williams recorded a career-high 143 tackles in 1984 and was the Lions’ defensive MVP.
In 1987, Williams earned defensive MVP honors for the second time in his career, and was honored by the Lions’ Quarterback Club as the team’s overall MVP. In 1989, Williams led all NFL linebackers with five interceptions and ranked third on the team in tackles with 95. Williams was a team captain for each of his three NFL teams, and served as the Athletes in Action Chaplain leader.
At Nebraska, Williams was a 6-foot-3, 220-pound defensive end for the Huskers when NU played out of a 5-2 formation, lettering in 1979, 1980 and 1981. He recorded 198 career tackles in three years, including 97 solo stops. As a senior, Williams earned first team All-America (Walter Camp, Associated Press), All-Big Eight honors and was named the Big Eight Defensive Player of the Year by UPI, after recording 61 tackles, including 18 for loss, and played in the Japan and Hula Bowls. As a player, he still has the fastest 40-yard dash time ever recorded at NU by a defensive end (4.6 electronic). He played in three bowl games with the Huskers and was named the defensive MVP of the 1980 Sun Bowl after Nebraska defeated Mississippi State, 31-17.
He was inducted into the Nebraska Hall of Fame in 2001.
He earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration from William Tyndale College in Michigan in 1999 while coaching in the high school ranks. He was the defensive coordinator and coached the linebackers at Pontiac Northern High from 1994 through the 1998 season and was the head coach at Pontiac Central from 1999 to 2000.
Williams has assisted with college football camps at Nebraska, Michigan and Michigan State and served a two-week internship with the Detroit Lions in 2001.
A native of Washington, D.C., Williams played high school football at Woodrow Wilson High School.
He and his wife Jameka have 10 children.
