Wisconsin Football: CB Caesar Williams will Return for 2021

In recent weeks the Wisconsin Football program has received some good news with several key players announcing that they will be back for the 2021 season. A few members of this group include Jake Ferguson, Jack Sanborn, Faion Hicks, Kendric Pryor, and most recently, cornerback Caesar Williams announced on Twitter that he would be back as well.

Williams is an experienced member of this Badgers’ secondary, appearing in 35 games over his career, including 12 starts. According to Pro Football Focus, in 2019, Williams was targeted 59 times and allowed a completion rate of just 55.9 percent for 14.2 yards per catch. He also allowed just one touchdown, came away with an interception, and had seven pass breakups.

More recently, in 2020, opposing quarterbacks had a completion rate of 60.7 percent when targeting him 28 times. He allowed 18.8 yards per catch with one touchdown and one pass breakup.

With Williams back, this is a Badger defense that will be returning eight of their 11 starters from last season, with Eric Burrell, Isaiahh Loudermilk, and Garrett Rand being the only starters who won’t be back.

Overall, this is a unit that allowed only 17.4 points per game, the ninth-fewest in college football, along with 299.9 yards per game, which were the fourth-fewest. More specifically, when looking at Wisconsin’s passing defense, the 203.7 yards per game that they allowed through the air ranked 31st nationally.

Prior to the Duke’s Mayo Bowl, when discussing his future with reporters, Williams did suggest that he was NFL ready, but his decision on whether or not to go pro was going to be dependent on what the scouts had to say as well as what the pre-draft process will look like this year:

"“What would potentially lead me to come back would be scouts wanting to see more out of me,” Williams told Badger247. “Me not possibly getting a grade to leave that I want. During this time, you want to play everything smart. Because of COVID, everything is unpredictable right now. All your senior bowls getting canceled, who knows if the combine will get canceled. That’s not an experience I want to go through.”"

So because of this uncertainty, Williams has decided to return and use this as an opportunity to bolster his draft stock–which, of course, is a big boost for this Badgers’ cornerback room in 2021 that is going to have to rely on some younger players.