Williams signs with Wayne State College

Former Berwick High School standout Audwin “Popsii” Williams hopes he started a new trend Friday by signing a national letter of intent to play college football at Wayne State College in Wayne, Nebraska.
Berwick hasn’t had many football players go on to play in college.
“It feels pretty good to sign seeing that Berwick hasn’t had anybody sign a football scholarship in a long time. I hope it starts a new legacy,” Williams said.
Williams, a wide receiver, had 48 catches for 958 yards and 10 touchdowns as a senior. He was an All-State selection for the 3-7 Panthers. Berwick High was one win short of a playoff berth last season.
Wayne State College is an NCAA Division II school and competes in the 16-team Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. The Wildcats finished the 2015 season with a 4-7 overall record.
“Once Coach (Eric) Holden came in and started helping me with recruiting, he sent my highlight tape to them and they called and said how much they wanted me,” Williams said. “I got on the phone with (Wayne State College) Coach (Dan) McLaughlin and we talked about a lot of things, including me being able to play right way.”
Holden took over for Berwick Head Coach Craig Brodie in April. Brodie retired at the end of the 2015-16 school year.
Holden has coached at Christian Life Academy where he helped lead the team to a Class 1A state runner-up finish in 2008. He also spent time at Louisiana football power Evangel Christian Academy and was the defensive coordinator for Southern Lab’s Division IV state runner-up team in 2014. He spent this past fall as defensive coordinator at Port Allen, following ex-Southern Lab Head Football Coach Nick Mitchell to the suburban Baton Rouge community.
“When I got here, there was a couple schools talking to Popsii and I just told him that if he needed me I was here to help,” Holden said. “I made some phone calls and I had a free safety at Port Allen who had just signed to Wayne State College and we went up there to visit.
“It’s a great school, with a great coaching staff and facilities and after being around those guys for a while and seeing that they were a class act, Popsii seemed like a great fit.”
There was talk of Williams walking on at Northwestern State in Natchitoches.
“That was something I considered but after visiting Wayne State, I was sold on the school and knew that’s where I wanted to be,” Williams said.