CFLFor Williams, it's not the weight, it's the wow

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Tiger-Cats rookie receiver Chris Williams found his way to Hamilton this summer after helping coach track back in New Mexico. (Dave Chidley/Canadian Press)

As the Toronto International Film Festival winds down, it seems appropriate to provide this sneak peak at the debut season of Chris Williams, Hamilton Tiger-Cats.

Scene 1. Exterior: Empire Field, B.C. Williams, a 5-foot-9, 155 pound slightly built receiver who looks as though C-3PO could knock him over, takes a little hitch pass at his own 25 and blasts by two hapless defenders before running into veteran Ryan Phillips, who grabs him by the waist and spins the rookie around.

Undaunted, the receiver lands directly in the lap of the defensive back (never touched the ground), bounces up and scampers all the way to the Lions' 10 yard line before being pulled down.

Scene 2. Exterior: Empire Field (later). Williams takes another pass, evades two tacklers and scoots in to score before falling over and losing his helmet. One of the team's offensive linemen picks him up under the shoulder pads, lifts him so high his feet are dangling and, instead of breaking the receiver's neck (Darth Vader reference), places him gently back on the ground.

Imagine - a 155-pound professional football player. Hollywood would never buy it.

But Phil Lopez did.

The high school coach first saw young Chris Williams at a New Mexico athletics meet in 2003 where the Rio Rancho sophomore was tearing up the track and high jumping near seven feet.

"I watched him run and jump, and I just knew immediately he was a special, special athlete," says Lopez, on the phone from his current coaching gig at Bel Air High School in El Paso, Texas.

And how much did the future Tiger-Cat weigh?

"About 130 pounds."

Lopez knew how athletic the young man's parents were, and was convinced he had the tailback he was looking for as he prepared to take over the football program at the school, located just north of Albuquerque.

And he was right. As a senior, Williams ran for just under 2,100 yards in 11 games, scoring 33 touchdowns including 26 on the ground, and this despite playing only the first half of many contests so as not to run up the score.

"I credit [Chris] with being somewhat of a contortionist, he could really move his body in certain ways," Lopez says. "Every time I saw him run and get tackled, never did anybody get a direct, clean shot on him, it was always a glancing blow, and he was able to slip out of it and lunge forward."

It helps when you have a guy who can run the 40 in under 4.3 seconds (he's done it   numerous times) and high jump seven feet. There was more in the script, however. There was heart and quicksilver movement.

"He just had the vision, the speed, the quickness and elusiveness," says Lopez, and it's easy to tell the admiration the coach still has for his former pupil and now good friend. "I felt he did the same thing in college [at New Mexico State as a receiver], always running by people or they put a partial arm on his body [as he went by]."

Finding his way to Hamilton

Undrafted by the NFL, Williams went to the Miami camp in 2009 and did well, until a broken hand derailed that dream. After helping coach track back in New Mexico, he found his way to Hamilton this summer.

In nine games, he has rolled up 736 yards, good for sixth in the league, and four touchdowns heading for Week 11.

Now enter Chris Williams, centre stage, to speak for himself.

"I'm kind of built weird because I have long arms and limbs," he says, down the line from Hamilton where a camera crew had just finished a major TV pre-game feature the day before. "When you run, you wouldn't expect a shorter guy like me to have the stride length and arm length."

Not to mention a world class vertical leap of 43 inches (putting his fingers tips 9-feet-4 inches above the turf).

"[That] definitely helps because I am able to jump ... I can get up there, and contort my body."

Such as in a game against Montreal when, with corner Dwight Anderson desperately trying to keep up, the ball bounced off the outstretched arms of the defender, and Williams, falling the other way, was still able to reach up and snatch it for a big-time pro catch.

There has been but one bad review, that when Joe Lobendahn of Winnipeg stripped the ball out of his hands just feet from the end zone, a play seen in reruns by precisely 871 customers of You Tube as of Thursday night.

Williams, who seems nicely grounded, loves the CFL for more than the employment, citing its speed, the physicality and the cow pasture-sized field. Not to mention the waggle - where receivers are already at full gallop when they hit the line.

"You can run down at somebody, and when you are fast they don't know what you are doing, and it causes some concern," he says. "You can create."

Lopez believes Williams has something possibly better than speed, and that's the ability to see the game as if the film were running at less frames per second than for others.

"The game actually moves slower for him because he's so incredibly fast," the coach says. "I sometimes think he has to go down a gear or two, so he doesn't run out of his shoes."

Williams will be appearing at a stadium near you for what may be an extended run.

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