Former USC Linebacker Thomas R. Williams on being the "Hitman" and moving from passion to purpose

Sports Spectrum Podcast

Sports Spectrum

Sports

5 • 661 Ratings

🗓️ 4 August 2021

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Thomas R. Williams is a former linebacker who played his college football at USC. He was a 5th round pick by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the 2008 NFL Draft and spent five seasons with Jacksonville, Seattle, New England, Buffalo, Carolina and Tampa. He retired from football after suffering a neck injury in 2012.

In college, Williams was dubbed "The Hitman" and was a team captain that helped the Trojans to a 59-6 record and two national titles. His teammates voted him as the team's most inspirational player in the 2007 season.

Thomas is a professional speaker who leads a non-profit called "Pursuits of Greatness" where he helps college student athletes prepare for life after playing sports. He is the author of two books including "Permission to Dream" and "The Relentless Pursuit of Greatness."

Today on the podcast, Thomas R. Williams shares his story of coming to Christ, what it means to him to be the "Professional Reminder," playing for coach Pete Carroll at USC and how he moved from passion to purpose.

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If you enjoyed this podcast with Thomas R. Williams, we know you'll love these conversations as well:

- Ben Malcolmson, Pete Carroll's Assistant

- Jon Gordon, Author/Speaker

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey guys, we got a fantastic conversation today. Words of wisdom, stories from playing football at
0:06.8	USC and being coached by Pete Carroll. That's what today's conversation with Thomas R. Williams
0:13.1	is all about. It's coming up right now on Sports Spectrum.
0:28.5	Welcome to Sports Spectrum, where we bring Jesus back into the conversation.
0:32.2	Here's your host, former ESPN producer Jason Romano.
0:34.0	Welcome to the show.
0:37.0	I am Jason, and this is the Sports Spectrum podcast.
0:57.7	Really excited today for our guest, Thomas R. Williams, a former NFL linebacker and former college football linebacker at USC, a member of three Rose Bowl winning teams and two national championships. Listen to this career college record for Thomas R. Williams, 59, and 6.
1:06.7	Yeah, he walked into a dynasty when he walked into those halls at USC in California and Southern Cal and understanding guys like Reggie Bush and Matt Leind were there, and Pete Carroll as the coach,
1:11.4	and Ken Norton Jr. as his defensive coach. This is what he was walking into and the record of 59 and 6.
1:18.1	Pretty good. Pretty good opportunity here for Thomas R. Williams to be around one of the great teams
1:24.5	in college football, certainly in recent memory at USC in the early 2000s.
1:29.4	Before we get to our conversation with Thomas R. Williams, I want to tell you a little bit about
1:33.4	our Sports Spectrum website. That's a great place to go every single day for the content
1:40.6	relevant to you, the sports fan who loves Jesus. Sportspectrum.com.
1:47.3	Devotionals, podcasts, articles, and stories written on the intersection of sports and faith,
1:53.0	all right there at sportspectrum.com. And make sure when you're there, you sign up for our
1:57.5	Sports Spectrum weekly email. You go right to the top and there's an area called newsletter.
2:03.6	You sign up for our newsletter in the Sports Spectrum weekly email for free comes to your inbox
2:08.4	and it keeps you abreast on what's happening in the world of Sports Spectrum.
2:12.6	Maybe the articles or the stories or the podcast that you might have missed knowing you can't go there every single day,
2:18.8	well, you can get an email to keep abreast on all that we have going on with Sports Spectrum Weekly,
	...

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