Service-minded and spiritual, Kyren Williams is committed to Notre Dame in more ways than one

Kyren Williams slipped out of the Vianney locker room and headed home because that’s what high school football players do under these circumstances.

Williams’ junior season had just ended with a gut punch, Missouri’s defending Class 5 state champions beaten 34-27 by Pattonville in the quarterfinals in a loss equal parts shocking and awful. With the score tied in the final minute, Vianney was stopped on fourth down near the goal line. A snap later, Pattonville hit a 97-yard touchdown pass to win it.

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Tears flowed as Williams made the 20-minute drive home. Then his mom called.

Taryn Williams had a request of her son, the school’s star running back who never really acted like it. Kyren never talked much about the fact that Notre Dame, Michigan, Missouri and Stanford were chasing him. That’s not to say he ignored the fame that followed him around the halls of St. John Vianney, an all-boys Catholic school in St. Louis, he just redirected it.

Could Williams come back to Vianney to meet the grade school son of one of Taryn’s friends? It would mean a lot to Robert. Kyren was his favorite player.

So Kyren Williams turned around and drove back to school that Friday night. He played catch with Robert for nearly a half hour and signed autographs. He posed for a picture. Robert couldn’t wait to get home to show it off to his family.

“It was good for his soul,” Taryn said of Kyren.

Seven months later, the 5-foot-10, 200-pound back committed to Notre Dame, a move good for the three-star athlete’s soul and his spirituality. Williams grew up a fan of Notre Dame — the football program and the University — drawn to its faith thanks first to his family and second to Vianney.

At Christmas during his freshman year, Williams asked his parents for the gift of Notre Dame’s three-day football camp the next summer, retail of nearly $500. Grandparents pitched in, and the gift was wrapped inside 10 boxes, one packaged inside another. Williams couldn’t believe it when he got to his prize. Then the family realized the camp Williams actually wanted was the one-day Irish Invasion that cost less than $100. That was Notre Dame’s serious recruiting camp.

The family called Notre Dame and switched enrollments, although Williams had to ultimately scratch that summer because of a team camp with Vianney. Still, that’s how Williams’ march toward South Bend began, ending in a commitment about 2½ years after that Christmas morning to assistant Autry Denson on June 21.

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Williams is a running back Notre Dame wanted, even if other backs got offers first. But mostly, Williams is a running back Notre Dame needed as it continues to focus on fit as much as 40 times after dismissing two backs last offseason (Deon McIntosh and C.J. Holmes) and with a third (Dexter Williams) in doubt for September for potential disciplinary reasons.

When Kyren Williams enrolls in January as a midyear pickup, the Irish will add a running back who fits the program as well as any Notre Dame has signed the past few cycles.

“I’m real close with God and I believe in God heavily,” Williams said. “I pray every night. Going to a private institution like Notre Dame, that will keep my relationship with God strong.”

When Williams took his official visit last month, he didn’t need much from his tour guide. He could identify the obvious stuff: Touchdown Jesus, the Basilica and the Golden Dome. But he also could pick out First Down Moses among the other statues scattered about. He knew about the grotto and where to find it.

“He knew what they were and the meanings behind them,” Taryn said. “I wouldn’t have been able to tell you what they even were.”

For all the good Williams will offer Notre Dame off the field, he didn’t make the program’s recruiting board because of community service.

Williams led Vianney to a state championship as a sophomore after missing four games during the regular season with a hip pointer. The Golden Griffins entered the postseason 4-5 and won five in a row to take their first state championship. During that five-game streak, Williams accounted for 462 yards rushing, 374 yards receiving and 20 total touchdowns.

He followed that up with a junior season of 922 yards rushing and 22 touchdowns, plus 51 catches for 774 yards and 12 scores to go with 37 tackles, three sacks and four interceptions.

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He’s played running back, wide receiver, quarterback, safety, linebacker, punt returner, kick returner and punter. Vianney head coach Paul Day would switch Williams’ position during games on offense but tried to give his star one focal point on defense. He called Williams a one-man RPO wrecking crew.

It’s hard for Day to pick out Williams’ best Friday night. The top stuff might happen on Tuesday afternoons, anyway.

“When you see him walk over in practice to a kid and it’s a freshman just trying to learn something about football, you’ll see him talk and help that kid,” Day said. “It’s bigger than him, and he knows that. And he does that with everybody.”

Notre Dame took a conservative approach to recruiting running backs this cycle after signing two last year in Jahmir Smith and C’Bo Flemister. If there was a top target, it was Steele Chambers (Ohio State), with Williams, Chez Mellusi (Clemson) and Austin Jones (Stanford) in the next group.

While those others kicked the tires on Notre Dame, Williams kicked the Gug doors down. He visited for the home loss to Virginia Tech two years ago, followed by finally making Irish Invasion last summer, then a junior day this spring and that official visit last month.

Whether Williams admitted it at the time or not, Notre Dame led from the start. A commitment was always a matter of when, not if. And just like there was no question about where he’d play college football once the Irish got involved, there was no question he’d play somewhere after he first picked up the sport in grade school. Father Larry Williams played linebacker at Northern Illinois. Uncle James Gregory won a national title at Alabama as a defensive lineman. Uncle Darren Holmes played linebacker at Kansas State. Grandfather Kenneth Gregory played defensive back at Missouri.

Football was such a part of the Williams home that Taryn wanted Kyren to practice form tackling as a second-grader. She put a mattress on the floor of his bedroom and had Kyren’s sister Grace, still in kindergarten, stand in front of it. The drill ended with Grace losing a couple teeth.

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“Those teeth were already loose,” Taryn said. “He just took care of them.”

Kyren and Grace took the game outside for the next decade, playing football in their front yard and taking on all comers from the neighborhood. Grace just finished her freshman year of high school and lettered in varsity basketball and lacrosse. Kyren tries to make as many of her games as he can despite football commitments and recruiting trips.

Of course he does, because support is Williams’ default setting.

Vianney doesn’t give its students much choice about community service. Freshmen have to log 20 hours. So do sophomores. At the end of their junior year, students pick a more intense project at the start of summer vacation.

For Williams, that meant a three-week assignment at the Affton Early Childhood Center. The full-day post put Williams in contact with special needs students and others from lower-income backgrounds. He served as a jungle gym and role model, letting the students climb all over him. They worked over the football star from down the street even if they didn’t know who he was.

“Once I got into it, it opened my eyes that not everyone has it like I have it,” Williams said. “I have to give back to people who don’t have as much. It was a blessing to me.”

Through the football program, Williams took part in Friends of Kids With Cancer at a local hospital to gather toys and donations for the facility. The Golden Griffins dedicate three regular-season games to the cause. Outside of football, Williams participated in a program that makes sandwiches for the homeless.

“He sees helping people in society as a great thing,” Day said. “We don’t have enough of that in America right now.”

When Williams arrives at Notre Dame in January, he won’t rate as one of the biggest names in the freshman class. The Irish have a dozen prospects ranked as four-stars in the 247Sports Composite. Maybe Williams will play himself into that group this fall. Maybe he won’t. Nobody around Vianney will really care.

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They all know what Notre Dame will be getting.

(Top photo by St. John Vianney High School)

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