Baltimore Ravens third-round pick Brandon Williams has come a long way in a short time. The nose guard emerged from the bowels of Division II football at Missouri Southern to become a draft sleeper.
Williams participated in his first NFL minicamp over the weekend. One year ago at this time, he was hauling and cleaning portable toilets.
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"Sometimes, you got a little poop on you," Williams told The Baltimore Sun on Saturday. "Every time I was doing that, I said to myself, 'I gotta work harder, I'm not doing this the rest of my life.' It motivated me to get better."
"Sometimes, you got a little poop on you" should be on a T-shirt somewhere soon. It should be the Ravens' team slogan for 2013. Heck, it's a great motto for everyone. In life, you are bound to get a little poop on you. It's how you respond.
Williams said that he would pretend the portable toilets were offensive linemen as he lifted them into his flatbed truck.
"We like to say, 'Brandon is crap house strong,'" Missouri Southern coach Daryl Daye said. "No job is too small for him. He's what you want your son to be like: honest and true blue, a pleasure to coach. Brandon came up really rough, but he never let anything stand in his way. His mother is a very old-school, stern woman who raised him to be a Christian and to always have that humble mentality."
All joking aside, Williams has overcome an incredible amount to get to where he is. His family was homeless for six months during his freshman year of high school. He's the type of kid you root for, one who appreciates every minute of his NFL opportunity because he's seen the other side.
Follow Gregg Rosenthal on Twitter @greggrosenthal.
