D.J. Williams Talks Miami Football, NIL, and His New Podcast Series Greentree Made Me

I recently joined the Joe Rose Show to talk about my new conversation series, Greentree Made Me, and had a great time catching up and talking football. We covered everything from my brief stint as a fullback at Miami and being part of De La Salle’s historic winning streak to what made our 2001 Hurricanes squad so special. We also talked about how NIL has changed college football and the work Mario Cristobal is doing to restore Miami’s identity. Here’s how it went:

Rose: So I went back and looked at that 2001 Miami team. DJ, I forgot who was on that team. And by the way, not just when I say not just playing – but guys that were true freshmen that were going to be playing when you guys left. That has got to be the greatest team of all time.

D. J. Williams: Hold on, it is. Stop it – it is. Here’s where I always go whenever anybody brings up LSU or anybody wants to bring up USC – right when they feel that you know, things are compatible and equal – so you go to the next level. What happened to the players from University of Miami when they went to the head of NFL? We became Hall of Famers. We became all pros. We became signature individuals of our teams and our organizations. Now let’s look what’s going on with the other guys – they’re not that.

Rose: You were the number one recruit in the country coming out of De La Salle, by the way, at one point how many games did you guys win? Let me start with that. What did De La Salle get up to – what was the number of straight wins?

D. J. Williams: I believe it’s a hundred and fifty one in a row. I was on the team that broke the record – the record was held previously by a school in Michigan. We broke the record. I believe it was 79 wins and then I was on the team that won the 100th game and – the crazy thing about that is when we finally lost, there was a lot of turmoil within the team. One of our teammates actually was murdered in the offseason our head coach had a heart attack so he didn’t coach that year and then we went and played the number two or three team in Seattle on the road – we did lose but we still ran the table and won state.

That’s how high the standard is when we finally lost my cell phone blew up a lot of guys talking trash and I was like, okay, you know, 13-1 season and still come home with the trophy. I guess our standards are that high.

Rose: You went on to be a great linebacker and a first-round pick for Denver. People forget you played some fullback at Miami. Did you think it was gonna be full-time fullback at any point?

D. J. Williams: Well, I went in as a linebacker. I got injured during camp. I ended up losing the battle to Howard Clark. Funny story is, the year before LaVar Arrington concussed our starting fullback Will McFarland and he was never able to bounce back for that.

So two weeks before the season started we didn’t have a starting fullback. They were trying to convert Najeh to fullback, but Najeh was resistant. You know, I was currently second string and I just wanted to get on the field, right? And they asked me and I said, let’s do it. So when they put me in at fullback they started doing Texas route, fullback wheels. Some plays where they would motion Portis out and I’d get seven yards deep. Once Najeh saw that package he came back and said hey, I want to play fullback – we weren’t in there the block.

Rose: That group of of running backs that that were on that thing like McGahee, Davenport, Gore and Portis. I mean, it’s it’s the who’s who – unbelievable.

D. J. Williams: Let’s not forget about Jared Payton. He ended up getting drafted but not making an NFL team what happens next he goes the he goes and plays in the CFL – and what does he do? He leads it in rushing. So you want to talk about a room that’s just stacked with guys and individuals and at one point time I was also in that room.

But yeah, I mean Vilma and I had a conversation on the Greentree Made Me podcast – which is out now on Dyme Lyfe YouTube and I asked him the old bench the old start-bench-cut between Frank, Portis, and Willis – so you guys got to tune in and check out and see.

Rose: So I’ve got to ask – you’ve been living down (in Miami) here the whole time?

D. J. Williams: Yeah, listen, I came down to Miami at 17 years old in 2000 and I literally never left. Even after I got drafted by the Denver Broncos, I always was here in the offseason when I played for the Bears, I was always here in the offseason. And so when I retired I was like, okay, where’s my brand the biggest, you know? I played for some great teams the De La Salle team in California, a historic franchise like Denver – but then when I think about what we did here at the University of Miami and all the guys that we have I was like, my network is largest here, right? I’m in a situation right now where you know, I’ve played with you know – over a hundred guys and you know, we’re now all adults and grown. We all have businesses – we all have connections and the brotherhood still exists. So I stayed in Miami the whole time.

Rose: So let me ask you – the Canes today. Let’s talk about what Mario’s done over the last couple years? What’s your thoughts on where we are right now with this Miami hurricane team.

D. J. Williams:  I mean look, I love what Mario did. I remember his first year when he had the alumni dinner and there were active and current players there and he got up there and he said “hey this is gonna start looking like the old Miami” and I was like ouch that’s a bold statement that put guys that were currently there on notice. But listen, that’s football that’s competition if you’re not willing to really go after it and maximize your ability and grit your teeth and hustle and grind and you know – you’re not a Miami guy.

And I think the best thing that coach Cristobal did was instill the Miami tradition again, brought a lot of former Canes back and when he recruit guys. Like there there is this thing called a Miami guy – either you have it or you don’t right? It’s a bunch of different intangibles, but you can just feel it – get the energy and when we were in college I would host guys and a guy could be a five-star recruit with all the accolades and I could just feel his energy. I’d just leave him – you know my linebacker coach Hargraves would be like “hey man, that was a five-star guy. We’re trying to lock him up” and I was like, he’s not a Miami guy and the best thing about it was there was no hatred towards it – we we love competition we relish competition. We wanted to compete every day.

Rose: I hear Andre Johnson talk about, hey the toughest practice he ever had – the ones at Miami. Do today’s guys, if they’re not given the job sometimes they’re going “if I’m not playing I’m leaving right away” Do they still want to compete? Do you find a lot of guys still want to go out there and earn that position in the playing time like you guys did?

D. J. Williams: I mean, I think the the competition has been diluted. Of course, there are guys there that still want to compete but then listen you got to throw in these other factors right, like guys are able to monetize themselves at an early age. And so it’s like hey, yeah I could sit here behind Clinton Portis or Jonathan Vilma or Vince Wilfork can battle it out and prove something right, or I can go to another program and make five hundred thousand dollars and play instantly – so I think we really didn’t have those options. You know, we joke about it and we discussed it on the Greentree Made Me show, I asked Jonathan Vilma a question. I said if the landscape was the same back when we played I said who was the first guy that would jump in the portal and I’ve asked this question to like six or seven canes and everybody said the same name — tune in to hear, that’s the hook.