Dec. 26, 2012

Follow @CoachSonnyDykes Follow @CalFootball

Williams' Cal Career Bio | Stats | Photo Gallery Cal Football Season Tickets | Merchandise | Latest News Connect With Cal Facebook | Twitter | YouTube

BERKELEY - Cal cornerback Steve Williams announced Tuesday that he intends to forego his senior season at Cal and enter the 2013 NFL Draft. Williams played in all 37 games possible with 28 starts during the final three seasons of his four campaigns at Cal from 2009-12. His 25 career pass breakups rank sixth in school history.

"I want to thank the University of California and all of the terrific people I met during my four years there," Williams said. "I had a tremendous experience at Cal and was given a wealth of opportunities both in football and in life. This was a difficult decision to make, but my family and I felt it was in our best interest and that this is the right time to take advantage of another set of opportunities we feel will be presented to us in the NFL."

In addition to his spot in the school's career record book for pass breakups, Williams posted career totals of 150 tackles, 9.0 tackles for loss (-22 yards), 1.0 sack (-2 yards), six interceptions that he returned for 45 yards, 31 passes defended and three forced fumbles.

Williams had his strongest campaign as a 2012 junior when he was named the team's Most Valuable Back on the defensive side of the ball and also earned honorable mention All-Pac-12 recognition from both the league's coaches and Phil Steele. Williams started all 12 games at cornerback and shared the club lead with a career-high three interceptions, while his 10 pass breakups and career-high-tying 13 passes defended were both team highs, with the latter ranking fifth in the conference with a per-game average of 1.08. He was also third among all Cal players with a career-high 80 tackles and tied for 15th in the Pac-12 with and an average of 6.7 stops per game. Williams added a career-high 7.5 tackles for loss (-18 yards) to rank fourth on the club and had one forced fumble. He was named the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week for the lone time in his career after recording a career-high and game-high four pass breakups, an interception and a team-high six tackles in a victory at Washington State.

Williams became a full-time starter as a sophomore in 2011 when he made all 13 starts at cornerback and posted 44 tackles to rank sixth on the club. He also tied for first on the team with two interceptions and a career-high-tying 13 passes defended, while ranking second with 45 interception return yards and a career-high 11 pass breakups, tying for ninth on the school's all-time single-season list in the latter. He was fifth in the Pac-12 with a per-game average of 1.00 passes defended per game.

Williams made his debut at Cal in 2010 when he played in all 12 games with three starts, totaling 26 tackles, 1.0 tackle for loss (-2 yards), 1.0 sack (-2 yards), an interception, four pass breakups and a forced fumble.

Williams redshirted as a true freshman in 2009.

Williams is the second Cal player to announce his intentions to forgo his senior season at Cal to enter the 2013 NFL Draft. Keenan Allen made the same announcement on Dec. 5, 2012.

CAL FOOTBALL NFL DRAFT NOTES
• Cal has had 26 first-round picks and 220 selections overall since the NFL Draft began in 1936.
• Cal has had three first-round selections in the past four years and eight in the last 11.
• Cal has had two players selected in the first or second round of each of the last three drafts and at least one player selected in the second round or higher in each of the past six seasons.
• Cal has had three players selected in the first three rounds of each of the last two drafts.
• Cal's six players selected in the 2012 NFL Draft equaled the second-most in school history (also 1977 and 2008). The most Cal players selected in a single draft were the 10 chosen in 1952.