When Steve Norcio met Quinton Williams 10 years ago while coaching the White Oak Warriors, a Pop Warner team in Silver Spring, Maryland, Williams was “this little, teeny, skinny, gangly kid” Norcio had hoped to recruit after hearing buzz about his playing skills.
Now Howard University quarterback Williams is the offensive linchpin Bison coaches and players will rely on when they face Florida A&M University on Saturday in the Cricket Celebration Bowl in Atlanta.
Howard recorded a 6-5 record (4-1 MEAC) to secure its second consecutive Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference title and first Celebration Bowl berth, and coach Larry Scott recognizes how much Williams’ teammates lean on their quarterback.
“Sometimes, it’s an unfair deal because that’s an assumed leadership position that, by the nature of the game, requires you to have some great leadership qualities,” Scott said. “To watch him mature and grow over the last few years and to understand and embrace that role has been amazing.”
Williams passed for 2,158 yards and 16 touchdowns this season, ranking second in the conference in total offense. He was named to the All-MEAC Second Team, and also received an invitation to the 2024 HBCU Legacy Bowl, an exhibition for the best football players from historically Black colleges and universities eligible for the NFL draft.
“Accountability is a big thing on this year’s team that we haven’t had in the past,” Williams said. “We have a lot of players that know when to take ownership and when to step back, and we have players that don’t wait on the play. They go out and make plays.”
Williams, a native of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, received multiple scholarship offers before securing a full ride to Howard. He came to the university in 2019 hoping to stay close to home and – like any young athlete – get some early playing time. However, Scott’s first meeting with his quarterback got off to an inauspicious start.
“When I first took the job here, I came in ready to meet him. I met with the academic advisers, and they said he missed class that day,” Scott said. “When [Williams] walked in, I said, ‘You didn’t go to class? I don’t know a quarterback in the country who is an example of what it means to be a really good quarterback and is not going to class.’ Needless to say, we haven’t had that issue since then.”
Both Scott and Williams believe the athlete’s biggest area of growth has been becoming the person he wants to be off the field.
“Earlier in my career, our offensive coordinator [Lee Hull] said something that stuck with me,” Williams said. “He said, ‘If you’re going to be a leader, you have to make sure your house is clean.’ So essentially, if you’re telling someone right from wrong, you have to make sure you’re doing the right things at all times, even when no one’s looking. I honed into that this year.”
During Williams’ freshman year, two players made an impact on Williams’ development: former running back Dedrick Parson and wide receiver Kyle Anthony. Both Howard alums have stayed in contact with Williams and visit occasionally.
“I didn’t really know too much coming in as a freshman, but seeing those guys work and work and work and not say too much [except for] when needed influenced me,” Williams said. “I appreciate them because without them, I don’t know how I’d be here.”
Now a team veteran, Williams has made his own impact on younger players.
“When I first came in, I didn’t have an impression of Q [Williams] because I didn’t necessarily know Q,” sophomore running back Eden James said. “But as time has passed, now that I’ve gotten to know him more, we’ve developed a relationship, a better relationship than what we had in my freshman year. So, I trust him 100% with our offense. I believe in him and his ability to lead us to winning the Celebration Bowl.”
Norcio has remained a constant in Williams’ life. Besides his mother, the only other person Williams expects to see in the stands every time the Bison play at home in Greene Stadium is the man who became his godfather.
“He gets great grades. He respects women. He opens doors. When you do that, that makes you a leader on and off the field,” Norcio said of Williams, a graduate student who is pursuing a master’s degree in finance. “He is not a ‘rah-rah’ kid. His quiet leadership is so that when he does speak up, everyone will listen.”
Norcio has always seen Williams as a student first, an athlete second who works just as hard off the field. Regardless of the outcome of Saturday’s game, Williams has already won, he said.
“He’s getting his master’s degree. So, that’s another national championship. I want him to win the Celebration Bowl, I do, but I don’t care,” Norcio told Andscape. “He’s getting his master’s degree, and he’s going to go back and get a second one.
“When you write this story, all of this [his education] is just as important as the football storyline, because he’s a winner and a champion before he plays that game.”
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