Princeton’s Bennett Williams flies with the Air Force Academy

Bennett Williams’ football career has had its ups and downs.

His senior season at Princeton High School came to a crashing halt with a season-ending knee injury during the Week 5 win over Sterling.

Four months later, Williams is flying high as one of the newest recruits for the U.S. Air Force Academy.

The 6-foot-4 senior lineman signed with the Falcons on Friday with a big celebration in front of family, friends, teammates, his coach and his girlfriend.

“Means I’m home,” he said. “I’m excited and ready to get out there. This will give me a great opportunity to be able to be with a family that I’ve found with the Air Force.

“I couldn’t have gotten here without my coaches and teammates to help support me. Without any of them, I wouldn’t be here today.”

The moment fulfilled a lifelong dream for Williams.

“Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to play football,” he said. “It’s always been a dream to go to the NFL. This is just another bridge and step to get there.”

Williams said the offer from the Air Force was one of the first he received. He’s had no fewer than nine other Division I offers, including Army, where his brother, Mack, a Naval Academy product, jokingly said not to go.

“Once I saw them, it felt like home and I decided this is where I want to go. That big picture just sent me there,” said Williams, noting the opportunity to be able to serve the country was very impactful for him.

Even with his season cut short, Williams received second-team Three Rivers Conference East honors and an All-BCR special mention. He made 34 tackles with four sacks.

Williams is the second member of the Class of 2024 at PHS to sign to play football at the Division I level and the third Tiger in two years.

Classmate Payne Miller signed last month with Western Illinois University, and Teegan Davis, a 2023 PHS graduate, signed with the University of Iowa last year.

“It’s a big deal,” PHS coach Ryan Pearson said. “Anytime you got a small school like Princeton and you have a kid that is in your program that has an opportunity to go get his education paid for, serve his country and be able to play the game he loves, that’s pretty special. And that’s really what it’s all about.

“We’ve been pretty blessed with some pretty talented kids to have come through the program through my seven years here. Bennett’s a great kid, very hardworking, humble kid. When you talk about kids you’d love to be a figure head of your program, Bennett Williams is it. Much like Payne is and Teegan was. They’re great kids. When you think of Princeton High School, what a great representation of that.”

Pearson said his heart ached when Williams suffered his knee injury.

“It was absolutely devastating, to be honest, because I knew how hard he’s worked to get to that point,” he said. “Probably that first half against Sterling was the best game I’ve ever seen Bennett play. And then unfortunately, that freak accident happens. My heart just goes out to him. because you just hate to see that happen to a kid.”

Williams said the Air Force Academy has been really supportive following his injury and rehabilitation, and reassuring him that he’d make it back to the field.

“The coaches have been working with me continuously,” he said. “We’re in constant communication just making sure I’m getting everything worked out and what the next steps are and building off it.

“There’s always those thoughts [that you can’t play] originally, but after speaking with the coaches and being able to work through it, getting surgery so quickly, I’ve been able to recover and realize there’s no reason for those doubts. I’ve got the support team behind me at the academy and will be able to get out there and play.”

Williams follows the recent signing of his girlfriend, Kendra Lewis, the ace pitcher of the three-time state champion Rockridge softball team, with the University of Wisconsin.

Williams is the second Princeton product to be recruited by the Air Force. Ronde Worrels (2021) committed to the Air Force before choosing to go to Northern Illinois. He then sat out a year and returned to the gridiron to play for Augustana College.