OXNARD, Calif. — Guard your grill. It's a phrase you may or may not have heard growing up, but it has nothing to do with building a security system around your prized wood smoker. It's a boxing phrase that feels ever so apropos when wondering what defensive end Sam Williams might be in 2025, nearly "foaming at the mouth" after being forced to miss last season with a torn ACL suffered almost exactly one year ago.
The former second-round pick is already putting offensive players on notice through the first unpadded practices with his intensity, having to be coached a bit by Brian Schottenheimer to be mindful that the time to fully unleash will be when everyone is fully padded.
That will begin on Sunday in Oxnard.
"I told him, 'You're gonna have an incredible year," said Schottenheimer. "Keep that intensity, but do it in pads."
It's something All-Pro quarterback Dak Prescott has noted as well mentally, along with the growth of Williams over the past year, particularly when the two were both relegated to injured reserve as the 2024 season concluded — Prescott having suffered a torn hamstring in November.
Prescott knows Williams is starving, and acknowledges how great it is to see.
"That's a guy that's hungry, very hungry," Prescott said. "... He's gonna have a hell of a year. … Super proud of him. He was recognized for the Defensive Golden Whistle Award and that's a testament to the guy who worked hard toward getting back from injury. He'll probably be a guy I vote for [to receive] the Ed Block Courage Award, so super, super proud of him.
"He's just getting back to himself and it's only [just] beginning."
For his part, Williams first wanted to make it clear his knee feels brand new, and why.
"I feel great," he said following the team's second practice. "I had a little incident where I bumped knees with someone but, other than that, I feel great. I don't feel it. It feels like I never had an injury.
"Six days a week for 11 months, I put in the work. I feel great. Fantastic. No aches. No soreness. I'm running, what, 22 mph at 260 [lbs]? That should tell you everything."
And the toughest part of the journey?
"The mental challenge was accepting that I was injured," he added. " Because I have never been injured. This was my first injury — major injury — the first time ever being out for a season. And I just had to find something to do with that time that I wasn't in football. I started a clothing brand of athletic wear, men's and women's, and coming out with the kids'. It's called 'FTL for the Family'.
"Over that break, I started living what my brand speaks about: for the family. So everything I've done in the offseason, and during this season, just to get back to this point, is for my two little boys and my family. They depend on me. Every day I walk and I practice and I study — I do all that for my family, you know what I mean?
"I take the light off me and I look at them. Even in my room [here at camp], there's pictures of them. I wake up to them. I go to sleep to them. That's a reminder of why I'm doing this."
The process to get back to the field, and without allowing impatience to create any sort of setback, is something he credits to his growth and the persistence of the Cowboys' medical staff to keep him on track and at the correct rehab pace even when, at times, Williams might've wanted to push the envelope a bit.
There was simply too much at stake, and he grew to understand that reality.
"I was patient. I took it in," he said. "I developed myself as a person, and as a player. I'm just grateful now that I have an opportunity to play. … Just knowing I couldn't do anything about it [other than to]be patient. Rushing the process wouldn't help me.
"I'm telling you, I went every day [to rehab], and I did everything. The whole staff was phenomenal, I had that undivided attention. It was great. I felt like they were on me every day. They pushed me, especially when they kept giving me words of encouragement because sometimes I felt down. During OTAs, I was feeling good, so I'm like, 'Man, I can do this. Just wait, just wait.'
"And now like, 'I'm here, I'm back.'"
It sure looks that way, considering he's doing all he can to not gnaw through his arm at the thought of restraining himself on every single rep to this point. And though he'll never be able to put hands on the red shirt-wearing Prescott, that doesn't mean he won't do everything he can to try and put Tyler Guyton, Terence Steele and, at times when he rushes inside, Cooper Beebe, rookie Tyler Booker and All-Pro Tyler Smith through some paces.
Hell, he all but admitted that as much as he loves them, they better get ready for him.
"I just hope everybody stays safe, because let's just say I'm coming," said Williams with an ear-to-ear grin large enough to identify the effectiveness of his toothpaste. "That's all I've got to say. I don't know how else to say it. I'm just ready. I'm just ready.
"… With pads is going to be a little a little rougher because I [haven't] touched pads in almost a year, so I got to kill something — just one time."
Ahem … guard your grill.
