KNOXVILLE - Gerald Williams spent one year after high school trying to qualify on his own to play football at Tennessee. Then he spent a year at Fork Union (Va.) Military Academy and another at City College of San Francisco.
That obstacle-ridden trek proved Williams would do whatever it took academically to become a Volunteer.
And the South Florida native has spent the past three years proving he'd play any position to help the Vols on the field.
Projected by most as a defensive end starter after a splendid preseason camp, Williams - a 248-pound former linebacker - might start at defensive tackle in UT's Saturday season opener against UT-Martin.
Few would have blamed Williams for protesting the move, but he fully embraced it.
"It's a team effort," he said. "I'd be selfish to pout about moving from a position. All D-line is all the same to me, and I'm going to make my mark wherever I'll be at.
"It's not really a big, big deal. It's just what's best for the team. I like it. I can play inside and outside. It just makes me more versatile."
Williams started playing some inside at practice two weeks ago, but word didn't get to the media until the Vols released their projected depth chart Monday.
"It's been a couple of things," first-year UT head coach Derek Dooley said. "One is our lack of depth and experience at defensive tackle, and we have a lot of depth and experience at defensive end. So we find ourselves with five or six defensive ends who we're not afraid to put in the game, and yet only a couple of tackles who have consistently performed to where we feel comfortable with them. It's just a big-picture philosophy: Put a better guy in, put a better player in.
"Will Gerald be a better tackle than he will an end? No. But he'll be better playing, probably, than the next defensive tackle."
Dooley said Williams and freshman Corey Miller will play tackle and end, depending on the opponent's scheme and formations.
"We're going to play a lot of guys," the coach said. "We're going to play some big guys in there, and we're going to put some little guys in there and try to hold up when we can."
Dooley and several players said they appreciated Williams' willingness to move, especially considering how well he played in camp - including a brilliant interception he tipped to himself in a scrimmage.
"Gerald's been great. He's been great all summer," Dooley said. "He's been a team guy, and I know he's probably had a lot of issues prior to us coming here. But I think he's been like a lot of these guys. It starts with communicating what the expectation is and not looking the other way when they don't meet the expectation, and then buying into the team concept. And I think Gerald has been phenomenal at that.
"He wants to play. His attitude has been great, and because of that he's gotten better every day, he really has. In the last scrimmage, [he] was our most productive D-lineman."
UT senior defensive end Chris Walker said Williams moving inside would allow the Vols to play their "best four" - Walker, Williams, end Malik Jackson and tackle Montori Hughes - at the same time.
"He's done well in there, and he loves playing in there," Walker said of Williams. "He just said he wants to do what's best for the team, and he knows that getting him on the field along with Montori and [me] and Malik, that just helps us out a lot. He's a team player for that."
Senior middle linebacker Nick Reveiz, a team captain last season, beamed when asked about Williams' move.
"I love to talk about Gerald Williams, because here's a guy, he's gone through so much adversity as far as where he's had to go ... to travel around and try to get eligible," Reveiz said. "He gets to Tennessee, and he didn't play as much his first year as he would have liked, and now he's a guy who as a senior he's going to contribute a whole lot.
"I can't say enough about how hard he's been working, and he's just such a team guy. He said, 'Hey, Coach, wherever I need to be used, let me be used. Wherever I need to play, let me play.' ... He's just working his butt off, trying to help wherever he can, and I love that attitude. I feel like that's how you really create championships.
"He's a guy that as a tackle you want them heavier, but if you're talking about heart, this guy wants it so bad. ... He does everything the coaches ask him to."
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