Lucas: Deepened friendship has helped Hicks and Williams excel
October 27, 2021 | Football, Mike Lucas
Personalities differ but UW’s cornerbacks are a perfect match — and share serious credit for Badgers’ dominant defense
BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — On the night before games, Caesar Williams and Faion Hicks will share a room and a vision. Bunking together at the team hotel, Wisconsin's 23-year-old starting cornerbacks will compare notes to help them formulate a picture on what might take place the next day.
"We're holding each other accountable, and holding each other to that same work ethic, day-in and day-out," Williams said of their relationship. "We have that mindset, 'You get out what you put in' as far as where we want to be and how we see each other playing."
On game week, he elaborated, "We come up with a routine that covers all aspects on the field, a consistent routine when it comes to watching film, eating and the extra work after practice. Since we're roommates at the hotel, we're always with each other and that plays a part."
A big part in their preparation for an opponent. Like Iowa. When they take the field Saturday at Camp Randall Stadium, Hicks said, "We're pushing each other as far as making plays and competing. If he's making plays, I try to match his energy. I try to take from his game and vice versa.
"We both take notes. Especially the day before a game, I'll ask him, 'Hey, what do you have down?' We spend time getting ready for the game, 'OK, how are you going to play this? Or how are you going to play that?' Having a guy who you can pick his brain has been helping both of us."
It's an interesting union because of their home bases and personalities. Williams is an outgoing, free-spirited sixth-year senior from the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex (South Grand Prairie High). Hicks is a reserved, laidback fifth-year senior from South Florida (Flanagan High in Pembroke Pines).
"I wouldn't say I'm too different — my personality is a little bit more unique — they say Texas guys are different," Williams said. "I wouldn't say I'm a go-with-the-flow guy. I try my best to be like water. At the same time, I'm a guy that likes attention, a guy who's the center of the room sometimes.
"Faion is more laid-back. He doesn't speak too much. But when he speaks, it's powerful and it's heard. I spend a lot of time with Faion and his parents when they're in town. They've said, 'You could be a Florida guy.' I have a personality that can match different places. It's just not the same as Faion's."
To better foster a bond, Williams has spent some time with Hicks in Florida over spring break.
"This past year, we've grown a lot closer; we've spent just about every day with each other, and we've really gotten to know each other while trying to find that chemistry on the field," Hicks said. "He has been trying to push me to be a little bit more outgoing. I try to get him to be chill sometimes."
Wisconsin's first-year cornerbacks coach, Hank Poteat, likes the diversity of his players in the meeting room. It's what you would expect from a former NFL defensive back who experienced a decade of different locker room cultures in Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay, New England, New York and Cleveland.
"I see a lot of Faion in me, we're similar," said the 5-foot-10 Poteat, who turned 44 in late August. "I was a little bigger than him, but we always play with that chip on our shoulder. We're real humble and quiet type of guys. I see a lot of things in him that I was when I was a player."
As far as laying the necessary groundwork, he added, "Faion wants to absorb all the information that he can possibly get that's going to allow him to play fast and be the best player that he can be. I really love his drive and confidence. He's really confident in who he is and he knows what he wants."
In this regard, Williams doesn't lack confidence in himself or his game — "I don't care who the competition is, I have to go out there and dominate for this defense" — and Poteat struggled to come up with the right words to describe his personality before settling on, "He's kind of a carefree type of guy."
What Poteat has come to appreciate about Williams has been his notetaking.
"I definitely like to take notes — if you can understand the game from a coach's perspective, it just makes it easier," said Williams, citing Poteat. "It definitely helps my preparation. But the one thing I noticed that you can't do is write it down and then not look at it again. You have to write it down and go over it — even if it means writing it down twice in your notepad, so it sticks. That's the biggest part.
"In knowing what they like to do (any opponent), I'm writing down, 'We're going to be in this call against that (formation).' It's understanding if this motion happens, or if they move to this place, here's what we check to and what route they might possibly get to."
For reference, Williams has saved his notes from select games over the last few seasons.
"I have them from 2019 Michigan," he said, "and from 2019 Minnesota."
The latter was noteworthy. The Badgers won the Big Ten West and regained possession of the Axe with a 38-17 win over the No. 9-ranked Gophers in Minneapolis. Williams was credited with four pass breakups, including back-to-back on a third-and-goal and fourth-and-goal sequence late in the game.
Williams also intercepted a Tanner Morgan pass. It was his last pick until Saturday at Purdue — a span of 15 games — when he stepped in front of an Aidan O'Connell toss in the second quarter. It was the first of five takeaways for the Badgers, who had only four in the first six games combined this season.
"Once you get that first one, others feed off it and it gets the energy up in the guys," Williams said. "It's not so much, 'I have to make a play' but 'I want to make a play. I want to be the next guy.' You don't know when it's coming. But when it does happen, it's going to bring juice.
"Even after my interception, I felt something different in my game. I'd say it brings confidence to everyone."
Interjected Hicks, "It's definitely contagious. Once you see one guy get one, it's 'All right, who's next?' Or 'Let me try and get one.' He did a good job of starting it off Saturday. Whenever he makes a play, it gets you going. You see him doing his thing and it's like, 'Let me try doing my thing, too.'"
In the 2018 opener, Hicks, then a redshirt freshman, made his collegiate debut at cornerback for the Badgers against Western Kentucky. In his first career start (ditto for Williams), he did his thing by picking off a pass on the UW 3 yard line. Since then, he has gone 38 games (33 starts) without an interception.
"In my first game, I got my first one and I was a freshman, and I was like, 'It's that easy?'" Hicks posed rhetorically. "It has been awhile and I think about it all the time. There have not been that many opportunities and that's why you have to make the most of them when they do come your way."
There have been some close calls, to be sure. Against Notre Dame, Hicks contested everything that was thrown his direction and the Irish challenged him often. After finishing with five tackles and four PBUs, he conceded, "It was probably one of my most productive games as a Badger."
It just wasn't the desired outcome, a 41-13 loss in Chicago. Obviously, it was far more satisfying in West Lafayette after the Badgers won their 15th straight in the series against Purdue. In doing so, Hicks and Williams blanketed wide receiver David Bell and held him to just six catches and 33 yards.
Two of his receptions came in the final possession when the game was out of reach. The week before, Bell was targeted 12 times and caught 11 passes for 240 yards in the Boilermakers upset of second-ranked Iowa. In his previous outing against the Badgers in 2019, he had 12 catches for 108 yards and a touchdown.
"Knowing he was coming off that game against Iowa and knowing he had the hot hand, it was a lot of fun to cool him off," Hicks said of Bell, who has personally destroyed the Hawkeyes secondary the last three years. "He's a great receiver. And he has been that guy since his freshman year."
Hicks couldn't say enough about the UW's pass pressure in disrupting the timing of the offense.
"It got to a point early in the game," he recalled, "where I got a good feel for Bell, but they were getting to the quarterback so fast and I was like, 'I can't make a play on the ball because they were sacking him by the time I was looking back for it.' They make our job easier. We appreciate that."
It was a night-and-day turnaround for Hicks and Williams. Black Knights. Against Army's triple option, defensive coordinator Jim Leonhard added a third safety and removed one of the cornerbacks, from series to series, either Hicks, who played 34 snaps, or Williams, who played 33.
By comparison, Williams played 65 defensive snaps and Hicks 60 last Saturday.
"I've seen growth in their preparation and growth in their mentality in terms of whatever they see on tape. They do a good job of recognizing the tendencies of their one-on-one matchups," Poteat said. "And it's just really helped them once they've gotten on the field."
Hicks has made his mark off the field, too. Over his first four years on campus, he took part in a number of community service events as part of the Badgers Give Back program. Because of the pandemic, there were limited opportunities last year to serve and expand his resume. But he has.
Most recently, Hicks has been nominated for the 2021 Wuerffel Trophy, which is annually given to the college football player "who best combines exemplary community service with athletic and academic achievement." For context, Florida's Tim Tebow was one of the earliest Wuerffel winners.
"It really started for me when I came to Wisconsin and a lot of people started reaching out to me," Hicks said of his involvement in helping others. "I remember during my freshman year, I went home for break, and I'd get, 'Hey, can you come and talk to my Little League team' and stuff like that.
"It just kind of clicked: A lot of people look up to us. And I do remember when I was in their shoes and whenever a college kid would come and talk to us, it was like a 'Wow' for me back then. So as much as I can do now, I want to do. One of my favorite things has been the Pen Pal program."
In this case, Hicks served as a Pen Pal with students at the Lussier Community Education Center. In addition to exchanging correspondence, he met in-person with kids at the center. One youngster has since moved back to Chicago with his mom, but Hicks has continued to communicate with him.
As a mentor, Hicks has also recently made visits to the Dane County Juvenile Detention Center.
"Seeing some of those young kids in that predicament, I just tried to remind them that they shouldn't let this discourage them from doing anything because their life is still ahead of them," said Hicks, who likes to relate his narrative. "I tell them that I did some dumb stuff in Miami growing up.
"But luckily I had two good parents who always pushed me away from that (path). Sometimes those kids don't have that (guidance). For those who do, I remind them, 'Listen to your parents.'"
Hicks' parents will be at Saturday's game — Schevette Glinton and Dhalid Johnson.
"I wanted to do something for my dad to represent his name," Hicks explained of having the name "Hicks-Johnson" on the back of his No. 1 Wisconsin jersey this season. "He was always there for me growing up and I knew that was something that would make him proud."
When it was mentioned to Hicks that he was kindred spirits with his position coach, Poteat, he smiled and said, "He's a real laid-back guy, real chill, never too high, never low … kind of like myself. I have so much respect for Coach Po. He has helped my game tremendously.
"As a coach, he's given me that confidence to just go out there and play and trust in myself.
"He's someone that I can look up to as a mentor and follow in his footsteps."
But first things first. The Hawkeyes.
"You know it's going to be a physical game and it's always close no matter how the two teams are playing that year," Hicks said. "You can feel it in practice that it's Iowa week because it's physical. I have respect for Iowa. They are who they are. Just like us. And they stick to it."
It's bound to be something Hicks and Williams talk about in their room on the eve of the game.
