Leonard Williams has a hard time talking about himself.
In the same token, he has high expectations which makes it even tougher for him to be surprised by anything he does on the football field.
Although his game-high 11-tackle, Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Week earning performance vs. Stanford did just that.
"To be honest I didn't think I would be able to even make it through the whole game and just to be able to finish as one of the leading tacklers on the team, it's pretty surprising," Williams admitted on Wednesday. "I can say I'm a pretty tough guy, I guess. I just like to help out my team. I would never want to sit on the sideline and watch them fight through a tough game like that knowing I can't help out."
The pain was nearly unbearable for Williams early in the game, forcing him to leave the field in the first quarter. After visiting with members of the USC training staff, he returned for one of the best performances of his career.
Playing through pain is nothing new for Williams. He went through all of last season with a shoulder injury that required offseason surgery.
"In the beginning, it always hurts the most because (it's) starting to get contact but once you get more (into) the game you have more adrenaline, you start to get used to the pain, and then after a while you just forget about it and just play through it," Williams said.
Added defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox: "He played excellent (against Stanford). He played excellent the week before (against Fresno State). He's a (really) talented guy. He's a competitor and when you got somebody with all that it's pretty special. I'm glad he's on our team. He gets coached too. He's got stuff he's going to continue to work on but it was a pretty awesome performance by him."
Steve Sarkisian: Leonard Williams' performance was 'amazing'
The All-American was held out of practice Tuesday and on Wednesday, was limited admitting to experiencing some discomfort with his injured ankle.
When asked about his status, Williams said he believes he should be able to take the field Saturday night when No. 9 USC takes on Boston College.
Head coach Steve Sarkisian was asked as well.
"Our goal is to go win the game," Sarkisian said. "If Leonard is healthy enough to play, he's going to play. We need to go win the game."
