Schuylkill Haven's Chase Williams (76) blocks a Tri-Valley defender during their Week 10 matchup at Rotary Field (Photo by Mel Rose).

All-State lineman receives Preferred Walk-On offer from Nittany Lions

SCHUYLKILL HAVEN — Chase Williams wasn’t going to play college football.

One call from Penn State changed his mind.

The Schuylkill Haven senior lineman finalized a Preferred Walk-On offer with the Nittany Lions on Saturday. The 6-foot-3, 340-pound two-way starter is projected to play defensive tackle for new head coach Matt Campbell’s squad in State College.

“The first few days, just thinking about how I’ve idolized this school forever, the fact that they want me to even come up and play for their program, it’s just crazy,” Williams said Saturday afternoon. “That my name popped up on their board, it was so insane for me to think about.

“Every kid who plays football in Pennsylvania wants to go play for Penn State. This opportunity, it’s crazy.”

Williams was a four-year starter on both sides of the ball for the Hurricanes, helping Schuylkill Haven make three straight appearances in the District 11 Class AA championship game.

Offensively as a senior, the right tackle helped the Hurricanes average 386.3 yards rushing, 475.5 total yards and 53.4 points per game. He was named the Schuylkill County Football Coaches Association Small School Offensive Lineman of the Year.

Defensively, Williams collected 64 tackles and had an area-best 27 tackles from his tackle spot.

Williams received a bevy of postseason honors, being named to the Pennsylvania Football Writers’ Class AA All-State Team and the PAFootballNews.com Coaches’ Select Class AA All-State second team. Williams was chosen as the Lineman of the Year on the inaugural T102 Sports Now Tremendous 33 Team.

“Chase has been a cornerstone of our program over the past four years,” Schuylkill Haven coach Mike Farr said. “Playing at the point of attack offensively and anchoring our interior defense, he consistently performed at an exceptional level on both sides of the football.

“He now has a tremendous opportunity to attend PSU and compete at the next level — something that has been developing over the past few months. We are extremely excited for him and proud of all he has accomplished.”

Despite his on-field success and physical prowess, the 18-year-old Williams had decided to pursue his passion for firefighting and was headed to study fire science at Harrisburg Area Community College.

A member of the Liberty Fire and Schuylkill Hose companies in Schuylkill Haven, he is also a member of the Paxtonia Fire Company near Harrisburg in Dauphin County, where he was going to be a live-in.

In mid-January, right after Campbell was hired as Penn State’s head coach, the Nittany Lions reached out to Williams and extended him a Preferred Walk-On offer. As a PWO, players are guaranteed a roster spot but don’t receive any financial assistance or scholarship and apply to Penn State like every other regular student.

“Two years ago, the summer going into my junior year, I kind of figured out that I didn’t want to go play football in college,” said Williams, whose dad and grandfather, the late Rich Williams, are/were long-time members of the Schuylkill Haven Fire Department.

“I’ve always loved firefighting and I decided that’s what I wanted to do. I started looking into firefighting career jobs and expanding my horizons with firefighting. That was really my plan until two months ago when I got the phone call that Penn State was interested in me coming up and being a Preferred Walk-On.

“I had no idea that this was going to unfold. My mind was completely made up, then I got that phone call.”

The son of Andy Williams and Joleen Hallick, Chase got the phone call from Will Reimann, who is listed as the assistant general manager in the scouting and recruiting department. Williams sent Penn State his tapes and video, then waited.

Finally, Williams was contacted this weekend and told that his application was accepted and the PWO offer was official.

“For a while, I didn’t know what was going on,” Williams said. “The recruiting process is super strange. It’s really hard to know where you’re at. … I’ve just been waiting and waiting. The wait was longer than I expected.”

Williams is the second member of Schuylkill Haven’s senior class to head to a NCAA Division I school in the Big Ten. Running back Niko Castillo signed to play at the University of Minnesota in December.

Two other Schuylkill Haven seniors, Niko Carestia (Bloomsburg) and Wyatt Keefer (Wheeling, West Virginia) have also committed to play college football.

While neither Castillo nor Williams are expected to see playing time as a freshman, the Golden Gophers travel to Happy Valley this season to play the Nittany Lions on Saturday, Nov. 14, at Beaver Stadium.

“It’s crazy to think that in a few years, because Niko Castillo is going to play running back and I’m going to play defensive line, there’s a very good chance that we might have a snap together,” Williams said. “That will definitely be a strange thing to be playing against my teammate.

“I’m super excited for him, he’s got a great opportunity at Minnesota. I’m obviously super excited about my path.”

Perhaps the biggest caveat to Williams accepting the offer to play at Penn State is that his uncle, Schuylkill Haven Mayor John Williams, is one of the county’s biggest and vocal University of Michigan football fans. The issue has drawn a lot of attention among Chase’s family and friends.

“When I told him the whole Penn State thing a few days after the phone call, he was like … ‘I’m super excited for you, but this is going to be super rough for me on Facebook,” Chase said. “He said, ‘I’m never going to hear the end of this.’ He was funny about it.”