It took family members in his ear, and one call from running backs coach Dennis Erickson for Utah senior running back Joe Williams to return to the football field just one month after stepping away from the game completely because of the physical it took on the running back’s body.

Then after a 36-23 win against Arizona, in a game where the Utes lost a third running back to injury in the span of two weeks, Williams, the former Emmaus High School tailback, began hearing from friends and relatives about coming back to help his school and former team.

“It was tough sitting in the stands and seeing my teammates go down like that,” Williams said. “I still wasn’t sure if I wanted to come back, I just took everything in one ear and out of the other.

“One of the biggest deciding factors was being there and seeing them go down, it was like a weight on my shoulders. I’m a team-first guy. Coach [Erickson] called me a day later, and I came back.”

Since his return after missing four games, Williams sparked the Utah backfield. He rushed for more than 100 yards in five consecutive games. In his sixth and the team’s final game of the season he ran for 97 yards.

In an October 22 win over UCLA, Williams ran for an FBS season-high and school-record 332 yards and a school record-tying four touchdowns on 29 carries. He was named the Walter Camp National Offensive player of the week, and the Pac-12 offensive player of the week following the game.

On the season, he finished with totals of 1,185 yards and nine touchdowns on 184 attempts.

“The offensive line has been so good to me,” said Williams. “I have the speed to make cuts and get down field, but it is a testament to them with the effort and strength they put out there to make the holes that makes my job easier. All the credit to them. They see things that I don’t’ see. Our Center went down during the season, and we were close, so it was hard on me. We’re all family here.”

At Emmaus, Williams rushed for 1,243 yards his senior year, and was named first team All-Lehigh Valley Conference. He also won league titles in track in the 100-meter and 200-meter dashes.

After graduating from Emmaus in 2011, Williams enrolled at Forks Union Military Academy in Virginia. After just one semester, he received a scholarship to play football at the University of Connecticut, where he played in nine games as a freshman.

In 2014, Williams transferred to ASA College in Brooklyn, NY, where he was named a second-team NJCAA All-American and to the first-team all-Northeast Football Conference. He led the NEFC in rushing and ranked fourth in the nation with 1,093 yards and seven touchdowns in just seven games.

Because ASA is a two-year school, Williams again needed to find another home. That is when he discovered the University of Utah, arriving in the spring of 2015.

“Everything has been great out here,” Williams said. “It just seemed like an easy transition, and I settled in nicely from the first day I arrived.”

During his first season out west, Williams had minimal playing time, until starting back and current Denver Broncos running back Devontae Booker fell to a season-ending injury in November of last year. Williams finished the final three games of the year by running for 399 yards and three touchdowns.

He quickly learned how much time he needed to spend on working on his game off the field.

“Preparing in the film room and weight room,” said Williams about what it took to play at the Division I level. “Also the help of Devantae Booker preparing me for the big defenses that you see every week was a big help. I wanted to carry on the success from last year into this season.”

After a tough two-game stretch at the beginning of the year, and multiple concussions and knee/back injuries, Williams stepped away, announcing his retirement from the game. He eventually changed his mind and the results were outstanding for both him and his team.

He is unsure of his next step after college football, but Williams still has one more game to play in 2016. Utah squares off against Indiana on December 28 in the Foster Farms Bowl in Santa Clara, CA.