Gloria Williams is not the type of person to inject herself into a conversation about her son Tyleik.
If the subject comes up, she lets others first mention her relationship to the standout defensive tackle at Ohio State and former Unity High School all-state performer. Then she’s happy to answer questions.
It’s her humble way of making the discussion about Tyleik and not herself.
So, when she and her manager at Walmart noticed a man wearing an Ohio State hoodie in the store last Friday morning, Gloria did what she usually does in these situations. She stood back, and in this case, let her manager initiate things.
The exchange started with a saying every Ohio State football fan knows: One says OH and the other IO.
Gloria and her manager then learned the man was an Ohio State graduate who clearly followed the football team.
Sensing one final opening, the manager kept going. He asked the man if he knew who No. 91 was on the Ohio State football roster. The man said, of course, that’s Tyleik Williams. Finally, the conversation came full circle when the manager let the man know that Gloria was Tyleik’s mother.
So excited by this chance meeting, the man asked to take a photo with Gloria. She agreed, but in typical fashion refused to let the moment go to her head.
“[Tyleik] gets all the credit for all the work he’s done,” Gloria said.
Tyleik has done quite a bit during his illustrious Ohio State career. Now he’s hoping to cap it off with a national title Monday when the eighth-seeded Buckeyes play fifth-seeded Notre Dame in Atlanta.
If Ohio State wins, Williams will become the first player from Prince William County to win a national title in football since 2014 Woodbridge graduate Da’Shawn Hand did with Alabama in January 2018. The defensive lineman spent this past season with the Miami Dolphins.
The chance to claim Ohio State’s first national football title since 2015 is a big reason Tyleik and other members of Ohio State’s highly regarded 2021 recruiting class came back for another season instead of becoming likely high-round NFL Draft picks in 2024.
The Buckeyes have gone 46-8 in Williams’ four years but have only competed for a national title once before during that time. That was in 2022 when Ohio State lost in the national semifinals to top-seeded Georgia 42-41.
To make a run at a national title this season, Ohio State used $20 million dollars from its NIL fund to attract players in the transfer portal and for its recruiting class. The money also helped retain players who had a chance for selection in the first two days of the 2024 NFL Draft.
Carroll Walker, Tyleik’s head coach at Unity Reed, was not surprised Tyleik returned to try and win a national title.
“He can gain experience, and they have a good team coming back,” Walker said. “It’s helped him a lot.”
Enough that analysts are projecting the 6-foot-3, 327-pounder as a first-round pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
If that happens, Williams would be the first Prince William County high school graduate taken that high in the NFL Draft.
Ryan Williams, a 2008 Stonewall Jackson graduate (now known as Unity Reed) is the highest local pick so far, going 38th overall (second round) to Arizona in 2011.
A running back, Ryan Williams is one of four graduates from the Manassas-based high school selected in the NFL Draft. Tyleik Williams’ selection would give Unity Reed the most picks (5) of any Prince William County high school.
In his latest projection, The Athletic’s Dane Brugler has Tyleik going No. 23 overall to the Green Bay Packers.
Tyleik’s ability to stop the run draws the most interest from NFL teams. It’s a trait he’s possessed from his youth football days with the Manassas Mutiny through his all-state career at Unity Reed.
“He has a knack for the ball inside the box,” said Terry Muse Sr, the Munity’s co-founder with his brother David.
Terry, who is related to Tyleik through Gloria’s side of the family, first started coaching Tyleik at age six. Tyleik played linebacker and running back with the Mutiny before switching to defensive line in high school.
Being a team-first player, Tyleik liked to block for his fellow Mutiny running backs. But when the team needed a goal-line score, it was Tyleik who got the call to carry the ball. He did and helped the Mutiny win two national titles at age eight and nine.
Terry Muse, who also coached Tyleik at Unity Reed, was not surprised either that he returned for another season.
“He loves football and routine,” Terry Muse said. “He wanted to seal the deal.”
Williams has a close relationship with his teammates, especially those he started at Ohio State with in 2021 as freshmen as part of a class that ranked second nationally. The opportunity to take care of unfinished business was too much to pass up.
“It’s a brotherhood,” said Gloria, who will be in Atlanta for the game with three of Williams’ siblings. “They wanted to go back for that national title.”
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