Mykel DeAnthony Williams (born June 29, 2004) is an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

for the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

Georgia Bulldogs The Georgia Bulldogs are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Georgia. The Bulldogs compete in NCAA Division I and are members of the Southeastern Conference (SEC). The offic ...

, winning a

national championship A national championship(s) is the top achievement for any sport or competition, contest within a league of a particular nation or nation state. The title is usually awarded by contests, ranking systems, stature, ability, etc. This determines the be ...

in 2022. Williams was selected by the 49ers in the first round of the

2025 NFL draft The 2025 NFL draft was the 90th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible players. The draft was held at Lambeau Field and its adjacent Titletown District in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on April 24–26, 2025 ...

Early life

Williams was born on June 29, 2004, in

Warm Springs, Georgia Warm Springs is a city in Meriwether County, Georgia, United States. The population was 465 at the 2020 census. History Warm Springs, originally named "Bullochville" (after the Bulloch family, which began after Stephen Bullock moved to Meriw ...

, later attending Hardaway High School in nearby Columbus. After his senior season, he was named the Maxwell Football National High School Defensive Player of the Year. A five star prospect, Williams was ranked by

247Sports 247Sports is an American network of websites that focus mainly on college recruiting, athletic recruitment in college football and college basketball, basketball. It is owned and operated by Paramount Global, Paramount. The website hosts a large ...

as the fourth-best recruit in the 2022 recruiting class.

College career

Williams initially committed to

USC USC may refer to: Education United States * Universidad del Sagrado Corazón, Santurce, Puerto Rico * University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina ** University of South Carolina System, a state university system of South Carolina * ...

, but flipped to Georgia in October 2021. He was the highest-rated recruit signed by defending national champion Georgia in the 2022 recruiting cycle. In July 2022, Georgia head coach

Kirby Smart Kirby Paul Smart (born December 23, 1975) is an American football coach and former player. He is the current head football coach at the University of Georgia, his alma mater. As head coach, he led the Bulldogs to back-to-back national champion ...

said of Williams: "The number one thing that stands out about Mykel is his work ethic.... I'm excited for him... He's a great young man." As a true freshman in 2022,

CBS Sports CBS Sports is the American sports programming division of Paramount Global that is responsible for sports broadcasts carried by its broadcast network CBS and streaming service Paramount+, as well as the operator of its cable channel CBS Sports N ...

rated him as a "freshman to watch", and ESPN rated him as a preseason true freshman All-American. He played in Georgia's 2022 season opener against No.11

Oregon Oregon ( , ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is a part of the Western U.S., with the Columbia River delineating much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while t ...

and registered two quarterback hurries. At the end of the season, he was named to Pro Football Focus's PFF True Freshman All-America team. Williams' number at Georgia was #13.

Professional career

On January6, 2025, Williams declared for the

. Williams was selected by the

in the first round with the 11th overall pick in the

. On May 14, Williams signed with the 49ers on a four-year deal worth $24.943 million.

References

External links

San Franciso 49ers profile

Georgia Bulldogs profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Mykel 2004 births Living people Players of American football from Columbus, Georgia American football defensive ends Georgia Bulldogs football players San Francisco 49ers players