Stepfret Williams III (born June 14, 1973) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wit ...

wide receiver in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

(NFL) for the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divis ...

and

Cincinnati Bengals The Cincinnati Bengals are a professional American football team based in Cincinnati. The Bengals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The club's home ...

. He played college football at the

University of Louisiana at Monroe The University of Louisiana Monroe (ULM) is a public university in Monroe, Louisiana. It is part of the University of Louisiana System. History ULM opened in 1931 as Ouachita Parish Junior College. Three years later it became the Northeast Ce ...

Early years

Williams attended Minden High School, where his father was an assistant football coach. As a senior, he received All-state honors playing

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

, while also being named an All-district selection at wide receiver, after registering 15 receptions for 350 yards. He accepted a football scholarship from the

. As a freshman he played behind Vincent Brisby, making 5 receptions for 86 yards and one

touchdown A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the ball into the opponent's end zone. In Americ ...

in 5 games. His first career catch was good for a 43-yard

in a 38-10 win over

Nicholls State University Nicholls State University is a public university in Thibodaux, Louisiana. Founded in 1948, Nicholls is part of the University of Louisiana System. Originally named Francis T. Nicholls Junior College, the university is named for Francis T. Nicho ...

. In the

Division I-AA The NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), formerly known as Division I-AA, is the second-highest level of college football in the United States, after the Football Bowl Subdivision. Sponsored by the National Collegiate Athleti ...

playoffs, he made 86 (second longest in school history) and 32-yard

receptions against

Alcorn State University Alcorn State University (Alcorn State, ASU or Alcorn) is a public historically black land-grant university adjacent to Lorman, Mississippi. It was founded in 1871 and was the first black land grant college established in the United States. ...

. As a sophomore, he became a starter and the team's leading wide receiver, recording 40 catches for 929 yards (18th in the nation), 10 receiving

s (school record) and the first of three straight All-Southland Conference selections. As a junior, the league moved from

to Division I. In a higher level of competition, he produced 57 receptions for 1,106 yards (sixth in the nation and a school record), 10

s and six 100-yard receiving games (school record). In his final year, he had 66 receptions (14th in the nation and a school record) for 1,056 yards (12th in the nation) and 12

s (school record). Against

Mississippi State University Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univer ...

, he made 12 receptions for 167 yards and scoring catches of 32, 39 and 7 yards in a 34-32 win. The following game against the

University of Nevada The University of Nevada, Reno (Nevada, the University of Nevada, or UNR) is a public land-grant research university in Reno, Nevada. It is the state's flagship public university and primary land grant institution. It was founded on October 12, ...

, he had 10 receptions for 264 yards (school record) and 4

s (76, 8, 40 and 60 yards) for 24 points (school record). He also played in the

Senior Bowl The Senior Bowl is a post-season college football all-star game played annually in late January or early February in Mobile, Alabama, which showcases the best NFL Draft prospects of those players who have completed their college eligibility. ...

. Williams is considered to be one of the greatest wide receivers in school history, after setting 15 records, including career marks with 3,177 receiving yards, 33

s, 16 one hundred yard receiving games, 11 receptions over 50 yards, the first UL Monroe player to gain over 1,000 yards twice in a career, the top two single-season yardage totals, two of the top four single-season reception totals and the top three single-season

totals.

Professional career

Dallas Cowboys

Williams was selected by the

in the third round (94th overall) of the

1996 NFL Draft The 1996 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 20–21, 1996, at the Paramount ...

. As a rookie, he was on the inactive list for six weeks and both playoff games, registering only one reception for 36 yards. The next year, he earned the team's third down wide receiver role and registered 30 receptions (15 for

first downs A down is a period in which a play transpires in gridiron football. The down is a distinguishing characteristic of the game compared to other codes of football, but is synonymous with a "tackle" in rugby league. The team in possession of the ...

) for 308 yards and one

. In

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

, he missed most of

training camp A training camp is an organized period in which military personnel or athletes participate in a rigorous and focused schedule of training in order to learn or improve skills. Athletes typically utilise training camps to prepare for upcoming events, ...

with a strained left hamstring. In the second game against the

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division, an ...

, he led the team with career-highs of 5 receptions for 53 yards. He finished the year with 30 receptions, which was the best performance by the team's third receiver since Kelvin Martin had 32 receptions in

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment building in Amsterdam after two of its engines ...

. Nineteen of his catches came on third down (12th best in the NFC) and 15 of his final 22 receptions came on third down and resulted in a first down. In his third season, the Cowboys changed

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other Coach (sport), coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manage ...

es, and after the team was forced to re-sign Sherman Williams because of an injury to backup

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. The ...

Chris Warren, the team released Williams because of performance issues and to remain under the salary cap.

Cincinnati Bengals

On September 2,

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

, Williams was claimed off waivers by the

. He played in five games, registering six receptions for 81 yards and a

. He was released before the start of the 1999 season.

San Diego Chargers

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

, he signed as a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

with the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

, but was released on September 1.

Birmingham Thunderbolts (XFL)

He was selected in the sixth round of the

2001 XFL Draft The 2001 XFL Draft was the only draft for the first-iteration XFL football league. The draft took place over a three-day time period from October 28 to October 30, 2000, during which time a total of 475 players were selected by the league's 8 te ...

by the Birmingham Thunderbolts. The XFL folded at the end of its debut season, after Williams was its leading receiver with 51 catches for 828 yards (league leader) and 2

References

External links

Stepfret Williams XFL bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Stepfret 1973 births Living people People from Webster Parish, Louisiana Players of American football from Louisiana American football wide receivers Minden High School (Minden, Louisiana) alumni Louisiana–Monroe Warhawks football players Dallas Cowboys players Cincinnati Bengals players Birmingham Thunderbolts players