William Putnam (born August 13, 2000) 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 ...

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

for the

Las Vegas Raiders The Las Vegas Raiders are a professional American football team based in the Las Vegas Valley, Las Vegas metropolitan area. The Raiders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC West ...

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

Clemson Tigers The Clemson Tigers are the sport, athletic teams that represent Clemson University, located in Clemson, South Carolina. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I level (NCAA Divis ...

Early life and high school

Putnam grew up in

Chatham, Illinois Chatham is a village in Sangamon County, Illinois, Sangamon County, Illinois, United States. It is located south of Springfield, Illinois, Springfield and has a retail trade area that extends into four other municipalities, including Springfiel ...

and attended Glenwood High School before transferring to

Henry B. Plant High School H.B. Plant High School is a public high school located in the neighborhood of South Tampa in Tampa, Florida, United States. It opened in 1927 between South Himes Avenue on the east and Dale Mabry Highway on the west. The school is named after ra ...

during his junior year due to his father being with the U.S. Army as well as his job. He was selected to the 2019

All-American Bowl The All-American Bowl was an annual postseason college football bowl game played at Legion Field in Birmingham, Alabama from 1977 to 1990. The game was known as the Hall of Fame Classic from 1977 to 1985. In 1986, the National Football Foundatio ...

. He was a four-star rated recruit and committed to play

Clemson University Clemson University () is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university near Clemson, South Carolina, United States. - The blue-shaded pattern denotes university property. This shows Clemson University is ''out ...

over offers from Florida State, Auburn, Miami (FL), Michigan and Penn State.

College career

During Putnam's true freshman season in 2019, he played in 11 games, finishing the season with 192 snaps. During the 2020 season, he played in and started all 12 games, finishing the season with 790 snaps and a tackle leading the ACC as the only ream to allow fewer than two sacks per game. During the 2021 season, he played in and started 10 games, finishing the season with 633 offensive snaps and was a third-team all-conference pick by Phil Steele. During the 2022 season, he played in and started all 14 games as a first-year center. He finished the season with 996 offensive snaps which was the fourth-most in a season at center in Clemson history. He was also a third-team All-ACC selection. During the 2023 season, he played in and started all 13 games as a permanent team captain, finishing the season with 953 offensive snaps and as a third-team All-ACC selection.

Professional career

Putnam signed with the

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player or manager 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 a contract at present ...

on April 27, 2024. He was waived on August 27, and re-signed to the practice squad. He signed a reserve/future contract on January 6, 2025.

Personal life

Putnam is the grandson of former Lafayette head coach, Neil Putnam.

References

External links

Clemson Tigers bioLas Vegas Raiders bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Putnam, Will 2000 births Living people Players of American football from Illinois Sportspeople from Sangamon County, Illinois American football centers Henry B. Plant High School alumni Clemson Tigers football players Las Vegas Raiders players