University of Colorado Athletics
Back In His Groove: Joseph Williams' Long Road To Sept. 3
August 28, 2026 | Football
BOULDER — Joseph Williams gets chills thinking about it.
The third-year wide receiver hasn't played a football game since November. So when the Buffs open the season at Georgia Tech on Sept. 3 — a date Williams rattles off without hesitation — it won't just be an opener. It will be the end of the longest stretch of his life without the game that, in his words, is all he really has.
"I get little chills thinking about the game," Williams said. "I haven't played football since November last year, so it's just a different feeling right now for me."
Getting here required a decision first. When last season ended and the transfer portal churned, Williams had a choice to make, and the biggest reason he's still in Boulder wears a whistle.
"I'd probably say the biggest reason I stayed at Colorado is just probably Coach Shad," Williams said of wide receivers coach Rashad Davis, "Coach Shad" to his players. "He's someone I could fall back onto when I know I need someone to look at — someone that can help me grow not only as a player but as a man."
The feeling runs both ways. Ask Davis about Williams and the coach-speak disappears.
"Well, for me, when you talk about Joseph, now you're touching my heart," Davis said. "He's like a little brother to me and a son to me. So when he wanted to stay — me and him had some real talks at the end of the season last year. We had some really close conversations, and I couldn't be more happy that he decided to continue to play with his brothers here at Colorado and finish his career."
The time away tested that resolve. Williams spent the offseason rehabilitating a knee injury, watching spring practice instead of running routes in it. He has come to see the forced pause differently than he did when it started.
"I felt like I really needed that," Williams said. "I felt like I was pushing myself a lot, and I felt like my body needed a break, and that gave my body a real nice break. And it also helped me — like, football is all I really got. So being away from football made the love for the game increase even more."
He didn't go through it alone. Veteran receiver DeAndre Moore, a fourth-year transfer, turned his own home into an extension of the receiver room — film sessions on the couch, reps on the JUGS machine he keeps at the house.
"I'm super grateful DeAndre came around," Williams said. "He's taught me a lot of things — like from being a man, being a football player, and how to approach things. I go to his house a lot. We just chill, watch film. We catch JUGS with each other — he has a JUGS machine at home. So I feel like him being here has helped me grow."
Davis has watched that relationship pay off all camp.
"He's been that leader for Joseph, and Joseph is making some really big steps," Davis said. "I'm talking about, he's going to have a big year due to the leadership of DeAndre."
The turning point came in Colorado Springs, where the Buffs opened fall camp living dorm to dorm with no phones and no distractions. Somewhere in that week, the receiver who had spent months managing a knee started playing like the one who didn't have to think about it.
"I felt like that first week of when we were in Colorado Springs was — I'm getting back in my groove of things, getting back confident in my knee," Williams said. "I feel like probably maybe the first scrimmage is when I felt like, yeah, I feel like I'm finally back."
Back, but not finished. That's the part that says the most about where Williams is right now: given the chance to declare himself all the way home, he counted the days on the calendar instead.
"But I still got room to go," Williams said. "I still got what, 10 days to the first game? So I'm still trying to quickly improve before Georgia Tech."
Six days. Then Atlanta, a primetime kickoff and the first snap since November for a receiver who learned, the hard way, exactly how much he missed it.
His teammates won't need to check on him when it arrives. Neither will his coach. The kid brother of the receiver room is back — and by his own accounting, still getting better.
The third-year wide receiver hasn't played a football game since November. So when the Buffs open the season at Georgia Tech on Sept. 3 — a date Williams rattles off without hesitation — it won't just be an opener. It will be the end of the longest stretch of his life without the game that, in his words, is all he really has.
"I get little chills thinking about the game," Williams said. "I haven't played football since November last year, so it's just a different feeling right now for me."
Getting here required a decision first. When last season ended and the transfer portal churned, Williams had a choice to make, and the biggest reason he's still in Boulder wears a whistle.
"I'd probably say the biggest reason I stayed at Colorado is just probably Coach Shad," Williams said of wide receivers coach Rashad Davis, "Coach Shad" to his players. "He's someone I could fall back onto when I know I need someone to look at — someone that can help me grow not only as a player but as a man."
The feeling runs both ways. Ask Davis about Williams and the coach-speak disappears.
"Well, for me, when you talk about Joseph, now you're touching my heart," Davis said. "He's like a little brother to me and a son to me. So when he wanted to stay — me and him had some real talks at the end of the season last year. We had some really close conversations, and I couldn't be more happy that he decided to continue to play with his brothers here at Colorado and finish his career."
The time away tested that resolve. Williams spent the offseason rehabilitating a knee injury, watching spring practice instead of running routes in it. He has come to see the forced pause differently than he did when it started.
"I felt like I really needed that," Williams said. "I felt like I was pushing myself a lot, and I felt like my body needed a break, and that gave my body a real nice break. And it also helped me — like, football is all I really got. So being away from football made the love for the game increase even more."
He didn't go through it alone. Veteran receiver DeAndre Moore, a fourth-year transfer, turned his own home into an extension of the receiver room — film sessions on the couch, reps on the JUGS machine he keeps at the house.
"I'm super grateful DeAndre came around," Williams said. "He's taught me a lot of things — like from being a man, being a football player, and how to approach things. I go to his house a lot. We just chill, watch film. We catch JUGS with each other — he has a JUGS machine at home. So I feel like him being here has helped me grow."
Davis has watched that relationship pay off all camp.
"He's been that leader for Joseph, and Joseph is making some really big steps," Davis said. "I'm talking about, he's going to have a big year due to the leadership of DeAndre."
The turning point came in Colorado Springs, where the Buffs opened fall camp living dorm to dorm with no phones and no distractions. Somewhere in that week, the receiver who had spent months managing a knee started playing like the one who didn't have to think about it.
"I felt like that first week of when we were in Colorado Springs was — I'm getting back in my groove of things, getting back confident in my knee," Williams said. "I feel like probably maybe the first scrimmage is when I felt like, yeah, I feel like I'm finally back."
Back, but not finished. That's the part that says the most about where Williams is right now: given the chance to declare himself all the way home, he counted the days on the calendar instead.
"But I still got room to go," Williams said. "I still got what, 10 days to the first game? So I'm still trying to quickly improve before Georgia Tech."
Six days. Then Atlanta, a primetime kickoff and the first snap since November for a receiver who learned, the hard way, exactly how much he missed it.
His teammates won't need to check on him when it arrives. Neither will his coach. The kid brother of the receiver room is back — and by his own accounting, still getting better.
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