By Mallory Mattingly
University of Texas dual-sport athlete Jonah Williams was seen reading his Bible on the baseball field before one of his games.
The football defensive back and outfielder for the Longhorns could be seen sitting in his baseball uniform, with his head down, headphones on and his Bible in his lap as he turned the pages.
“Beautiful moment as Texas baseball player Jonah Williams spent time on the field reading his Bible before the game time,” Christhlete shared in a video on social media.
Related: Why Texas DB Stays Faithful to the Lord: ‘God Has Everything Planned’
In September, Williams talked about how he manages both sports at one of the biggest Division I schools in the nation.
“So I try to get my time in with football during the baseball season in the morning ’cause practices are in the afternoon for baseball,” he said on an episode of the “Lawyers and Longhorns” podcast. “I’d come to practice, I wasn’t able to suit up, but I watched practice, I went through the meetings and then after I’d just go to baseball practice, get my workout in, stay extra and hit, and then that’s really how my schedule went.”
Williams says the skills he’s acquired playing football and baseball overlap.
“Playing outfield, tracking the ball, playing deep safety, deep half safety, one third safety. I mean, it’s the same thing really. It’s just different balls in the air. So it’s just tracking really helped me play deep safety out here,” he said.
Williams became a starter at Texas as freshman, and with not a whole lot of time to memorize the playbook, he is grateful for teammates like Michael Taaffe, who was a senior at the time.
“He knows the playbook like the back of his hand. So if I really have any questions about the playbook, I can just go to him or tweaks or hacks to be a better DB, I’d go to him. Really just lean on his shoulder ’cause he’s been here for five years so he knows pretty much everything about our defense,” Williams said of Taaffe.
On the baseball side of it, Williams didn’t get the start he wanted due to an jury he suffered in high school.
“My baseball season started off rocky ’cause I broke my collarbone week eight of my last high school football season,” he explained. “So when I first got here I was more rehabbing than playing actual baseball. We had a few tournaments I had to make the travel squad so I just kept my head down, kept working, eventually SEC play. I made the travel squad, and then I still was lacking playing time, but then Auburn series, they gave me a chance and I took it and ran with it and never looked back.”
Williams has embraced the crazy life of being a two-sport athlete at a power five school. He balances both sports and school with his faith in Christ, which is incredible to see.
Read Next: Texas QB Leads Team to Win Over Alabama: ‘God is So Good’
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