Inspirational Leader: Central’s Manny Williams Returns from Preseason Car Accident to Help Team to Semifinals
by: William Weathers // GeauxPreps.com Contributor
Sixty-five days after his body went through hell as the result of a car accident that resulted in a multi-week stay in the hospital, followed by extensive rehabilitation, senior Manny Williams took his rightful place in Central’s backfield last Friday.
The fourth-seeded Wildcats hosted West Monroe in a Division I non-select state quarterfinal and for the first time this season, were able to have Williams in the starting backfield next to senior quarterback Jackson Firmin, who was part of the Sept. 4 accident that also involved wide receiver Kylen Thomas.
The 5-foot-7, 175-Williams faced a litany of injuries as a result of the wreck the day before the team’s opener at De La Salle. A fractured hip, hairline fracture of the jaw, fractured collarbone, collapsed lung, and lacerated liver were among the obstacles standing between Williams and his final season of high school football.
“He’s a living, breathing metaphor for what we’re trying to be as a program,” Central High football coach David Simoneaux Jr. said of Williams. “I’m so proud he’s been able to get his moment in the sun last Friday, this Friday, and another one to come.”
Simoneaux was able to surprise Williams, along with his entire team that his projected starter at running back would return on a limited basis for the state quarterfinal. He made the address the morning of the team’s practice on Thanksgiving, telling Williams that an exhaustive number of tests and phone calls in conjunction with Williams’ physician Dr. Jeremy Burnham, resulted in him being cleared to 15 plays against the Rebels.
Williams immediately embraced Simoneaux while teammates loudly applauded in unison.
“I didn’t know I was playing last week,” Williams said. “I went to see the doctor during our bye week (Nov. 13), and he told me to get x-rays. They were worried about my hip coming out of the socket, but it was healed. I got clearance for my jaw, liver, and lungs.”
Williams kept things under wraps, much like he did his Sept. 13 discharge from the hospital when he was wheeled into Wildcat Stadium for a home game with Denham Springs.
Williams went through his game day ritual for the West Monroe contest which included plenty of idle time with school out for the Thanksgiving holiday. He got taped and dressed in the locker room, went out for stretching and when Central ran its first play from scrimmage, Williams was next to Firmin in the Wildcats’ spread offense.
On the second play of the game, the two connected on a swing pass for five yards, but for Williams, it simply felt good to enjoy such a moment that wasn’t promised 2 ½ months ago.
“I wanted to make the 15 reps count with any chance I got,” Williams said. “It didn’t hit me until I got back to the sideline. When I was in the game, I was dialed in. I didn’t hear everybody screaming. I was just focused.”
Central was locked in a defensive battle that was scoreless at halftime. Firmin broke a long run for a 78-yard touchdown and the Wildcats came back to snap a 7-7 deadlock in the third quarter on Marvin Joseph’s 9-yard TD run when they put things out of reach near the end of the third quarter.
Facing a second-and-eight from West Monroe’s 29-yard line and with 18 seconds to go, Firmin handed off to Williams who initially looked to take the play outside to the right.
He patiently waited for his blocks to take place, cut back toward the middle of the field, squeezed through a hole, and broke free at the 20, speeding into the end zone where there wasn’t a dry eye in the stadium.
Simoneaux included.
The plight of three players who were eventually reduced to the resilience of one – Williams – had captivated the Central community and the entire football team.
“It was an emotional moment,” said Simoneaux, whose 11-1 team travels to No. 1 Neville (11-1) in a state semifinal at 7 p.m. Friday. “That was a special night for so many reasons, but this was the tip of the iceberg. To take it one step further, and for him to bust a big run against a great defense, was huge. The first time he touched the ball there was a surge of energy it gave our stadium.”
Photographers in the end zone caught the indelible image of a huge smile across the face of Williams scoring for the first time in 376 days. He ran toward a group of fans sitting in stands and demonstrated his basketball shooting ability with the football.
It was nothing but net, especially after all of his joyous offensive teammates showed up to celebrate with him.
“It was pretty emotional,” Williams said. “I kind of teared up. I kind of went to the right and cut back where everybody flowed one way. It was awesome. It was such a relief after everything I’ve been through.”
The irony of Williams’ score was that it occurred on his 16th play from scrimmage – one more than prescribed by his doctors.
“I didn’t know until about 30 minutes after the game in a text message,” Simoneaux said. “I replied, ‘I’m glad y’all lost count.’”
Season turning upside down
Williams was in the back seat of a vehicle headed to a team dinner before dark with Firmin and Thomas when the car they were in was struck from behind on Greenwell Springs Road. The car then spun around and rolled off the road and flipped into a ditch.
Simoneaux has often used the analogy with his team in his two seasons at Central to face “The Storm” head-on instead of retreating. He wanted his players to walk toward any adversity that may occur in a game to influence a positive result.
Williams said that he ended up in the front seat and managed to crawl out and instead of leaving the scene for help, remained and helped remove Firmin from the vehicle until emergency responders reached them.
“I woke up and saw Jackson on top of Kylen,” Williams said. “I blacked out after doing something for a minute. I laid out in the grass, looked over to see everybody, and then blacked out. Then we’re in the ambulance getting rushed to the hospital (Our Lady of the Lake). We were in the hallway on stretchers talking to each other and then they put us in a room. I begged for water but couldn’t swallow. I just suffered for two or three hours. I tried to get the neck brace off.”
While Firmen and Thomas’ injuries were not life-threatening and both were released the following day and able to attend Central’s 14-3 win in New Orleans, the story was much different from Williams’ perspective.
A long, arduous road was ahead to deal with the injuries he sustained.
To perform surgery to place a plate in his jaw, Williams was placed in a medically induced coma and connected to a ventilator. He spent time in the ICU, was moved to a rehabilitation room, and was placed on a clear-food diet.
He lost 20 pounds, but his spirit never wavered.
“They showed me how to walk with a crutch which I mastered before they even showed me,” Williams said. “They showed me how to get up and put on my clothes, but I could already do that. I took a shower and they’re like, ‘You’re not like a normal patient. You’re progressing really fast.’”
Williams said within a couple of days he improved his range of motion in his right arm which he could barely raise halfway upon his arrival. He worked on balance and distributing his weight on his injured hip.
“It was hard, but there’s nothing harder than our offseason,” Williams said.
Interest in Williams’ health spread throughout the community. The already well-liked running back, who spent the summer umpiring a youth baseball league, had become the topic of conversation with a lengthy line of visitors clamoring to see him.
That began with his teammates, classmates, friends, and others who were naturally drawn to him.
“KD (Mays) checked my location, he called around,” Wiliams said. “They heard about the wreck, and everyone rushed to the hospital. I only remember a couple of people, but they said there were a lot there. It was every day. They had to shut down my visitors because there were so many people outside. They had to call security because people were trying to get in. It was crazy.”
Simoneaux realized the process of Williams rejoining the team, much less playing again, was minimal. He was just thankful that his life was spared, along with Firmin and Thomas.
“There are these feel-good stories,” he said. “It was hard to muster up (confidence of a return) when he’s coming out of his coma. He could barely talk. His jaw was wired shut after putting the plate in. We went to visit and he’s still swollen from the wreck.
“We had to help him sit up in his chair,” he said. “He was so far gone it was hard to conjure up the idea that he was going to be able to come back. You knew the jaw was going to hold him back from being able to eat any solids, that he was going to lose a ton of weight. We were so wrapped up in him just having his life that we were kind of ready to concede his senior football season.”
Getting out of the hospital, getting on with life
To this day Williams is still unsure of the doctor who provided him with the best medicine he needed to leave the hospital.
Much to his disdain, when he wasn’t in therapy, in a wheelchair, or trying to walk with a crutch, Williams was saddled with enough downtime to make him uneasy.
Then one day, possibly a doctor he figured, showed up in his room with all the advice he needed about his future.
“I didn’t know who he was,” Williams said, “but this man said if you stay in this bed any longer, you’re going to be here for a while. After that, I was up early the next morning.
“I’m a person that doesn’t like to be inside for too long, I like to be outside, moving and doing something,” Williams said. “It was hard. I’m not someone to just look at TV all day. I was like, ‘I’ve got to do something. I’ve got to get out of here. I kept telling my parents (Martin and Christine) that I couldn’t be here.”
Williams’ persistence seemed to speed up his stay in the hospital. He was diligent in his rehab and his recovery went so well, that he was released in time for the game with Denham Springs, a 31-6 victory.
The school’s athletic secretary, Amanda Lipinski, brought Williams to the stadium in a wheelchair where he received a warm greeting.
“I was supposed to be in there way longer,” he said. “I went in and did everything and mastered stuff. They couldn’t do any more for me. They don’t work with athletes a lot and sent me home. They had me going to physical therapy where they work with athletes.
“Going to the game was amazing,” he said. “It was emotional, a night to remember. It showed me that the community cared for me.”
Williams took a week off after his release from the hospital before returning to school. He couldn’t wait to attend football practice where his teammates went undefeated for the first six weeks of the season.
The Wildcats’ unblemished season ended Oct. 18 with a road loss to eventual District 4-5A champion Catholic High, 35-17.
They haven’t lost since and are on the cusp of advancing to the first state championship game in school history.
That weekend after the defeat, Simoneaux invited his entire senior to his home in the country where they threw around a football, and enjoyed a meal prepared by Simoneaux’s wife.
It didn’t take long for Simoneaux to see how much Williams meant to his classmates.
“All those guys had been playing football and he hadn’t,” Simoneaux said. “He still commanded the respect of those guys unlike any of the other dudes did. He seemed to be the uncle of the group. It’s just been neat to see their respect for him and their amount of reverence for what he’s been through and the way he’s stayed the course.”
Biding his time
Williams had hopes of being Central’s starting running back in 2023 when he was edged out of the position by eventual 1,000-yard rusher Damon Blocker.
That didn’t preclude Williams from carrying the ball, providing the Wildcats with a change-of-pace element in the backfield, but the majority of Willliam’s playing time was spent on defense at nickel back.
“Manny didn’t fully buy into being a force on defense until Week 6 in the Zachary game,” Simoneaux said. “Then all of a sudden it was, ‘there’s the 500-pound squatter. The guy we thought could be lights out. As soon as we could tell he was all in on the other side, he earned our trust on the offensive side, too.”
Williams said there was never a reluctance to play defense, but once his trust grew in playing the position, so did his productivity.
“It’s all a part of trusting the process, trusting your brothers,” he said. “It’s more like a brotherhood. If he’s got my back, I’ve got his back. I started acting differently. I felt the brotherhood. I didn’t really trust myself until the Zachary game. I had two sacks, and one was a forced fumble.”
Williams played in a total of 11 games, rushing 43 times for 304 yards and six touchdowns. He played a large role in the team’s opening-round 43-15 win at East St. John with a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns, and added 26 yards on seven carries, helping the Wildcats salt away their 17-16 regional win over Neville.
“The Neville game brought us all together,” Williams said. “It put a standard for the school. It was our time to show the younger guys how to come together. It was one of the best feelings.”
Central’s season came to an excruciating close a week later, dropping a 21-20 decision to Dutchtown in the state quarterfinals, but it was that bitter setback that set the wheels in more for an even greater 2024 season.
Williams remembered talking about his goals which were rooted in the team’s success, but also had his eyes on something tangible.
“We predicted I was going to go out there and have 1,000 yards this year,” he said. “You just never know what will happen. You can hope for the best, but you never know what can pop up in your life.”
Getting back to the field
Williams attacked the offseason with vigor, pushing himself like never before. He served as a leader, both on the practice field and in the weight room, giving the team a positive influence and trusted leader.
Central began closing in on the ’24 season, taking part in its fall scrimmage before traveling to East Ascension for its jamboree which it won, 10-0.
Six days later, all of the optimism of a banner season seemed to dissipate, and a collective concern turned to Firmin, Thomas, and Williams when their car was sent hurtling into a ditch.
“It happened so quick,” Williams said. “I learned that it was something I was facing and had to get over it.”
Williams faced the prospect of having to learn how to walk again and his diet, for six weeks, consisted of smoothies, mashed potatoes, and macaroni. He learned how to use a wheelchair to cover long distances and a crutch for shorter walks.
Getting back to the playing field remained atop Williams’ priority list, a door doctors kept ajar even after he was admitted with so many injuries that appeared would require the length of the season to heal.
“I didn’t want to let that cross my mind,” Williams said of the possibility of missing the entire year. “I kept being positive, you never know what can happen. You have to keep being a dog. It was never, ‘you cannot play. You’re out for the rest of the season. It was more, keep progressing, you can be back. You’ve got to keep pushing.”
Central featured an array of capable running backs in Williams’ place but never really replaced him.
There was more to Williams than just his ability to be a patient runner, with his vision and burst, he was a threat to score from anywhere on the field.
“There’s a certain presence he has when he’s standing next to Jackson,” Simoneaux said. “There’s a certain calm and a respect those two have for one another that only comes from being around each other so much.”
Upon his release from the hospital, Williams maintained a constant presence around the team. He attended every practice, team function, and game, where was viewed in a different light for his perseverance.
The Wildcats were playing for something bigger than themselves, they were playing for Williams.
“These kids wanted so bad to keep playing, so he got his opportunity,” Simoneaux said.
Following the team’s setback to Catholic High and with the team in the weight room, Williams’ recovery reached a new level. He was off to the side back squatting 315 pounds and later joined the team on the practice field, running around in cleats without pads.
Guarantees were never made, but all Williams could hold onto was his belief that he would play again. He continued to work toward getting passing marks from his doctors and therapists, leading Simoneaux to contact Burnham, a former walk-on fullback at LSU, to explore the possibility of Williams returning to action.
Simoneaux was encouraged that an original timeline of 12-16 weeks for a total recovery had shrunk to 10-12 weeks and the sight of Williams’ workout in the weight room was something he captured on film and sent to Burnham.
“During the bye week he was squatting and the week of Thanksgiving, I called Dr. Burnham who had already done a bunch of research,” Simoneaux said. “He felt he (Williams) needed to wait until the semifinals. I told him I respected his opinion more than anything and any decision he made I was good with.”
Simoneaux’s video evidence of Williams dealing with more than 300 pounds on his back, along with his ability to successfully squat, was enough for Burnham to seek additional opinions before rendering a decision.
“We had him in a no-contact jersey and it had been that way for several weeks,” Simoneaux said. “The hip fracture was the last thing holding him back. He was superhuman with all of these injuries, but when it comes to pelvic fractures, doctors don’t play around with those things. When he was in the weight room, he was supposed to be fairly limited lower body wise and he’s got 315 pounds on his back and he’s repping it 8-9 times.
“I pulled out my phone and said, ‘Oh gosh, you’re not supposed to be able to do these things,’” Simoneaux said. “I sent that video to Dr. Burnham and he said he wanted to call some more doctors and get some more opinions. He called me back that night and said there were some hoops to jump through, but the doctors he talked to thought it may be a good idea to start him on a tiered approach instead of throwing him in the semifinals and letting him play 60 snaps.”
Williams, now 15 pounds heavier since his release from the hospital, practiced in full gear in preparation for West Monroe. He had obtained all of the necessary clearances and the consent of his parents, setting the stage for a truly meaningful Thanksgiving morning and Simoneaux’s announcement of Williams’ return to the field.
“It’s unfinished business,” Williams said of Friday’s semifinal. “It’s just another storm.”
Featured Image Courtesy of Mandi Harris