Not a bad way to formally introduce yourself.
Three touchdowns. A little national halftime face-time courtesy TSN.
Your first century game in your first CFL start. A seismic 9.8-yard average.
Calgary, shake hands with Terry Williams.
“Whenever my number’s called again, I want to make sure that I’m ready,’’ declared the freshman tailback, trying to slip away from the limelight as easily as he ghosted past defenders Friday night. “Jerome Messam and Roy Finch do a great job in leading the league in different categories so I just didn’t want to take a step back with his offence.
“I wanted to keep it rolling.
“It’s not about me.
“My biggest thing coming in wasn’t numbers. It was blocking assignments. I just wanted to improve on that so coach could trust me a little more.
“I think I did a pretty good job but I’ll wait ’til I see the tape.”
It’ll make for idyllic (and repeated) viewing.
The 156 yards Williams compiled as Calgary ran riot 59-11 over the sagging Montreal Alouettes represents the most by a Stampeder ball-toter since Jon Cornish piled up 160 at Winnipeg in October of 2014.
The injury-necessitated shift, CFL rushing king Messam to the unproven Williams, promised a startling change of pace to the Stampeder ground game.
From bruiser to cruiser.
And he delivered as promised.
“We thought we had something with Terry,’’ said coach Dave Dickenson. “He’s been dynamic in practice and we needed to get him in a game. He was good tonight. He was fast and ran hard.
“He’s a guy we think we can build with, as well.”
On this night, Williams was nothing more than a wisp of smoke to a charred Alouette defence. As easy to pin down as a drop of mercury running along a linoleum tabletop.
Running back Terry Williams. (Photo by David Moll)
“Man, I mean, hey, I love having Messam back there every single game,’’ reminded quarterback Bo Levi Mitchell, who threw for a whopping 264 yards on only 14 completions. “The Alouettes just don’t have tape on (Williams).
“You can’t predict speed like that. Honestly, there were some times when I handed him the ball, was starting to boot away and he was already 30 yards downfield.
“Hats off to him for, one, his preparation. Obviously he’s talented. We all know that. We can all see that.
“But to be correct on all his footwork, correct on all his pass protections and rising to the occasion.”
In his night to remember, Williams bulled over the Montreal goal-line twice from close range before splitting the Als’ weakening defence wide open and sailing 45 yards to The House to cap a whiz-bang debut.
During the lead-up to his first start, Williams had been a model of politeness and reticence. And even in the wake of such a star-making turn, instead of yowling at the moon to commemorate his achievement, he again deferred.
“Only one time,’’ replied Mitchell, when asked if the new guy had betrayed himself with any sort of emotion on the field or sideline. “I saw him barely do a little shoulder thing. But that’s lower-case ‘c.’ He doesn’t like to celebrate that much.”
“I’ll scream and shout,’’ Williams chimed in, “when I go home for the bye week.”
In point of fact, Messam actually called the shot following the Stamps’ walk-through Thursday morning, predicting, only half-jokingly, that Williams would scamper for 120-yard plus.
“He’s been hugging me all day,’’ Williams said with delight. “He’s really proud of me.”
Okay. Great. But isn’t there a danger that a 255-pound guy putting the clamp on someone might, say, crack a rib?
“I’m like ‘Messam, get off me!’” laughed Williams.
“When I was in the open field, I thought about (Finch) and when I was chugging it up in short yards, I thought about Jerome cause they’re like my big brothers.”
When Williams burrowed over from a yard away on third-and-goal for his first CFL touchdown with three seconds left in the first quarter, Messam might’ve just been the second happiest man in McMahon, making sure he got the ball as a keepsake for his teammate.
“Jerome,’’ said Williams gratefully, “came to my house yesterday to make sure I knew my assignments.”
All the Stampeders, in each of the three phases, were practically flawless assignment-wise in collecting a 10th win on the trot and threatening once again to topple the franchise record of 62 points in a game.
“I thought the offence has been a little depressed the last few weeks,’’ acknowledged Dickenson. “We didn’t really have that same swagger or feel. So we wanted to be aggressive, get touchdowns.
“(I) went for it early on third-and-one cause I felt we needed a touchdown. And got it.”
Courtesy that man Williams.
As if the 12-1-1 league leaders didn’t possess enough offensive options, another formally introduced himself to Calgary Friday.
And they hit it off right away.
“We’ll see,’’ said Mitchell. “It’ll be very tough to get him on the roster if both Messam and Roy are healthy.
“I think Roy can do that as well, as far as being that kind of guy.
“But, man, (Williams) proved himself tonight. To see some of those plays where he has five guys in front of him, just splits them and takes off …
“You can’t coach that.
“It was awesome to have him on the field.”