Rogers QB Dane Williams grew up learning the game, now shares sideline with his dad

By Steve Andrews | Photos by Sadie Rucker  

Dane Williams grew up groomed to play defense. Which is expected when your father has spent his entire 33-year career coaching on the defensive side of the football field.

But it was an intuitive notion to buck the trend and flip to the offensive side that now has him and his Rogers High School teammates soaring once again this season.

“Growing up with my dad, I was definitely influenced to be a defensive player my whole life,” Williams said with a chuckle. “But I started throwing the football around in ninth grade and began to pick that up a little bit. I just wanted to play quarterback.”

The 6-foot, 190-pound junior is in his first season as the Mounties’ starting signal-caller and has surprised everyone, other than himself, at the success he has had so far.

“I’m not really a quarterback expert, so I didn’t really know how it would work out,” said his dad, Dale, Rogers’ defensive coordinator. “I knew he wanted to be a quarterback, and I knew he would work hard to become a quarterback. I knew he would work hard enough to at least give himself a chance to play. And so far, it has kind of played out like we had hoped it would.”

Dane has completed 141 of his 212 pass attempts – a 66 percent completion rate -- while racking up 1,908 yards and 21 touchdowns. He has also rushed for 214 yards and 4 TDs.

After having their best season in 14 years last fall, in head coach Chad Harbison’s first year, the Mounties finished 9-3 overall and 5-2 in the 7A-West. They haven’t missed much of a beat this season, winning their first five games, before suffering a pair of recent losses to conference front-runners Bentonville and Bentonville West. Rogers currently sits at 6-2 overall and 3-2, tied for third in the conference with Fayetteville, who they beat earlier in the season.

Williams has played stellar throughout, orchestrating a yard-gobbling offense and spreading the ball all around the field. In a 37-0 win over Springdale two weeks ago, Williams threw four touchdown passes, each to a different receiver. Five receivers have each hauled in at least 20 receptions and two touchdowns this season.

“We’ve got a decent group of skill guys around him, and he understands that, too,” Harbison said. “When he looks out there to throw the football, there’s no bad option. He’s got some guys that will go get it.”

After moving up from the Houston area prior to last year, where Dale was a coach at Bridgeland High School, Dane spent his sophomore season as the Mounties’ starting safety on Friday nights. He also pulled double duty during the week by starting every game at quarterback for the junior varsity team, then backed up senior all-state QB Noah Goodshield for the varsity squad.

“I liked the fact that I was still able to get reps at quarterback, even though I had to focus on a different position on Friday nights,” Dane said. “But I feel like that helped me prepare for this season, being able to see how the offense operated.”

Goodshield has now graduated and is playing baseball at Labette Community College in Parsons, Kan. That has opened the door for 16-year-old Dane to step in as the starter and now focus on offense, while still playing sparingly on defense.

“Things have kind of fallen into place for us,” Dale said. “All of our kids out here have worked extremely hard, so what we are doing right now, Dane is just a part of it. He throws the football to those dudes, and they catch it and run. So, the success has been a team success.”

Dale is a University of Arkansas alum and played for the Razorbacks from 1984-85, before becoming a graduate assistant for the team under Hogs head coach Ken Hatfield in 1989. He then moved on to be a GA at Rice, which eventually led him into high school coaching. He spent five years at Siloam Springs, from 1996-2002.

“I have always been involved in a lot of the things Dane did athletically, all the little league sports,” said Dale. “I did kind of stay out of the football stuff, but he’s been around football his entire life. He’s been on the bus going to football games and coming with me to practices. A typical high school football coach’s kid.”

He feels his son’s love for football is just the product of being raised around the game.

“Him just being around football and learning to love that part of the game,” Dale said. “Football has always been a competitive part of our family. We want to be competitive. We want to be successful. But I think it has taught him that things don’t come easy. You work for what you get. Sometimes you just have to understand that it may take a little longer to get what you want to get in life.”

Dane admits he still has a lot to learn, especially from a quarterback standpoint, but sees himself and his teammates improving every week.

“I think every week we are just getting better and getting more comfortable in the offense, so we’ve just kept picking up the pace and adding to it,” he said. “I have just had to learn to anticipate things better. Like, watching film is a lot different than when I played defense, so I have had to learn to pick up on more things. Right now, we are just working on timing and finding the open guy.”

His dad has cherished the time they have had together, finally being a part of the same team the past two years.

“Just being on the same sideline with your kid is a wonderful adventure,” Dale said. “I think every dad would love to go to work with their son, so I feel very fortunate. He always understood what we were doing defensively, and now he is starting to figure out the offensive side.”

But away from the field, football is rarely a topic of conversation between the two.

“He’s still a 16-year-old dude, so dad’s probably the last person he wants to talk to about a lot of stuff,” Dale said with a laugh. “But we have conversations about other things besides football. It’s more talking to him about what kind of person he is going to be, what kind of man he is going to be. I just tell him to keep working hard. Just the traditional things that we, as dad’s, need to do for our kids.”

Harbison is extremely happy with how well his young quarterback has stepped up on the field, as a player and a leader.

“Obviously, we were hoping he would have a good year, because he works really hard,” the coach said. “When he moved in two springs ago, he had an elbow injury with a cast on his throwing arm. He had to rehab that during the spring before his sophomore season.

“Then as soon as the season was over last year, he really locked in on getting his throwing motion corrected and finding ways to improve. He went to some camps this past summer. Really worked hard to re-strengthen his arm. He’s worked hard to get where he’s at.”

According to Harbison, Dane’s biggest challenge has been learning the offense and understanding what is needed from him, week to week. But he continues to rise and meet those challenges.

“We try to cater our game plan to do what we need to do to give us the best opportunity to win each week, and he’s just gotten better and better as the season’s gone on,” Harbison added. “He has done a good job from a leadership perspective, even as a sophomore last year. You can just tell that this is what he was destined to do.”

The camaraderie and bond among the players and coaches has also been a major factor in the Mounties’ success since Harbison arrived. The support of his teammates has allowed Dane to relax more and concentrate on the task at hand, which he calls a huge blessing.

“I think it helps that we are all just real good friends and get along together, on and off the field,” he said. “I’ve only been here two years, but a lot of these guys have played together their whole lives, so there is definitely some good chemistry out there.”

The expectation for the program should continue to grow, especially with Dane having another year to continue his football journey and growth at Rogers. Yet he is also careful not to look too far ahead.

“I think we are just going to keep building on this year and be good next year, too -- hopefully going far in state and maybe winning state,” he said. “But Coach Harb also reminds us that next year is not always promised, so just keep focusing on this year and good things will come.”