From prayer books to playbooks

Scotty Williams' strength was gone.

After playing his freshman season way back in 2001, a Mormon mission in Quebec took away 35 pounds from his body and two years of his physical prime.

The latter he would never regain. The former would be a struggle.

Now, five years after first setting foot on Franklin Field, Williams will captain a defense that will likely challenge for the Ivy League title. At 24 years old, he's become a leader off the field and a fierce competitor from his safety position.

Starting tomorrow, Williams hopes to leave opponents wondering.

Did the mission really take his strength?

Or did it make him stronger?

To understand the story of Scotty Williams, one must start at the beginning.

Not necessarily at his birth, back in 1982 in Fort Wayne, Ind., but at the opening line to the Book of Mormon.

I, Nephi, having been born of goodly parents, therefore I was taught somewhat in the learning of my father...(1 Nephi 1:1)

Wlliams has possessed two things in his blood from the day he was born - football and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, better known as the Mormon Church.

The order is debatable.

His father, Doug, played running back at Brigham Young University, where he had holes cleared for him by current Eagles coach Andy Reid - still a good friend of the Williams family.

After his playing career, the elder Williams and his wife Rhonda raised Scotty in a household which, like most in the Mormon faith, valued family above all else.

"I felt very blessed to be in that environment with a lot of love, a lot of support, a lot of encouragement," Williams said.

"We did everything as a family, whether it was going out to a baseball game or a football game, or whether we went to the state fair as a family or just stayed home and always had family dinners."

It was in this close-knit family environment that Williams picked up his values and became "the type of young man you'd like your daughter to marry some day," according to his defensive coordinator Ray Priore.

It was in that family that Williams developed the two loves of his father, the Church and the game of football.

After his first semester at Penn, the football would have to wait. His other love came calling.

And it came to pass that they did humble themselves before the Lord; insomuch that I had joy and great hopes of them, that they would walk in the paths of righteousness. (1 Nephi 16:5)

A Mormon is by no means required to serve the community via missionary work, but it is recommended for single young men and women for a number of what Williams called "positive reasons."

"I've felt and experienced a lot of those reasons," Williams said. "It's one of the best ways to serve other human beings, fellow men and women who may not have the same opportunities and the same blessings that you have been given."

Williams made the decision to go on a mission, but the whereabouts of his service were still to be determined.

He submitted an application to the Prophet, the leader of the Church, to whom it was revealed that it was to be Williams' calling to undertake a mission in Quebec, both in the Montreal area and in the remote city of Rimouski near the mouth of the St. Lawrence River.

For Williams, who took three years of Parisian French in high school, the new dialect would be the first challenge.

"I had about a three-month headache, studying hard in the mornings before we would go out to meet people and to serve," Williams said. "But one day it just clicked."

Once the language was learned, Williams was able to find his satisfaction.

Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. (Matthew 28:19)

Preseason two-a-days are nothing for Williams lately.

While on his mission, like clockwork, he woke up at 6:30 a.m. to study French as well as the more familiar language of the Bible and the Book of Mormon - the two principal scriptures of his faith.

Then the day's work began.

"Anything you feel would better the community, anything that you feel would serve the community and also help the people understand the message that you're there to share is within the scope and reason of being there," he said.

After a long day of spreading the Mormon message door-to-door and performing services to aid the less fortunate, it was back to bed to rest up for another day.

"The mission is emotionally, socially, intellectually and spiritually very demanding," said Dave Ulrich, a professor at Michigan, who took three years to travel to Canada and serve as mission president for Williams and his companions.

One of the most trying aspects of his mission was the time away from the game of football. Canada is not exactly the football capital of the world, and even if his mission were in football-crazy Texas, there would still be little time for fun or for staying in the shape necessary to return to the Quakers.

But somehow, the kid who came into Penn as a quarterback retained a knack for the game.

Ulrich recalls an occasion when Williams and one of his fellow missionaries were working in a park. Williams wasn't about to let a challenge go denied as he was handed a ball, and the unsuspecting missionary stood 30 or 40 yards away.

"He nailed him," Ulrich recalls.

But one long toss didn't change the fact that Williams was still two years removed from getting or delivering a hit. And it didn't change the fact that there were no weight rooms at his disposal, which, combined with all the walking he did, put him at 165 pounds when he came back to campus.

None of that changed, so Williams had to change it himself.

And it came to pass that after I had prayed and labored with all diligence, the Lord said unto me: I will grant unto thee according to thy desires, because of thy faith. (Enos 1:12)

Coach Al Bagnoli described him as "a little rusty" when he got back on the field for spring practice in 2004.

Williams said that was putting it nicely.

He wasn't exactly the picture of a football letterman, coming in at 165 pounds of skin and bones, so he knew where his first stop had to be, and it wasn't the treadmill.

"There was a lot of work necessary to get back to the type of game that needs to be played here," Williams said. First it was "getting back in the weight room and putting on that 35 pounds."

After he was up to a healthy weight, the issue of position came next. Pat McDermott had been groomed as the successor to standout quarterback Mike Mitchell, so Williams switched to safety, which has suited him much better.

He had two sacks from his spot in the secondary that fall and followed it up with an Honorable Mention All-Ivy campaign that included 45 tackles and two defensive touchdowns last season.

"He wasn't the best quarterback in the world," senior wide receiver Matt Carre said frankly. "But obviously, he's a very good defensive back."

More important than any of the stats, Williams was finally back to doing what he loved.

And all the time away just made it sweeter. The cracking of the pads sounded sweeter, the routine of doing sprints felt a little sweeter. And probably, in some way, the locker room after practice even smelled a little sweeter.

"Having been away from the game for two years and not being able to watch football on TV, not being able to read about it, not being able to practice and play in games, you really appreciate the time you have," Williams said. "Every game, every snap counts that much more."

When Williams got back to Penn, his new teammates varied in their reactions. Some were curious about his trip, about the life of a missionary and the religion that encourages giving up two years to serve the world.

Others - especially since only that year's seniors would have known him - were just curious as to whether he could throw a tight spiral, or eventually, make an open-field tackle.

"He didn't really talk much about it when he got back," Carre said. "I was curious to see what he was about and what kind of player he was."

But whatever kind of player he was, he was a different person upon his return.

"You come back and you deal with people a lot differently, you view things a lot differently," coach Al Bagnoli said. "It's a different kid with a whole different perspective on things and a whole different maturation."

After five years of maturing, it's time to put that different perspective to work.

"And they were inspired by . Zerahemnah, who was their chief captain, or their chief leader and commander; yea, they did fight like dragons ." (Alma 43:44)

He won in a landslide.

It was an easy choice, really. A 24-year-old, who'd seen more in two years than most of the players had in their young lives.

Williams was elected captain prior to the season by an overwhelming margin - over 90 percent, according to Bagnoli.

"He's a terrific choice," Bagnoli said. "There's a unilateral belief in the kid and an appreciation of what the kid brings to the table."

It's hard to find somebody who won't testify to that.

"Great guy in the locker room," Priore said.

"He's flying around the field and always working hard in the weight room," Carre added.

And according to his mission president, squats and two-a-days should be no problem.

"He faced those demands, he grew from those demands and I would assume he brings to the football field the maturity, coupled with his recovered physical stature, that would make him a better football player."

Not to mention a better captain.

Part of any role as team captain is sacrifice, and in addition to the hours in the weight room and on the football field preparing for 10 Saturdays a year, Williams has already sacrificed a dream.

He missed the 2002 and 2003 seasons, thereby losing out on two Ivy League titles and a 19-1 overall record.

Does Williams regret it? With the mission being optional, would he make the same choice again?

"Sure, it would have been great to be here for those two years," Williams said. "They had a great run and got a couple of championships.

"But we're hoping to do some pretty special things this year as well, and I wouldn't change anything."

Starting tomorrow, Williams has a chance to write that next chapter in an already fulfilling life and the final chapter of his Penn career.

"Gather together whatsoever force ye can upon your march hither, and we will go speedily against those dissenters, in the strength of our God according to the faith which is in us." (Alma 61:17)

Scotty Williams' strength was gone.

Let the dissenters believe that at their own peril.

With his own faith and the faith of his teammates in him, never has a statement been less true.

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