D.J. Williams enters his first season on the ACU football coaching staff in 2025.

He is the defensive passing game coordinator and cornerbacks coach for the Wildcats. Williams spent the 2023 and 2024 seasons as the cornerbacks coach at Northern Colorado, which played ACU twice in that time.

At ACU, Williams reunites with current head coach Keith Patterson who recruited Williams to play at Utah State in 2018.

A native of Smyrna, Tennessee, Williams played one season at the FCS level at Chattanooga before transferring to Independence (Kan.) Community College. Williams was a starting cornerback for the 2017 Indy team documented in the Netflix series "Last Chance U." He emerged as a Top-100 JUCO prospect by 247Sports after a year at Indy and was recruited to Utah State by Patterson, who was the Aggies' defensive coordinator in 2018.

In two seasons at Utah State (2018-19), Williams had 114 total tackles, 6.5 for loss, six interceptions, and 18 pass breakups. He was an honorable mention All-Mountain West Conference selection in 2018, and at the end of that season, he was the Defensive MVP of the Aggies' New Mexico Bowl win over North Texas. He spent one season as a graduate assistant coach at BYU (2022) before joining Northern Colorado as the cornerbacks coach.


Coach Keith Patterson says...
"I had the opportunity to coach him in college and now hire him as a position coach. He's going to be a superstar in this industry. I love the way he takes the passion he had as a player, and converts it to be a great teacher and technician."