DJ Williams trained with quarterback guru Quincy Avery during spring break
- Tom Weber
- 56 minutes ago
- 4 min read
CARBONDALE, Ill. — When DJ Williams got a phone call from premier NFL quarterback trainer Quincy Avery last season, he could hardly believe it.
Well-known as a “quarterback whisperer,” who has tutored NFL stars such as Jordan Love, Jalen Hurts and C.J. Stroud, Avery thought Williams was entering this year’s NFL Draft and wanted to discuss training him.
Williams explained that he was planning to play another year in college.
“I was really in shock, just finding out that he knew who I was,” Williams said. “I let him know that I was planning on getting another year back and he said, ‘that's amazing, go put up some more numbers, get more film out there for the scouts.’”
Avery’s rise to prominence was the subject of a Hulu documentary in 2025, and Williams said he’s known about the QB guru from his work with Elite 11, a premier quarterback camp for high schoolers.
Avery invited Williams to train with him in Fort Lauderdale during spring break, where the Saluki senior spent four days soaking up knowledge from Avery, calling it “truly a blessing to get the opportunity.”
“Matching my feet with my arm is the biggest thing that we worked on,” Williams explained. “He taught me some ways to be more consistent with my feet and not do things that lead to bad throws. He told me that I get away with a lot of stuff because of my arm talent. Everything we worked on came back to tying my feet together with everything that's around me.”
While he was at Avery’s facility, Williams also got to train with several current NFL quarterbacks.
“I worked out with Kenny Pickett and Geno Smith in a private session,” Williams said. “They explained some things to me, gave me some more confidence about going into the NFL next year and just understanding that anybody can be from anywhere and still make it to the NFL.”
“Geno Smith was a big help,” Williams continued. “He was very genuine. Just talking ball, you get to understand what those guys are seeing.”
Williams brought what he learned back to Carbondale so it could benefit the rest of SIU’s quarterbacks room.
“I’ve taken some of the drills that we did in Florida back here to work with our guys,” he said. “You can see the improvement with ET (Harris), who has some of the same problems I had at a younger age. You can see the improvement with all the quarterbacks.”
During spring ball, Williams has taken on the role of quarterback mentor and is pleased with the QBs’ progress.
“I’m seeing a lot of growth from the younger guys,” Williams said. “They’re seeing the defense better, understanding the coverage, understanding the concepts better. JC's (Mirasola) starting to ask more questions, get out of his shell, realize that I'm here for him and here to help him. The same with Jake (Curry) and ET and Owen (Rann). All those guys look at me as a bigger brother. They trust what I say, trust what I see. It's been an amazing spring so far.”
Looking ahead, Williams said he has not yet selected someone to train him for the 2027 NFL Draft.
“Quincy is definitely a front runner to do my draft day prep right now since I've worked with him,” Williams said. “He's had a lot of success with quarterbacks and he has a track record of his guys getting drafted and producing in the NFL.”
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Practice 8 Notebook
The weather was perfect for football at 7 a.m. this morning, with temps near 70 and light winds. The players were in helmets, shorts and shoulder pads.