Ever since Adams County Christian School senior football player Tate Williams could remember, he has always loved playing on the offensive line — primarily at the tackle position.

Williams enjoyed playing in the trenches and putting opposing defenders on the ground. The lineman also loved the thought of playing college football one day.

“Ever since I was young, that has been my dream,” Williams said.

That aspiration became a reality as Williams signed his National Letter of Intent a few weeks ago, when he penned his name on the dotted line to play for the Texas Wesleyan University Rams — a NAIA Division I school.

“(ACCS) coach (Matthew) Freeman actually got me in contact with Coach Dwayne Taylor at Texas Wesleyan,” Williams said. “I just sent some of my film to (Taylor) and the rest of the coaching staff. They were impressed.

“I was trying to sign for football. I was sending my film out to a few different colleges, but then I finally got in touch with Texas Wesleyan. They showed interest and offered me a scholarship. The rest is history.”

Texas Wesleyan is a small school more than six hours away from Natchez — located in Fort Worth, Texas. Also, its football program is only in its second year of existence, after laying dormant for 75 years in the beggining of World War II.

Since the program is so new, the Texas Wesleyan coaches did tell Williams he has a good chance of seeing playing time as a freshman. Yet, the Rams weren’t the only school that showed interest in Williams. The University of Mount Union — a Division III school located in Ohio — also showed fascination.

However, Texas Wesleyan won him over.

“I went and visited Texas Wesleyan at the beginning of the year,” Williams said. “It was a nice campus. I loved it.”

While Williams was elated talking about how he signed to play college football, he credited ACCS as one of the main reasons why he was able to capture his dream.

“If I never came (to ACCS), I probably would have never made it to the next level,” Williams. “All of my coaches here at ACCS are amazing.”

Last season was Williams’ lone year in a Rebel uniform. The towering offensive lineman transferred after spending his three previous school years at Block High School.

Williams said he moved to ACCS from Block because he was looking for consistency. In his three years at Block, Williams had three different football coaches.

“The football program wasn’t the best,” Williams said. “I just thought I needed a better coaching staff around me.”

The soon-to-be Ram found the coaching he was looking for, as he went from a 1-10 record in his final year at Block to a 11-2 record in his lone season at ACCS.

Despite only being a Rebel for a year, the ACCS coaching staff said they will miss Williams on the line.

“Anytime you have somebody coming, you don’t always know what you are going to get,” said strength and conditioning and co-offensive line coach Bill James. “Tate a is real coachable kid. He developed very quickly and he was great lineman.

“If it we had to teach him something he hadn’t seen before, we didn’t have to show it to him that much. He is just that intelligent.”

When asked about Williams’ ceiling as a lineman, James couldn’t give his thought on the subject as he said there is no way to determine that. However, he did say Williams will do just fine at Texas Wesleyan.

At the end of the day, Williams could not smiling about how excited he is to be a Ram because he finally reached his goal.

“I have been working toward this dream ever since eighth grade,” Williams said. “It’s the thing I have been working for every summer. I think I can succeed in Texas Wesleyan.”