Kobe Williams is used to facing obstacles that have been presented to him during his football career. From being overlooked out of high school, to needing to pay his dues at the junior college level just to earn the right to be a mainstay in the Sun Devils’ backfield for the last three years.

Therefore, he had no doubt that he would get a chance to showcase his skills in the NFL despite not being invited to the league’s combine and denied any opportunity to work out in-person for potential suitors due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Case in point, shortly after the NFL draft concluded Williams signed a free agent contract with the Jacksonville Jaguars, a team that ironically was doing everything but tipping their hand to the fact that they had their sights set on the former Arizona State cornerback.

As his tweet states, nothing new indeed for Williams.

“I wasn’t worried, I just thought some team would take their chance on me,” Williams said. “But I didn’t talk to the Jaguars at all really, so I was most definitely surprised. I don’t know if I even talked to them at the NFLPA game, but the Jaguars reached out to me on that day (last Saturday). I thought other teams were going to pull the trigger but you know how that process goes, you never know.”

Williams added that the Baltimore Ravens, Los Angeles Rams and Houston Texans were the teams that kept in touch the most during the pre-draft process and that the Cincinnati Bengals called him shortly after he struck the deal with Jacksonville.

“They (Jacksonville) talked to me about having that opportunity,” Williams commented. “They said I have a big opportunity there, and a way to contribute to the team. It reminded me of Arizona State, having a chance to come in there, contributing fast to the defense, and being able to play.”

At Long Beach (Calif.) Poly High School, Williams was ironically surrounded by future Sun Devil teammates and coaches. His starting cornerback teammate was current ASU senior Jack Jones, two other Jackrabbit players, JoJo Wicker and Ceejhay French-Love shared the locker room with him in Tempe and his high school head coach, Antonio Pierce, joined Herm Edwards’ coaching staff following Williams' first year with Arizona State.

It has been well documented how much Pierce has helped NFL hopefuls such as Williams prepare for the pre-draft process, and the cornerback was naturally very apperceive of getting guidance from a coach who he has a formidable built-in relationship with, and someone who also entered the NFL as undrafted free agent and parlayed his career into playing for the Super Bowl champions New York Giants and earning a Pro Bowl honor.

“AP told me to trust the process just knowing how the draft goes,” Williams remarked. “He told me that rather than being a late, late pick you’ll probably just go undrafted and take that shot of being undrafted and pick your team or just talk to different teams and know their circumstances. Just know where you fit in with that team before you sign.

“Nobody really cares about where you picked just that you are playing on a team. That was big for me and teaching me the NFL business. I still can call him right now with and ask him for advice and everything.”

In a sport where physical size is seemingly paramount for success, the 5-10 174-pound Williams was the Sun Devils’ biggest exception to that theory in recent years. The corner started his first 26 games with ASU and played in a total of 37 contests serving as a team captain in his senior campaign.

A model of stability in the ASU defensive backfield, Williams who arrived out of Long Beach City College without any fanfare ultimately posted impressive career numbers with 138 total tackles and 25 passes defended. One of his two interceptions was returned for a touchdown.

Last season he allowed just 18 receptions, which was the fewest in the Pac-12 and 24th-fewest nationally. He also ranked Top-20 nationally in yards in coverage (198) and yards allowed per coverage (0.64). Opposing quarterbacks knew better than to test him on Saturdays as he was targeted 34 times – the 18th-lowest total among corners in the country. Understandably, Williams feels a great sense of pride regarding his feat and his three years as a Sun Devil.

“It was a great experience,” Williams said. “But I’m disappointed we weren’t able to win a championship. Coming to ASU it was a change leaving California, leaving home which was another thing that got me to make this transformation easier just going to Florida. I’m ready for anything. Meeting different. great people there that I met like you guys and my teammates and all the people that believed in me from the jump.

“Now it’s time to prove some more people right.”

Williams expects much from his now former Sun Devil teammates in 2020, especially on his side of the ball, led by upperclassmen such as Jack Jones, Chase Lucas, Darrien Butler, and Merlin Robertson.

“I expect so much from those guys because I know they got a lot of good players coming back,” Williams noted. “I’m going to talk to these guys every second I get to ask them about how their season is going. I know USC is going to be one of the biggest games of the year. They have a great team coming back so I told them that might be the toughest game to handle from the jump just starting Pac-12 ball.

“They need to just win the games you’re supposed to win. That’s what we didn’t do last year and the year before. Win the games you’re supposed to win, and you win the Pac-12 most of the time when you do that. The (defensive) crew that I just named is the crew to watch and on the offensive side, it’s Frank (Darby) and Jayden (Daniels)…those guys should be ridiculous and should be able to come out this year as well. Those guys know that they lead their squad and that’s all you need, a couple of guys to lead and make plays and let the young guys come up.”

Confidence has effectively fueled Williams to be in the position he is right now, even though in theory his path as an undrafted free agent is one that may carry lesser odds of a sustainable NFL career. For a player that never gave up on his dreams, perhaps proving some doubters wrong along the way, trying to now earn a shot at an NFL career is a task that isn’t all different than the ones Williams has encountered in the past.

“That’s just my character,” Williams said of his confidence level. “All that stuff I been through, I feel like it made me ready for this moment. Just going through the high school process. All that made me just ready for this moment. Nothing shocked me at all. What shocked me was that I could get this opportunity to make this team and that’s what I wanted.

“This team (Jacksonville) is really hyped up on me like I was a draft pick. They wanted to pick me up in the draft but they ran out of picks. So, this is a different signing, but still like a draft pick I got to go in there and make the team.”

Whether it’s undersized cornerbacks or players who are forced to take the junior college route as he did due to lack of quality college offers, Williams knows that he has and can continue to serve as an inspiration for others if he can make the Jaguars opening day roster.

“It’s only right to prove Jacksonville right and prove myself right,” Williams explained, “and the only thing is to show everybody is that even going undrafted you can still become the man out here.

“My job is to go in, take over Jacksonville, and prove it to the world. I know the coaches believe in me but they don’t believe that I can come in and take over like I think I am. I want to be in Jacksonville for a long time after I get there.”

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Jesse Morrison contributed to this story