The Rundown Take
Miami Chose Him: Marquez Williams on the 706 Call, the Long Shot Recruitment and Life After the U
Host Devin and Larry Frank Jr. welcomed former Miami fullback Marquez Williams back to the family, tracing his path from a Division II program in a dry Tennessee county to Coach Rick's staff, the Jacksonville Jaguars and now his own sock company. Between the laughs, the panel got real receipts on what it takes to become a Hurricane the hard way & what it means to wear the U once you leave.
Key Takeaways
- Marquez Williams runs Pop Socks, born from his playing days with the XFL's Houston Roughnecks; use code SUPPORTPOPS2020 for 10% off, and he takes custom team orders personally.
- He didn't get recruited by Miami out of high school & barely got there as a transfer — hundreds of unanswered emails to schools before a friend connected him to then-new QB coach John, who eventually put him in front of Coach Rick.
- The offer call literally came while Marquez was in a liquor store in downtown Asheville, mid-drink, answering a 706 number he didn't recognize.
- Panel breaks down September 4th vs. Alabama: a third year together for the offensive line, second year under OC Rhett Lashlee, and a returning D'Eriq King headline the case for optimism.
- Williams went from Miami to the Jaguars' AFC Championship run under Doug Marrone, locker-room ties to Jalen Ramsey, Calais Campbell and Duke Johnson, and a Cleveland Browns stop after that.
Miami Chose Him
Williams spent four years at Mars Hill before graduating and blasting his highlight tape to every program with a fullback need & getting rejected or ignored by nearly all of them. A hometown friend and Miami fan pushed him to call John, the Hurricanes' new quarterback coach under incoming head man Coach Rick, and the offer dragged out for two months before it came through — while Williams was out drinking with his college roommate in Asheville.
The panel pushed him on the culture shock of trading a dry county in the mountains for South Beach: first class flights, a Cadillac pickup at the airport, a hotel goodie bag, and a campus so different from Mars Hill he thought the palm-tree-lined houses looked fake. Williams was candid that arriving as an older grad transfer rather than an 18-year-old freshman kept him out of trouble & let him actually absorb what Coach Rick's program demanded.
Pops the Businessman
Long before the sock empire, Williams earned the nickname "Pops" from Coach Rick himself, and it stuck hard enough that he says most people at Miami never learned his real name. Pop Socks grew out of watching Roughnecks teammates run side businesses & now spans custom orders, beanies, scarves and football gloves alongside the core sock line, sold online and through four or five retail partners. He was blunt about the leap: no loan, no outside investment, just betting on himself out of pocket until it took off.
The Alabama Litmus Test
With the Labor Day opener against Alabama looming, Williams tempered expectations while making the case for a real chance: an offensive line entering its third year together, its second under Rhett Lashlee, and a defense that's young but seasoned by real snaps last season. Larry Frank pushed the optimism further, pointing to the trenches and a healthy D'Eriq King as reasons this Miami team plays different than the North Carolina meltdown that left a bad taste the year before. Williams' verdict on that NC loss was pointed — missed tackles, blown assignments and body language that read like a team that didn't want to play.
"I didn't choose Miami. Miami chose me."