By Yahjanae Ward
Western New England University is a NCAA Division III school. Here, at WNE, being a student-athlete is heavily determined by your performance on and off the field. Being a full-time student and athlete consists of being enrolled in a minimum of 12 credits. This doesn’t include the hours of practice, lifting, fueling your body, doing homework, and getting a good night’s rest before it’s time to perform on the field. For many student-athletes, the field/court is their stage. It’s what they do best and what motivates them and their future. But, for others, it’s hard to find a balance between athletics and education.
Sophomore Ja’Naz Williams was recruited in 2021 by Western New England’s football coach, Jason Labeau, to join the Western New England football team. He played Defensive Lineman coming into his freshman year. Like any other player on the field, he was determined to work hard, get playing time, and prove he had what it took to be a Golden Bear football player.
Williams moved in two weeks prior to the first day of classes to attend training camp. Being one hundred and twenty miles away from home, he was still adjusting, and all he could focus on was doing what he had to do to play. He worked hard and trained harder, and with the first day of classes rolling around, he had no idea what was about to happen. Ja’naz had a course load of five courses, and he was undecided on his major.
“Athletics came easy to me,” Williams said. “You can put me in any sport, and I will always find a way to exceed. I was once like that with school, but, going to the high school I went to, slowed [academics] down for me.”
It was obvious that adjusting wasn’t going to be easy for Williams, and he would need some guidance along the way. During your freshman year, WNE provides each freshman with a peer advisor to help academically. Williams’s peer advisor did what he could to help, but it wasn’t enough for Ja’naz. As midterms rolled around, Ja’naz’s GPA was drastically below the point he needed to be. He had a 0.5 GPA—as he was failing classes and trying to keep up with football and his new “normal.”
“Coming into freshman year of college, I tested so well on the math. I got thrown into a lot of math and business courses, but wasn’t ready for it. Truth be told, I didn’t know how to be a student. I didn’t understand how important note taking was and how to focus on time management. Just what I should do with my free time, and a big one for me was studying. I was a big believer in, ‘If you don’t know it, you won’t know it, no matter how much you try to tell yourself.’ And that honestly slowed me down.”
While he wasn’t the best student, Ja’naz finished his first year of WNE football, playing and traveling with the team. His season came to an end, and reality smacked Williams in the face when he lost a family member close to him. His grades were not up to par, and he ended Fall 2021 semester with a 0.7 GPA, placing him on academic probation. Williams had to give himself a reality check and bring up his grades. With football off his plate at this point, he had to finally commit and become a student.
His study habits improved. He took not only his studies more seriously, but he was using his free time wisely. Williams joined the BSAA, where he met other athletes like him that not only struggled but were having a hard time adjusting. The BSAA was his place where he could open up, and he felt like it gave him the push he needed to know he wasn’t on his own.
“I felt like I came in with the pieces already all over the place. I came from a high school with no homework, and I started to realize that I had to do to better myself as a student-athlete. My brothers back home are who pushed me to change my ways.”
Ja’naz Williams ended the spring semester with a 1.6 GPA and, unfortunately, was not able to return to football in the upcoming fall season. It brought down his confidence. He felt like he was not motivated because football was his motivation. He was disappointed, but he knew that it was a part of his journey. Williams felt this was his wake-up call to be better. He attended every practice, every training camp, still waking up with the team, recording practices, and being of help anywhere he could be of help. He kept up with his studies even though they became harder, but he attended each study hall, and it pushed him more and more so he could return in Fall 2023.
Being ineligible is not the end of the world. Ja’naz Williams is a prime example of doing a one-eighty to better yourself. Williams stays involved with his team as well as volunteering his help to Dana Pough and Coach Kollins with the BSAA. He attends each meeting. Williams walks around campus with a smile, and he wants all his peers to know to use that negative and use it as a driving force to return to the field.
“Don’t ball up and give up on your dream, stick to what you got going on. Get your work done and find your motivation,” Ja’naz Williams says.
