Gahanna grad Qwyn Williams wraps up college career in style at Hawaii

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By 9 a.m. Dec. 16, Qwyn Williams was already off the practice field and had the rest of the day to study film, enjoy his lot in life or do whatever else he liked.

While Williams’ friends and relatives in central Ohio thawed out from an arctic cold snap, the Gahanna Lincoln graduate was 4,500 miles away and just more than a week from playing his final college football game as a defensive lineman at Hawaii.

For all the other differences between Hawaii and Ohio, Williams found the transition period relatively easy after three years at Ohio Dominican.

“You don’t have to ask how much I like it out here,” said Williams, a 6-foot-3, 300-pound tackle and graduate student. “It’s going great. I have played a lot – got a lot of reps, more than I thought I would get, and just putting in work. My stats are showing that.

“I knew that basically what I did at Ohio Dominican, I would do the exact same thing here. On this level, everybody is good, so I thought my rep count would be good but it went up.”

Entering the Hawaii Bowl on Christmas Eve (8 p.m., ESPN) against California (7-5), Williams has 29 total tackles with 3½ for loss, two sacks and a forced fumble for the Rainbow Warriors (8-4). He made a season-high six tackles Nov. 21 in a 38-10 loss at UNLV.

Williams, who did not start playing football until his junior year at Gahanna but started for two seasons, first attended NAIA Judson University in suburban Chicago in 2020. He came back to central Ohio and was a two-time all-Great Midwest Athletic Conference selection at ODU, racking up 117 tackles, 22 for loss, 10½ sacks and three forced fumbles from 2022-24.

Williams entered the transfer portal on Nov. 19, 2024, and received 15 offers, the last of which was from Hawaii. He committed there on Jan. 18.

“I wanted a different opportunity and a bigger platform to see if I can play on the next level, wherever that may be,” he said. “What I do here is all-encompassing … being in on pass-rushing downs and on running downs, basically trying to do everything. Being the guy who can come in and do what needs to be done.”

Williams earned a bachelor’s degree in cybersecurity from ODU with a focus on business communication.

Central Ohioans help Indiana to College Football Playoff

The three Columbus-area players on Indiana’s roster committed to the Hoosiers well before the program’s resurgence, and all are reaping the benefits of the best season in Indiana history.

Redshirt junior Carter Smith, an Olentangy Liberty graduate, is the Hoosiers’ first Big Ten Offensive Lineman of the Year. A left tackle who has started 38 consecutive games, Smith has helped Indiana (13-0) amass 41.9 points and 472.1 yards on average.

The No. 1 seed in the College Football Playoff, the Hoosiers will face No. 8 Oklahoma or No. 9 Alabama in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 1.

“It’s all about the buy-in,” Smith said on Big Ten Network following a 13-10 win over Ohio State in the Big Ten championship game. “We were a group that had not seen a lot of wins in a long time. That collective mindset just meshed together super well with a culture that had won in the past (under coach Curt Cignetti at James Madison). … Coach Cignetti has brought us to the top and we plan to stay there.”

London graduate Isaiah Jones, a redshirt junior linebacker, is fourth on the Hoosiers in total tackles (66) and second in tackles for loss (14) and sacks (7).

Jones’ father, DJ, lettered for Ohio State in the mid-1990s and was on the 1996 Rose Bowl championship team.

Jones said he quickly decided to stay at Indiana upon Cignetti’s hiring in November 2023.

“Obviously, I looked into ‘Cig’ and I saw his winning record,” Jones told the Indianapolis Star. “I had talks with (defensive coordinator Bryant) Haines early on, when they first got here, before we even went home for the December break. I kind of looked at his track record, how his linebackers played and the freedom they played with, and seeing where he’d been before and watching that tape.

“Having conversations with them, I just felt this would be the right spot for me.”

Groveport graduate Keishaun Calhoun, a freshman defensive lineman, has not played this season.

This and that

Calhoun, Jones and Smith are not the only non-Ohio State central Ohioans in the College Football Playoff. Hilliard Davidson graduate Turner Schmidt is a sophomore defensive lineman at No. 12 seed James Madison. Schmidt, who played his freshman season at Robert Morris, has appeared in five games for JMU, making one tackle. Schmidt was weight throw champion as a high school senior at the 2024 indoor state track and field meet.

While bowls began Dec. 13, the first central Ohio product to reach a bowl this season was Pickerington Central graduate Khalil Walker, a junior offensive lineman at South Florida. The 6-5, 322-pound junior has seen backup time on a unit that paved the way for 485 yards per game under former coach Alex Golesh, a Dublin Scioto graduate who left for Auburn on Nov. 30 and will be succeeded by Ohio State offensive coordinator Brian Hartline. South Florida played Old Dominion in the Cure Bowl on Dec. 17 in Orlando, Florida.

Ninety-seven college football players from central Ohio will participate in bowl games over the next three weeks. Here is the full list:

ARIZONA

Chance Roberts, redshirt sr., OL, Hilliard Bradley

CENTRAL MICHIGAN

Jakivion Calip, RS so., RB, Olentangy Orange

CINCINNATI

Kamari Burns, RS so., DL, Gahanna Lincoln
Taizaun Burns, fr., WR, East
Mikah Coleman, RS sr., DL, Reynoldsburg
Gavin Grover, so., TE, Olentangy
Patrick Gurd, RS sr., TE, New Albany
Myles Harrison, fr., LB, Pickerington Central
Terrell Holcomb, fr., LB, Gahanna Lincoln
Keilan Smith, RS so., DL, Pickerington Central
Jonathan Thompson, RS jr., LB, DeSales

CONNECTICUT

Michael Robinson III, jr., DB, Groveport

EAST CAROLINA

Jasiyah Robinson, RS sr., DL, Groveport

HAWAII

Qwyn Williams, graduate, DL, Gahanna Lincoln

HOUSTON

Zac Yoakam, sr., K, Upper Arlington

ILLINOIS

Demetrius John, RS fr., DL, Dublin Coffman
Angelo McCollum, so., DL, Pickerington North

INDIANA

Keishaun Calhoun, fr., DL, Groveport
Isaiah Jones, RS jr., LB, London
Carter Smith, RS jr., OL, Olentangy Liberty

JAMES MADISON

Turner Schmidt, so., DL, Hilliard Davidson

MIAMI UNIVERSITY

Ayden Annarino, fr., OL, Pickerington North
Harrison Brewster, RS fr., LB, Olentangy Berlin
Eli Coppess, RS jr., LB, Pickerington North
Donovan Davis, RS fr., OL, Hartley
Tito Glass Jr., RS fr., RB, Marion-Franklin
Carter Holden, RS fr., K/P, Dublin Jerome
Kris Manu, RS fr., OL, Dublin Coffman
Malik Ray, RS so., LB, Pickerington North
Gavin Rohrs, RS jr., OL, Marysville
Wilson Roberts, fr., WR, Olentangy Liberty
Marcus White, RS fr., OL, Gahanna Lincoln

MINNESOTA

Jaden Ball, RS fr., OL, Bloom-Carroll
Devon Williams, RS sr., LB, Dublin Coffman

MISSISSIPPI

Jaden Yates, jr., LB, Gahanna Lincoln

NAVY

Blake Horvath, sr., QB, Hilliard Darby
Jake Lusk, sr., OT, Johnstown
Dom Purcell, so., LB, Watterson
Landon Purcell, fr., LS, Watterson

NORTH CAROLINA STATE

Terris Dudley, fr., LB, Hilliard Bradley

NORTHWESTERN

Jonathan Stevens, fr., DB, Westerville North
Garner Wallace, graduate, DB, Pickerington Central

OHIO STATE

David Adolph, sr., WR, Dublin Jerome
Jake Cook, fr., OL, Westerville North
Sam Dixon, so., RB, Pickerington North
Ian Gecse, jr., OL, Grandview Heights
Jaystin Gwinn, fr., S, Westerville Central
Stanley Jackson Jr., so., RB, Westerville North
Collin Johnson, sr., LS, New Albany
Mason Maggs, sr. DB, Dublin Coffman
Ryan Rudzinski, jr., S, Watterson
JJ Sebert, so., S, Pickerington North
Will Smith Jr., jr., DL, Dublin Coffman
Garrett Stover, so., LB, Big Walnut
Kolton Stover, fr., QB, Highland
Lorenzo Styles Jr., graduate, CB, Pickerington Central
Sonny Styles, sr., LB, Pickerington Central
Justin Terry, so., OL, Pickerington Central
Ahmed Tounkara, so., DL, Dublin Scioto
Joey Velazquez, graduate, LB, DeSales

OHIO UNIVERSITY

Taliq Black, fr., S, Marion-Franklin
Caleb Gossett, graduate, WR, Olentangy
Rickey Hyatt Jr., graduate, S, Westerville Central
Joshua Johnson, graduate, OL, Westerville Central
RJ Keuchler, RS so., DT, Pickerington Central
Tyson Long, fr., CB, Pickerington North
Aiden Lowery, RS fr., TE, Dublin Jerome
AJ Miller, RS fr., TE, Pickerington North
Ty Neubert, fr., DL, DeSales
Matthew Papas, RS fr., QB, Grove City
Michael Taylor, fr., RB, Pickerington North
Brandon Weaver, fr., DT, Hilliard Darby
Kam Wright, RS jr., OL, Granville

PENN STATE

Ethan Grunkemeyer, RS fr., QB, Olentangy
Kaden Saunders, RS jr., WR, Westerville South

PITTSBURGH

Rasheem Biles, jr., LB, Pickerington Central
Francis Brewu, so., DL, Thomas Worthington
Ryan Carretta, RS so., OL, St. Charles
Denim Cook, fr., DL, Hartley
Nico Crawford, RS jr., LS, Dublin Scioto
Charlie Donehue, fr., DL, Olentangy Liberty

SOUTH FLORIDA

Khalil Walker, jr., OL, Pickerington Central

TEXAS AT SAN ANTONIO

Dom Munnerlyn, sr., LB, Independence

TEXAS TECH

Will Jados, sr., OL, Westerville Central

TOLEDO

Michael Arinze-Ezirim, RS fr., S, Dublin Jerome
Mike Drennen II, jr., RB, Dublin Coffman
CC Ezirim, jr., TE, Dublin Jerome
Jake Grimm, RS fr., OL, Gahanna Lincoln
Cameron Gwinn, fr., DL, DeSales
Jonathan Harder, jr., OL, Olentangy Berlin
Connor Jones, sr., TE, Hilliard Darby
Dane Nauman, RS fr., RB, Highland
Cole Rhett, so., OL, Watterson
Tyrell Russell, fr., DB, Beechcroft

VIRGINIA

Dane Wleklinski, so., OL, Dublin Jerome

WESTERN MICHIGAN

Gavin Dabo, RS fr., OL, Grove City
Dakari Frazier, RS so., DL, Pickerington Central

High school sports reporter Dave Purpura can be reached at dpurpura@dispatch.com and at @dp_dispatch on X.

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Former central Ohio high school football players gear up for bowls

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