Growing up in Los Angeles, Williams began his football career as a quarterback, serving as a backup for two seasons at Narbonne High before transferring to Hawthorne High before his junior season. Even after an excellent season at Hawthorne in which the lefty quarterback led his team to the California state playoffs, Williams was convinced to transfer again for his senior season, not only to a different school but to a different position as well.
Anton Clarkson, who coached Williams during his senior year of high school at St. Monica Catholic High School in Los Angeles, remembers the moment he approached Williams with a bold suggestion: a move to wide receiver.
“For Kyle, the biggest thing was he just wanted to get the ball in his hands, he wanted to make plays,” said Clarkson. “The first thing he said was, ‘Anything I can do to help the team win some games around here.’ I don’t think the transition was very difficult, but it was different transition for him. He took to it like a fish and water.”
The position change wasn’t just a move — it was an awakening. Williams had trained under Clarkson’s father, Steve Clarkson, a private quarterback coach who had seen several of his students make it to the NFL. Under the elder Clarkson’s watchful eye as a signal caller, Williams already had an elite feel for the game. That football IQ, combined with rare athleticism and an insatiable work ethic, made him a natural fit at receiver.
“He was like a coach on the field,” Anton Clarkson said. “He’d come to the sideline and tell us exactly what he saw, where the defense was vulnerable. And this is in high school — most college guys can’t even do that.”
The switch paid immediate dividends. Williams played everywhere: receiver, cornerback, safety, returner — even quarterback when needed. Clarkson remembers one throw Williams launched barefoot from 70 yards in practice — “I told him, don’t do that, you’re gonna send our starter into a depression.”
But it was his debut as a returner that etched Williams’ potential into local legend. “Our AD was skeptical he’d really go to the league,” Clarkson said. “Right before the season opener, he tells me, ‘If he’s as good as you say, he’ll return the opening kick for a touchdown.’ And I swear, seconds later, Kyle’s down the sideline and gone. I just looked at him and said, ‘How do you like that?”