While he had great on-the-field accolades, Douglas’ journey through his years at Central State (1991-1994) prepared him for the battles that he would face in the NFL.
In a situation that was similar to Carmichael and Blount, who went against each other in practice when they were teammates at Southern University in Baton Rouge, La., Douglas had his own nemesis for a teammate in Erik Williams, who would be a three-time All-Pro right offensive tackle while helping the Dallas Cowboys win three Super Bowls in the 1990s.
Douglas described Williams, who was 6-6 and 311 pounds, as his “nightmare” when he had to go against him in practice. He said those matchups against Williams were decidedly one-sided, but instead of becoming discouraged in those battles, it made Douglas even more determined.
“When Erik Williams came to practice, man it was hell,” Douglas recalled. “It was hell every day going up against that guy. Erik played with the nastiness of a defensive lineman. He had a mean streak that you want your offensive line to have. He talked trash, he head-butted people. … He was bigger and stronger than me.”
Along with being pushed around by Williams, one of Douglas’ coaches would berate him by saying that he was being “punked” by Williams.
That motivated Douglas to get in the weight room to work on his game while spending time running on the track.
“I said, ‘I’ll be damned if I let somebody handle me the way that (Williams) handled me,'” Douglas said. “That’ll never happen to me again.”