#21

Gavin Williams

Former running back at Northern Illinois. 2024: 749 rushing yards, 4 rushing TD, 25 catches.

RB · Northern Illinois · Sr. · #21

5′11″ · 209 lb · Altoona, IA

CFB Index 53 · #107 of 310 RBsHigh confidenceNorthern Illinois 2024 — college career complete

Recruiting

3★

DL recruit

No. 2083 nationally · Signed with Northern Illinois

No college snaps yet.

His career numbers, season by season

The story

Former running back at Northern Illinois. 2024: 749 rushing yards, 4 rushing TD, 25 catches.

Signed as a 3-star recruit to Northern Illinois in 2022.
Transferred from Iowa to Northern Illinois in 2023.

His career, year by year

How it ended

Five seasons at Northern Illinois, 1,708 rushing yards — his college career is complete.

His career

He barely played early on. Then he did not come off the field.

202210 games

Signed with Northern Illinois3-star out of A B Shepard

202313 games

Entered the portal

Career arc

Recruit

★★★

#2083 national

CFB

College

2 teams

2020–2024

NFL

NFL Draft

—

Not drafted

Coaching lineage · 2020–2024

1 coach

2020–2024

Thomas Hammock

Northern Illinois

Played his entire career under Thomas Hammock.

2024 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2020Iowa6-2HC: Kirk Ferentz · Run-leaning

2021Iowa10-4HC: Kirk Ferentz · Run-leaning

2022Iowa8-5HC: Kirk Ferentz · Run-leaning, slow tempo

2023Northern Illinois7-6HC: Thomas Hammock · Run-leaning

2024Northern Illinois8-5HC: Thomas Hammock · Run-leaning

Where this profile ranks vs the RB cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles

53Rotational starter #107 of 310?

High confidence13 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: receptions (87th percentile). Strength: long run (84th percentile). Concern: td rate (27th percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

Yards / carry#103 / 442 · 77th pct

6.0

Success rate#218 / 442 · 51st pct

45.0%

Explosive rate#219 / 442 · 50th pct

6.7%

EPA / carry#233 / 442 · 47th pct

0.15

TD rate#323 / 442 · 27th pct

3.0%

Box-score rates (8)

Receptions#42 / 330 · 87th pct

Long run#52 / 335 · 84th pct

Rush yards#86 / 335 · 74th pct

749

Carries#95 / 335 · 72nd pct

139

Rec yards#101 / 330 · 70th pct

140

Yards / carry#102 / 335 · 68th pct

5.4

Rush TDs#151 / 335 · 50th pct

Fumbles lost#157 / 204 · 15th pct

Season trend

Last seasonThis season

EPA / carry

63rd → 47th percentile

Success rate

49th → 51st percentile

Explosive rate

78th → 50th percentile

Yards / carry

68th → 77th percentile

TD rate

37th → 27th percentile

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season. Most bars are box-score rates; EPA / success-rate bars are computed from real play-by-play (offense only — no defensive EPA model exists yet).

Situational

Situational · Carry shape (PBP, full season)

Yardage DNA

135 carries

Stuffed (≤0)

38%

Grind (1–3)

39%

Chunk (4–9)

16%

Explosive (10+)

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2024 season · 13 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	YDS/g	YPC	TD/g
Home6g	78.8	7.4	0.5
Road7g	39.4	3.8	0.1

First half vs Second half

	YDS/g	YPC	TD/g
Weeks 1-77g	59.6	4.3	0.1
Weeks 8+6g	55.3	6.8	0.5

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Rob Harley

Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.

Awards

Player standing · 2024

Starter

A locked-in starting job.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

53 · #107 of 310 RBs

Three-star recruit. Now #107 at the position.

Career stats

Season	Team
2024	Northern Illinois	139	749	5.4	4	--
2023	Northern Illinois	95	488	5.1	3	--
2022	Iowa	43	138	3.2	0	--
2021	Iowa	65	305	4.7	0	--
2020	Iowa	8	28	3.5	0	--
Career		350	1,708	4.9	7	--

Season	Team
2024	Northern Illinois	25	140	5.6	1	--
2023	Northern Illinois	24	147	6.1	0	--
2022	Iowa	9	44	4.9	0	--
2021	Iowa	9	47	5.2	0	--
2020	Iowa	--	--	--	--	--
Career		67	378	5.6	1	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 2 · 2024

W 16–14

at Notre Dame

59 rush yds (17 car)

A wire-to-wire battle — won by 2 on the road.

With E. Hampton — 198 yds · 1 TD · 0 INT · QBR 87.1 · 21 rush yds (5 car) · A. Brown — 99 rush yds (20 car)

Signature plays

Signature plays · top plays by |EPA|

The plays that mattered most

fact

Week 12 · Akron · 1&10 · Q4 · EPA +5.78Gavin Williams run for 71 yds for a TD (Two-Point Conversion failed)
Week 1 · Western Illinois · 1&10 · Q1 · EPA -4.47Gavin Williams run for no gain to the WIU 12 Gavin Williams fumbled, recovered by WIU Braylen Brooks
Week 6 · Massachusetts · 2&7 · Q2 · EPA -3.90Gavin Williams run for 15 yds to the MASS 45 Gavin Williams fumbled, recovered by MASS Donovan Dyson
Week 12 · Akron · 3&4 · Q2 · EPA +3.63Ethan Hampton pass complete to Gavin Williams for 35 yds to the AKR 41 for a 1ST down
Week 14 · Central Michigan · 4&1 · Q1 · EPA +3.59Gavin Williams 24 Yd Run (Two-Point Pass Conversion Failed)
Week 14 · Central Michigan · 3&8 · Q4 · EPA +2.83Gavin Williams run for 14 yds to the CMU 38 for a 1ST down
Week 11 · Western Michigan · 2&5 · Q2 · EPA +2.44Ethan Hampton pass complete to Gavin Williams for 5 yds for a TD (Kanon Woodill KICK)
Week 11 · Western Michigan · 1&10 · Q3 · EPA +2.23Gavin Williams run for 25 yds to the WMU 46 for a 1ST down
Week 12 · Akron · 2&11 · Q3 · EPA +2.20Gavin Williams run for 11 yds to the NIU 47 for a 1ST down
Week 6 · Massachusetts · 1&10 · Q4 · EPA +2.19Gavin Williams run for 28 yds to the MASS 37 for a 1ST down

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2024 season · 13 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG	Note
Wk 1	W 54-15vs Western Illinois	9	41	4.6	0	7
Wk 2	W 16-14@ Notre Dame	17	59	3.5	0	9
Wk 4	L 20-23vs Buffalo	10	63	6.3	0	19
Wk 5	L 17-24@ NC State	5	19	3.8	0	11
Wk 6	W 34-20vs Massachusetts	19	125	6.6	1	28	Season-high 125 yds
Wk 7	W 17-7@ Bowling Green	29	102	3.5	0	14
Wk 8	L 6-13vs Toledo	16	78	4.9	0	14
Wk 9	L 23-25@ Ball State	1	1	1.0	0	1
Wk 11	W 42-28@ Western Michigan	8	42	5.3	1	25
Wk 12	W 29-16vs Akron	9	101	11.2	1	71
Wk 13	L 9-20@ Miami (OH)	6	45	7.5	0	20
Wk 14	W 24-16vs Central Michigan	6	65	10.8	1	24
Bowl	W 28-20@ Fresno State	4	8	2.0	0	4
Total		139	749	5.5	4	71

How he plays

Play style

Plays within the scheme — consistent production without a dominant dimension.

CFB Index positional classification

Boom vs consistent · carry-yardage shape

Steady, not spectacular

~ our read

135Carries

808Yards

21.3%Top-5 share

7.4%Stuffed rate

Just 21.3% of his season rushing yards came on his 5 best carries — remarkably even — and he's stuffed on 7.4% of his carries. 1 carry for 1 yds vs Ball State; 19 for 155 vs Massachusetts.

Closer · Q4-with-lead carry share

The closer

~ our read

25.5%Carry share

31.6%Q4-lead share

100.0%In competitive games

25.5% of carries overall (133/522) → 31.6% of Q4-with-lead carries (24/76) — 100.0% of those in competitive (≤16-pt) games.

Short-yardage / goal-line · enumeration

Who gets the tough yard

fact

6/21Inside-5 share

6 of the team's 21 inside-the-5 carries (28.6%).