One of the best wide receivers ever to come out of Montezuma-Cortez High School will be heading to Western State College in Gunnison to play football.

Adam Williams, who holds several school receiving records, signed an NCAA, Division II National Letter of Intent on Monday, April 17, to play for the Mountaineers. Attending the brief ceremony were his parents Bob and Kathy Williams of Cortez, MCHS Athletic Director Brad Jones, and former MCHS head football coach Dick Geddes in the Commons.

Williams, a 195-pound 5-foot-10 senior, set the Colorado all-time single-game receiving record (all classes) of 329 yards against Shiprock, N.M. The four touchdown receptions that game tied a school record with Jake Collett. He finished the 1999 season with 44 catches for 1,007 yards and 14 receiving TDs (both school standards). He did not play his junior year because of a broken leg but he did catch balls for 719 yards as a sophomore. He helped the Panthers to a 4-5 overall record last fall.

Williams is an all-around athlete. He was a guard for the boys basketball team and he is a sprinter on the boys track and field team. He runs in several relay events as well as the 100 and 200 dashes.

Geddes, who resigned as head coach at the end of last season, said Williams did a great job for his program over the past three seasons.

"He was a very valuable member of our football team. I’m very glad we had him," he said.

Williams also spent time as a slot back on offense was well. On defense as a senior, he was an outside linebacker and played some at strong safety on certain coverages.

"I was a little disappointed as a team that we didn’t do better, but individually I thought I had a good year. We did not win as much as I would have liked. I was happy with my performance," Williams remarked.

Can Williams compete at the next level for coach Duke Iverson?

"He definitely has great hand-eye coordination. He has good speed (4.6 in 40-yard dash and 11.2 in 100-meter dash) and good strength. Western State is getting a very quality young man who has the ability to play right away. He will contribute to their program. It will be good for him because Western State is a throwing school," Geddes remarked.

Williams, 18, reported he had several scholarship offers and was thinking about heading to play in the state of Texas. But he contemplated it for a while and decided on Western State, primarily because it was closer to home. He had some other offers but he said they didn’t interest him.

"I like the campus (located in Gunnison). I thought the football program was good. I decided this is where I wanted to play," Williams commented.

He said he does not know what he wants to major in. Williams said he just doesn’t know what he wants to do for a living after college.