After he had been the Alabama Sports Writers Association Class 5A Back of the Year in 1999 and 2000 and Alabama’s Mr. Football in 2000 at Etowah High School, Carnell “Cadillac” Williams set a school career record for rushing touchdowns and ran for 3,831 yards at Auburn.

But Williams said arriving in the NFL with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as the fifth pick in the 2005 draft was still eye-opening.

“Getting in the locker room and training camp and being in the locker room with coach (Jon) Gruden and Derrick Brooks, Simeon Rice, Ronde Barber, all the Hall-of-Famer guys,” Williams said this week, “I was like, ‘Whoa, guys that I have admired for so long, and I’m actually in the locker room.’ So that was kind of my awakening: Man, I’m really in the NFL.”

Williams won the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year Award after rushing for 1,178 yards to kick off his seven-season career. Williams has returned to the NFL for the 2024 season as the running-backs coach of the Las Vegas Raiders.

“Whenever you hear Raiders, it’s one of the most prestigious franchises in the NFL,” Williams said. “And you think about all the great players. You think about the Davises, just what they have done in the community, the whole nine yards, so it’s just a franchise that won a lot of championships and then built real men.”

Williams joined the NFL from Auburn again. He spent the previous five seasons as the Tigers’ running-backs coach. But he did more than that, too.

Williams served as Auburn’s interim head coach for the final four games of the 2022 season when Bryan Harsin was fired.Auburn fired Harsin in his second season with the Tigers at 3-5 and on a four-game losing streak. Auburn lost Williams’ opener as the interim coach to Mississippi State 39-33 in overtime before defeating Texas A&M 13-10 and Western Kentucky 41-17, then losing to Alabama 49-27.

Auburn chose Liberty coach Hugh Freeze to lead the program instead of Williams after the 2022 season. Williams returned to coaching running backs and also served as the associate head coach during the 2023 season.

Now Williams is in charge of a running-backs room that’s transitioning from Josh Jacobs. The former Alabama standout led the NFL in rushing for Las Vegas in 2022. A contract dispute and an injury reduced Jacobs’ production in 2023, but he still had more than twice as many rushing attempts as any other Raiders running back before departing in the offseason for the Green Bay Packers as a free agent.

“Just that toughness, discipline, detail,” Williams said about what he’s trying to impart in the Raiders’ running-backs room. “I always tell people to play running back, you got to be a little throwed off to have 11 guys actually trying to knock your brains out. … Got to be a little off.

“But those backs, man, they’re doing a great job. You have to be physical. It’s a mindset. Guys got to be able to break tackles. So just showing up each and every day and being consistent and being the light and being that energy because I truly feel like even though the position is devalued these days, I truly feel like the RBs can change the game.”

Las Vegas has Zamir White in line to be its No. 1 running back in his third season out of Georgia.

“Something about SEC backs,” Williams said. “Can’t go wrong with them.”

White ran for 451 yards and one touchdown on 104 carries and caught 15 passes for 98 yards in 2023. Almost all that production came in the final four games of the season when Jacobs was sidelined by an injury. In those four games, White ran for 397 yards and one touchdown on 84 carries and caught nine passes for 60 yards.

“He’s a guy where he’s going to run through arm tackles,” Williams said. “He’s explosive, a bigger guy to get his pads down, to run through people, so just super excited to see how he progresses, continue just being the guy his first time, just see how he respond to this challenge.”

Williams’ players also include Alexander Mattison, who came aboard in free agency after running for 700 yards on 180 carries and catching 30 passes for 192 yards and three touchdowns for the Minnesota Vikings in 2023; sixth-round rookie Dylan Laube from New Hampshire, and Ameer Abdullah, who’s preparing for his 10th NFL season.

Like Williams, Abdullah is a former Alabama high school star. From Homewood, Abdullah went to Nebraska and entered the NFL as a second-round selection in 2015.

“What a blessing to have Ameer in my room,” Williams said. “For one, he brings the light each and every day, man. A 10-year vet, I mean, those guys can learn so much from him. You know, he was a high second-round pick. He done been the starter. He done been the third-down (back). He done been demoted. So just dealing with the ups and downs of football or being in this industry. And then also just learning how to be a pro. You know, he got longevity in this league, so I always encourage those guys, especially Dylan and also those younger guys, man, to pick his brain because the more you learn, the better you’re going to be in this type of environment and life in general.”

The Raiders continue their preseason schedule at 9 p.m. CDT Saturday, when they square off against the Dallas Cowboys at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada. NFL Network will televise the game.

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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.