After everything, E.J. Williams is exactly where he’s supposed to be

The first thing E.J. Williams noticed when he walked back into Indiana’s locker room was how little had changed.

There were no speeches. No awkward pauses. No reminders of the way he left.

“They welcomed me back with open arms, like I never really left,” Williams said Tuesday. “They didn’t make a big deal out of it, like I didn’t as well. They’re adults, just like I am, so we handled it like grown men.”

For Williams, that simplicity mattered. Because nothing about the past year of his college career had been simple.

When Williams had his most productive college season, he was an 18-year-old true freshman at Clemson catching passes from Trevor Lawrence during the 2020 COVID season. A national top-100 recruit, Williams looked like a future star, finishing that year with 24 receptions for 306 yards and two touchdowns.

Then the momentum stopped.

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Injuries limited him over the next two seasons. He transferred to Indiana ahead of the 2023 campaign, where flashes returned late in the year. Williams finished with 23 catches for 281 yards and appeared to be trending in the right direction again.

Then, another reset followed.

Williams stayed when Indiana hired Curt Cignetti, but a crowded receiver room and another round of health setbacks derailed his 2024 season. After playing in four games, Williams asked to redshirt, hoping to get healthy and preserve a final year of eligibility.

Cignetti, consistent in his stance, made it clear he decides who redshirts and who doesn’t. If Williams wanted to step away, the transfer portal was his only path forward.

So Williams left. It was a decision that felt final at the time, made in the middle of a season that would ultimately become the most successful in program history.

Even after entering the portal, Williams said something never quite sat right.

“I always knew I wanted to end up back [at Indiana], even when I first entered the portal,” Williams said. “Ultimately, I was on a visit at another school and Coach Cignetti ended up calling me up, and I ended up coming back to the program. Everything ended up being alright.”

Come the end of Indiana’s historic 2024 campaign, Cignetti phoned Williams — while the wideout was on a visit to another school. He told Williams he had no issues bringing players back, even after they had left, and he wanted Williams back.

Williams told Cignetti the feeling was mutual. He said he loved Indiana’s offense, the way the staff developed receivers and the situations the scheme created for them to succeed. He told Cignetti he never truly wanted to leave in the first place.

“It was a really easy process,” Williams said. “They just knew that they wanted me ultimately to come back, and I knew that I wanted to come back and play for a great program.”

Williams also didn’t want to start over somewhere else as an older player.

“Really loving the bond I created with these guys — it was such a small amount of time, but we were so close,” Williams said. “I didn’t want to leave a program, start all over and do that process all over again being an older guy.”

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Now 24 years old, Williams has authored the most productive season of his career, five years after his freshman breakout. He scored his first touchdown in 1,721 days against Kennesaw State on Sept. 6, his first since the 2020 ACC Championship game. He has shattered his career highs with 34 receptions, 416 receiving yards and five touchdowns.

A year after missing Indiana’s trip to the College Football Playoff, Williams is now a key contributor on the nation’s No. 1 ranked team. He has also become one of the program’s most vocal recruiters, posting on X in October: “If I was a recruit today, the obvious program I’d wanna be apart of would be Indiana football…”

Williams said the success he and the Hoosiers are enjoying now feels like confirmation that everything unfolded the way it was supposed to.

“The story’s not over,” Williams said. “It’s just a great experience, and I’m blessed to be here.”

And this time, Williams isn’t watching it happen from anywhere else.

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