By Nick Wagoner
Senior Writer

For as much of an athletic freak as North Carolina State defensive end Mario Williams is, he might not even be the best athlete on his own team. Actually, he might not even be the best athlete on his own team at his own position.

That honor would probably go to fellow end Manny Lawson. While it might not sound like much to say that someone is more athletic than Williams, there are few defensive ends to enter the draft, with the possible exception of Julius Peppers, with his kind of physical talent.

It would have been easy for Williams and Lawson to get overly competitive and try to beat each other out. But for this duo, it wasn’t like that.

“He’s a great player,” Williams said. “I fed off of him all season. Just come out there and me and him were like meet me at the quarterback. It was a lot of competition, but it was never like we are better than each other. It was a team focus and we just did what we had to do.”

And what they did was dominate in just about every game they played. The pair combined for 24.5 sacks on their way to leading the Wolfpack to one of the nation’s best defenses.

The combination of Williams’ strength and moves and Lawson’s terrifying speed off the edge made it nearly impossible for teams to game plan a way to slow down, let alone stop, the dynamic duo.

“You see one guy coming around the corner, you are definitely not going to run his way so you will automatically go to the next guy that you don’t see,” Lawson said. “I feel as though we both complement each other.”

Make no mistake, though, both Williams and Lawson are fully capable of standing on their own athletic abilities.
Williams is widely considered the top defensive player in the draft and, perhaps, the best prospect in the draft regardless of position. It’s easy to see why by looking at the 6-7, 295-pound monster.

But Williams didn’t always have designs on going to the NFL, at least not as a defensive end. At Richlands (N.C.) High, Williams was a monster of a running back. He used his impressive speed and dominant physical presence to run over, around and through opponents.

“My senior year at the end of the season they put me at running back and I was lighting it up,” Williams said. “Big guys always want to touch the ball and run around. I had a chance to do that and it was a great feeling and something I really enjoyed.”

But Williams’ moonlighting as a ball carrier came to an end soon after he chose North Carolina State as his collegiate home.

“I didn’t get a chance to carry the ball in college,” Williams said.

Well, the reasoning behind his college coaches taking the ball away was pretty obvious from the moment Williams stepped on to the Raleigh campus. His impressive combination of size and athleticism made him the prototype for defensive end.

As a freshman, Williams recorded five sacks and 13 tackles for loss on his way to the freshman All American team. He tacked on about 10 pounds after that season, sacrificing none of his speed. He came back as a sophomore better than ever.

During his sophomore year, Williams finished with six sacks and 15 tackles for loss on his way to first-team all ACC honors. Again, Williams tacked on about 20 pounds and was ready for his breakout junior year.

Williams didn’t disappoint, racking up 14.5 sacks and 24 tackles for loss in the process of becoming an All American. With the moves and speed of a running back and the size of a power forward, Williams developed into the premier defensive prospect in the draft.

“It’s second nature,” Williams said. “I just play. It’s like my instinct; it’s just something that I do. I really can’t say that I did this, did that. It’s just knowing the down and distance and having an idea in your mind and coming off and executing what I was thinking about doing.”

Williams ran the 40-yard dash in 4.66 seconds, an obscenely fast time for someone his size. At North Carolina State, he spent time at end, tackle and linebacker, though he projects to end in the NFL. In addition, Williams is well suited to any NFL defense at end because of his ability to get after the passer and stop the run.

All of those things, tangible and intangible, should lead to Williams being gone within the first two or three picks of the NFL Draft.

Lawson, on the other hand, isn’t thought of quite as highly as Williams, though he also projects as a first-round pick. While Williams was consistently adding weight to his frame during college, Lawson was doing his best to maintain his weight and, in turn, his blinding speed.

In his first two years at North Carolina State, Lawson toiled as a special teamer with limited opportunities because of his lack of a position. Lawson was a classic ‘tweener without a true position.

Finally, as a junior Lawson earned the starting end job opposite Williams. He fared well in 2004, finishing with seven sacks and 12 tackles for loss.

Not coincidentally, Lawson had his breakout season last year, when Williams also had his finest season. By the time the year was done, Lawson had 10 sacks and 19.5 tackles for loss.

Every play literally became a race to the quarterback with both sides winning almost equally.

Heading into the pre-draft process, Lawson set out to add to his 6’5 frame. As it stands, Lawson is around 241 pounds, but would like to add weight without sacrificing any of his trademark speed. Lawson clocked in the 4.4s in the 40-yard dash in all of his workouts, making him the perfect fit as a rush linebacker or end in the NFL.

While the lack of a true position makes Lawson somewhat of a question, he looks at it as an advantage.

“I’m pretty much still learning,” Lawson said. “I am going to always be learning. I feel I have a variety and array of pass rush moves that will work, but if you really want to look at it I have only been playing defensive end for two years so I am still new to the game.”

Lawson can play linebacker or end in the NFL and says he patterns his game after Indianapolis end Dwight Freeney. In an effort to add weight, Lawson says he has been eating plenty of baked potatoes and working out every day.

Although Lawson won’t go as high as his teammate, he should land somewhere in the first round, perhaps as high as the top 15. After all, teams always have room for an athlete as good as Lawson.

“I can do anything you want me to,” Lawson said. “I play a mind game with my opponents. I study them, learn their strengths and weaknesses and then try to exploit them on that.”

And though Lawson and Williams insist that their rivalry is nothing but friendly, Lawson can’t help but remind Williams where he came from and where he is going.

“When he was coming in I happened to be his player host,” Lawson said. “I feel as though I brought him to NC State and as that I took it upon my responsibility to also be there throughout his time. Whenever he had questions, we also roomed together; we stayed in the same hotel room before games. We always talked about games and what the other planned to do. Of course, mine was better and I am going to end up with more tackles and more sacks and fumbles and stuff like that. I am sort of like a smaller bigger brother.”