Will Anderson has been prepared for the sweet talk that comes with success.
Call it from being an All-American Bowl participant in high school, or being a stellar part of the Alabama football program as a defensive end. Anderson is used to praise from anyone.
“You would get in a situation like this where you’re coming to something big and it’s going to be a blessing for you and your family,” Anderson said. “So everybody around you wants to kiss your butt and not tell you what you need to work on. For me, that’s not the case with my family.”
Anderson’s family keeps him grounded to reality, and the new Houston Texans defensive end is appreciative of his family’s efforts to ensure he contributes his best on the football field.
“Like they don’t care about any of that,” said Anderson. “They just want me to be the best version of myself any time I’m on the field, any time I’m off the field. So that the one time I slip up, they’re going to let me know.”
There haven’t been too many slip ups, at least as far as fans and the media are concerned. Anderson was a two-time Bronko Nagurski Award winner along with the Chuck Bednarik Award and the Lott Trophy. The No. 3 overall pick was also the two-time SEC Defensive Player of the Year, and helped the Crimson Tide win the College Football Playoff national championship in 2020.
Nevertheless while Anderson was racking up 34.5 sacks over 41 games at Alabama, his family was finding ways to keep Anderson humble.
Said Anderson: “Even if I did have a good game, they’ll find at least one play where ‘you could have been running faster, or you looked slow on this play. What were you doing on this play?’ They even take a picture and put it in the group chat like, ‘yeah, we just seen it.’ And I love them for that. As long as I have people in my immediate circle that I love the most and they care about me like that, I’m going to be fine.”
As the 6-4, 253-pound edge defender develops as a leader in new coach DeMeco Ryans’ defense, there will be plenty for his family to critique in his rookie year.
