MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Former Moorefield High School star Reed Williams hated having to watch most of the West Virginia University football games from the sidelines last season due to injuries to both shoulders but thinks the situation helped him grow as both a player and person. It also gave him an opportunity to view things from a different perspective and help the other players.

The 6-foot-1, 232-pound linebacker was granted a medical redshirt after seeing action in only two games last season and is back as fifth-year player to help lead a WVU defense that has eight other starters back. While not living up to higher expectations the Mountaineers posted a 9-4 record under first-year coach Bill Stewart and won the Meineke Car Care Bowl with a 31-30 victory over North Carolina.

Williams underwent surgery on both shoulders shortly after being named the Defensive Player of the Game in the 2008 Fiesta Bowl where the Mountaineers rolled over favored Oklahoma, 48-28. He had hoped some rapid rehabilitation would have him healed sufficiently to help West Virginia make another run at a possible national championship, but it wasn’t meant to be.

After sitting out the first two games despite his desire to play, Williams returned for the Colorado game and had six tackles, a pass breakup and an interception that he returned for 11 yards in a 17-14 overtime loss. The next week against Marshall the senior linebacker was in on 11 tackles, including five solo stops and two tackles for loss in a 27-3 win.

It was then decision time under the NCAA medical redshirt rules that allow a player to only play a certain number of games in the first half of the season.

“It was a group decision with myself, my family and the coaches to pull out of the season,” said Williams. “We decided it was better to take the medical redshirt and come back for a full season and see what I could do. I had played in so many games and it was hard having to watch.”

Not a person to feel sorry for himself, the former Moorefield star elected to make the most of the situation in preparing for this year.

“It was a learning experience and I grew up a lot as a player and person,” said Williams. “I have learned to relish every day and I’m a lucky person to have another chance to have fun playing football.

“I accepted my role to try to make the team better by being a player-coach,” he added. “I tried to help the players with some things I saw by watching from the sidelines.”

Ironically, Williams was not redshirted in his first season when the two-time Cumberland Times-News Defensive Player of the Year saw a lot of action as a starter. In his sophomore year he rotated with Bobby Hathaway as a strong-side linebacker and was in only 57 tackles along with having five sacks and two fumble recoveries.

Williams moved into starting middle linebacker spot as a junior and started all 13 games for the 11-2 Mountaineers, who had a shot at playing for the national championship before being upset by Pitt in the regular-season final. He led the team in tackles with 107 — 48 solos and 59 assists.

All over the field in the Fiesta Bowl win over Oklahoma, the West Virginia linebacker collected nine tackles, including seven solo stops, two tackles for loss, a sack and a forced fumble. That performance had Williams on a number of “players-to-watch lists” and he was a candidate for the Butkus Award.

Williams is back on those lists and will have a lot of people watching him in the Mountaineers’ season opener against Liberty on Saturday at noon at Mountaineer Field at Milan Puskar Stadium.

“I’m going into this season looking to be relentless and playing with reckless abandon,” said Williams. “I can’t wait to get back on the field. I worked harder than I have ever worked and I think I am back to 100 percent. My biggest goal this season is to stay healthy. I think it is going to be a special year and a fun year.”

WVU defensive coordinator Jeff Casteel is happy to have Williams back on field providing leadership.

“Reed plays with heart and determination and refuses to be outworked on the field,” said Casteel. “His first priority is always the team and his ability as a leader on and off the field has been one of the reasons our program has been successful. It is definitely good to have him back on the field. Not only from a leadership perspective but his ability on the field gives us another solid veteran with a lot of experience in our system and that makes our defense better overall.”

With the graduation of quarterback Pat White and most of the offensive line, West Virginia isn’t facing the high expectations of the past three years and isn’t on any of the preseason Top 25 lists. The Mountaineer are picked to finish behind Pitt in the Big East.

“I think it’s nice to be the underdog and it’s definitely different without Pat White. When the quarterback changes the team changes,” said Williams. “I’ve been told that the first impression can be the most important and we want to make a good one against Liberty.”

With the experience gained last year, the returning middle linebacker thinks the WVU defense can be better and a big key to the Mountaineers’ winning games.

“Last year we had a lot of young guys thrown into the mix and with another year of playing they should be better,

he said. “I think we have an opportunity to be a good defense, but we have to keep working hard to get better.”

Steve Luse is a retired Cumberland Times-News sportswriter. He can be contacted as sluse@times-news.com.