Tramon Williams intercepts a pass intended for San Francisco tight end Vernon Davis during their wild-card game last January in Green Bay. Credit: Rick Wood

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To this day, almost 15 years after the fact, Tramon Williams remains incredulous that no college recruited him to play football or basketball, or compete in track and field.

"At the age of 31, man, I'm still the most athletic person on this team," the sinewy cornerback for the Green Bay Packers said during extended interviews last monthAugust. "I know so. I can still jump. I can still do it all."

A three-sport standout in bayou country, Williams grew up about an hour's drive from the campus of Louisiana State University. The Tigers never called in 2001, when he was graduating from Assumption High in Napoleonville, La., nor did anyone else with a scholarship offer.

Williams had to walk on at Louisiana Tech, in Ruston up by the Arkansas border.

"I'm probably as good in basketball as I am in football," he said. "Only did track my senior year but went to state in three events. To me, it was just kind of mind-boggling that I wasn't looked at in anything."

That long-ago disappointment doesn't burden Williams. Coming off an exceptional showing in the second half of last season, he projects an air of confidence that stems from his studious approach and what he regards as no loss of athleticism.

Every off-season, Williams watches tape of the cornerbacks that make the Pro Bowl, an honor he's never achieved.

The more he looks, the stronger his belief in himself grows.

"Did I believe in myself the whole time? Yes, I always had natural ability," Williams said. "I've been an under-the-radar type of guy, and I don't mind that at all. That's been me my whole life.

"I just feel that I've had a good career so far, but I think I'm just getting started. I feel great right now. I can play four more (seasons) at a high level."

For Williams, what goes on behind closed doors is equally as critical as what happens on the field when it comes to playing cornerback.

He notices young players dwelling on their assigned man before the snap. That was Williams in the summer of 2006, when the Houston Texans cut the rookie free agent at the end of training camp. Signed almost three months later to the Packers' practice squad, he has been in Green Bay ever since.

Williams describes himself as a thinking man's cornerback, before quickly adding, "I still have all the ability in the world.

"When you become a thinking player, it slows the game down so you don't have to react to anything. You already know what's coming and you're just waiting for it. Sometimes it just makes it look easy."

Each week of the regular season, he spends hours at a tape machine breaking down the next opponent.

"I get what they do out of a 2-by-2 formation (two receivers to one side, two receivers to the other), a 3-by-1," he said. "If it's first and 10, I get all the route concepts. If it's third and 2, third and 6 to 10, third and 10-plus, I break it all down.

"I also break it down to what route concepts they run in the red zone, in the field and in coming out from the black zone (inside their own 20). When you break it down and put everything together, man, it just makes so much sense."

Williams almost dawdles leaving the huddle after A.J. Hawk relays the defensive front and coverage call that was made by coordinator Dom Capers and sent in via headset by linebackers coach Winston Moss.

"With a young guy, he probably will go up and get on his man and he's ready to play football," Williams said. "They think they're always competing against the receiver. It's totally opposite. You're competing against the offense.

"I'm looking in the huddle to see the receivers. I look at the whole offense. I see who's going where. If it's a 3-by-1 set, things start running through my head: 'OK, they can do this out of that.'"

Let's say the Packers are in man coverage. Williams plays left cornerback, but if Capers has matched him on a wide receiver, he trots over to wherever his man has set up.

In 2008, when Al Harris' spleen injury gave Williams his first chance to start, then-defensive coordinator Bob Sanders demanded that the cornerbacks had to press at the line in man.

Under Capers and position coach Joe Whitt, according to Williams, "You can pretty much do what you want to do. If you're a better press player, they let you press. If you're a good off player, a good vision player, they'll let you play off."

Whereas Sam Shields and Davon House would be categorized more as press players, Williams has a slight preference for off.

"It's because I can read so much off it and it also helps me in the run game," he said. "If you've got a guy pressed up in man, you don't have to worry about him showing up against the run because the receiver can just run him off.

"There's a lot more I feel I can do. Plus, I've practiced it and studied it so much I'm real good with it."

As a general rule, a cornerback's eyes in man coverage must be on the receiver.

"They have to be on the man but I still get my steps from the quarterback," Williams said. "I normally line up 8 yards from the receiver. That's perfect for me. It's enough for me to read the quarterback. When I get my eyes back to the receiver he may be about 4 yards away from me."

A receiver, he says, is going to be running at least a variation of one of the nine basic routes on an NFL passing tree.

If Williams has elected to press the receiver, he's head-up a yard or so away with his feet (he wears size-12 cleats) parallel to the line and has his weight forward.

Does he jam one or both arms into his foe's chest the instant that the ball is snapped?

"The first thing I do is take a hop back," Williams said. "When people talk about pressing, most guys think it's all about your hands. It's really about your feet. I'm not a bigger corner. I've always pressed with my feet."

After the bounce-back step, Williams reacts to whether his man takes an inside or outside release. If it's an inside release, he will jam his outside hand into the man's outside shoulder or pectoral area.

"He's going to try to get it (Williams' hand) down," he said. "If he does, then I'll just come back on top.

"You also want your feet to be at 45 degrees. If you just open the gate you'll give him vertical control and a great lane back to the quarterback."

Sometimes, Williams doesn't need to use his hands to redirect a receiver. Simply mirroring his man's movements with his feet impedes his path.

"If he outside releases against press, half of the time, if it's a young receiver, he's only going to do a couple things," Williams said. "He'll do a fade or a comeback, or a back-shoulder. Or a hitch. That's it.

"If a guy inside releases, then you don't know what you're going to get. You're probably going to get a dig or a slant, or a post. You kind of eliminate routes."

The rules permit contact between receiver and defender in the first 5 yards. Based on points of rules emphasis for 2014, the league is seeking almost no contact after that.

"I'm going to try to play my game reasonably like last year until proven wrong," he said. "Regardless, if someone is trying to push off, I'm going to grab him. It's simple as that. I'm not going to give up a touchdown."

As Williams continues to shadow the receiver beyond 5 yards, he'll often feel the man placing a hand on his back. It signals the break point of the route and, if there's separation, the arrival of the ball.

If the coverage call is a form of zone, Williams' eyes are trained on the quarterback. He pays close attention to the depth of the passer's drop: Is he ready to throw at one, three, five or seven steps?

"I rarely move at the beginning of my backpedal," he said. "I kind of walk out reading his steps. Once I get my steps, I get my eyes right back to the receiver. At the third step I'm ready to break on stuff."

Williams also devotes a considerable amount of his tape study examining the receivers' splits on the field.

"Where is he can tell you where the play is going," he said. "If you get a tight split, chances are you might be getting a bootleg. It's kind of a common thing.

"If I'm in off (coverage) and I see the quarterback boot, then I know what route they're doing. I don't even have to see the receiver. He'll either run a comeback or he'll try to double-move you."

Last season, Williams was moved to the slot in sub defenses near midseason after Casey Hayward was lost for the season. Williams will play inside at times this season as well.

"It's still man to man, but in a lot of coverages it's a little bit easier because you get a lot of help inside," Williams said. "But, at some point, you don't have any help, it's a two-way go and you've got a lot of field."

The safeties in Green Bay, as with most teams, are given the responsibility of changing the coverage in response to motions and shifts. Checks are made verbally and through hand signals.

"I'll make the call sometimes even before (the safety) says anything just to let him know that, 'Hey, I know the call,'" Williams said. "I never really miss anything that's going on. If I don't know, I can figure it out."

The art of deceiving a quarterback and his supporting cast has become even more critical as rules changes make it easier to play pitch-and-catch. It was an area in which the Packers were deficient in 2013, according to Williams.

He detected a more cohesive, intelligent approach on defense during training camp that he hopes will result in at least some indecision on the part of offenses.

Williams, 5 feet 11 inches and 186 pounds with about 3% body fat, says the size of the receiver is a major component in his weekly battles.

"If it's a smaller guy, I can probably just cover him off natural ability," he said. "But, if you don't do much studying on a guy, anybody can give you problems. Everybody's good.

"When it comes to bigger guys, and with the rules nowadays, it's getting tougher and tougher. Obviously, those guys are going to be physical with you and they're not going to call anything on them...they're going to call it on you."

Cornerbacks that doubt their ability probably won't last long.

"As DBs, we feel we're the best athletes on the field," Williams said. "It becomes a mind-set. You play a position where you have to play out of a backpedal and cover a guy who knows where he's going."

Tall, heavier receivers with limited quickness don't bother Williams. Long-striders don't bother him, either.

What about Chicago's Brandon Marshall, a big man who can play small and is dynamite after the catch?

Williams has respect for him, as he does for Minnesota's Greg Jennings, his teammate from 2006-'12.

"Truth be told, if Greg Jennings was a 6-5 receiver, in my book, he would be one of the best easily," he said.

The physical perils for Williams most often arise when the Packers are in Cover 2 zone coverage. On the occasions when he is designated as the force man against the run, it's usually in Cover 2.

Let's say Williams is at left cornerback in the base defense and the play is a wide run coming his way. It's Cover 2, and his responsibility is to force.

"You might have a guard pulling, and I've got to take him on," Williams said. "So I'm going to go right at his (outside) leg with my right (inside) shoulder. Basically, what you want to do is create a pile."

On average, he estimated there are four or five collisions like that in a game.

Is there tremendous punishment hurling your body into a moving blocker that outweighs you by about 125 pounds (he hasn't worn a mouthpiece since 2004)?

"There could be," Williams said. "You've got to get low or you're going to get run over. It's just something you've been doing your whole life so I'm used to it."

In other run-support situations, Williams will aim his right shoulder into the puller's right rib-cage area while attempting to stay off the ground.

"There, I want to get underneath the lineman, set the edge and still hold my feet," he said. "I don't want to give myself up in case the runner is coming through and I can go get (him)."

Asked to summarize his six-plus years coaching Williams in 10 words or fewer, Whitt went over by three.

"True professional who does whatever the team asks him to do. Very smart."

That assessment would be sweet music to Williams' ears.