Terrell Williams sat in the media conference room on the top floor of the University of Florida athletics department around a table of reporters all louder than he.

With the frame of a man that can’t deny being a former defensive lineman, he comes off as a gentle giant.

He spoke in soft tones and a lit cadence that bespoke of a man who sees that life is more than football.

His answers agreed with that tone until a certain question arose. What sort of philosophy does he employ for his defensive line?

“Attack. That’s it”, Williams says simply.

“I could get up here and give you a big speech on what I teach. For us, it’s about being aggressive, attacking guys. That’s the only way I know how to coach that position. It’s not a passive position and I’m not a passive guy. We’ll have a lot of fun and we’re going to attack people. It’s an us-against-the-world mentality.”

Williams has learned this mentality over an expansive career.

He played defensive line at (coincidentally) East Carolina University and then began coaching in 1998 at Fort Scott Community College.

Over the next decade and a half, he has been with five more colleges including Texas A&M and with the Oakland Raiders in the NFL. At each stop, Williams has stuck with his passion; defensive line. And as far as he’s concerned, there’s no better job to have.

“Obviously, if you coach in this profession, you would like to be a coordinator, you would like to be a head coach, but I’m a defensive line coach first and foremost.

I don’t care if I was a coordinator. I don’t care if I was a head coach. I’m a defensive line coach. I played defensive line. I’ve only coached defensive line.

I’m not a quarterback coach. You won’t ever see me coaching offensive line. I’m a defensive line coach. I believe in it. That’s my passion and that’s what I want to do.

I’m OK with being the defensive line coach at Florida. I feel like as a defensive line coach, this is for sure the best job in college football. The defensive line coach at Florida is better than some NFL jobs.”

One of those NFL jobs is the one Williams held for the past 3 season in Oakland.

While the Raiders have consistently been one of if not the worst team statistically in the NFL offensive column, they actually finished the 2014 season with 10 teams behind them in defensive rushing. Williams line allowed an average of 119.4 yards a game.

Those three years on the West Coast were irreplaceable though according to Williams and will help him in spades moving forward with the actual coaching aspects of his job.

“You know what’s funny is when you get to the NFL…it’s all football”, Williams explains.

“You’re a football coach, you don’t recruit, you get ready for the draft. You spend all day, every day working on football. No compliance. No, ‘Did a guy go to class?’ It’s all football. If you’re a real football coach you can’t help but to get better as a coach, studying tape and doing those things. You can do it at this level also, but you’ve got to spend a little more time.”

A lot of that time will be spent around those he’s coaching with.

Williams, new DC Geoff Collins, new LB coach Randy Shannon and new secondary coach Kirk Callahan have been spending a lot of time together over the past four days since all being hired as part of head coach Jim McElwain’s cabinet.

During that time, Williams says the coaches haven’t gotten into much football and schemes, although he will be taking over for a defensive line that ranked 13th in the nation in rushing defense (allowing 116.2 ypg).

Instead they’re focusing on getting to know one another which has already brought about the ribbing and teasing.

“We’ve only been together since Monday. You guys sat here with Geoff and his Mountain Dew. It looked like he was filming a Mountain Dew commercial…I feel like we’ve got a really good defensive staff, and we spend so much time together that it’s important that you enjoy being around the guys that you are working with. Because I’m just telling you, from a coach’s perspective, if you’re in a room in a room with guys that you don’t necessarily like, then it can be miserable. I’ve been fortunate that I haven’t had that happen yet – or at least I’m not going to say.”

They’re also taking the time to get to know the players currently on their roster.

“The only thought I have is that they are a good group of kids. I have had a chance to visit with them, they are excited, smiles on their face. I’m looking forward to working with them…Right now…it’s really just about getting to know them. I want them to know me. I want them to know my wife and my son. That’s important to me, the family atmosphere. The football part — that stuff will take care of itself when we need to take care of it. We are in the getting-to-know-each-other phase right now.”

If Williams track record is any indication, he will get to know each player just fine and establish the relationships that he says are vital to doing his job well. The evidence of this was making itself seen just hours before Williams Thursday morning meeting with the media.

“I got text message from one of my [Oakland] players last night…we just talked about how much fun we had and how we’re going to miss being around each other. But that’s been the same for me everywhere that I’ve coached. It’s always been hard to leave.”

This time leaving though meant coming back home, at least for Williams family as a whole.

With a contract on the table to stay in Oakland, Williams saw an opportunity worth moving cross country for and with the job in Gainesville, he brought his wife close to her hometown of Fernandina Beach, Florida and to a school that boast both of her parents as alumni.

Now Terrell Williams will have the opportunity to make Florida his own home and the Gators the next feather in his defensive line coach hat, leading them with an aggressive attitude and gentle voice.