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There must be something about the fullback position at Stanford that promotes hair growth. In recent years, the helmets of Owen Marecic, Ryan Hewitt and Daniel Marx couldn’t contain their long locks.

The heir apparent, redshirt junior Reagan Williams, fits in with the tradition. His blond hair falls to his shoulders when he doesn’t have it tied up.

“It’s been a tradition here for a while,” he said. “It gives us something different out there — to be ourselves. It’s cool to be recognized. Houston’s starting to grow his out now.”

That’s redshirt freshman Houston Heimuli, who’s also in the running for the No. 1 job as Bryce Love’s backfield blocker and bodyguard.

Williams helped sub for Marx in 2016 when an injury cost Marx half that season. Williams also subbed at times last year, playing in nine games.

He is 6-foot-3, 220 pounds, and that’s a little long for a fullback.

Back to Gallery Reagan Williams is Stanford’s latest long-haired fullback 2 1 of 2 Photo: Tony Avelar / Special to The Chronicle 2 of 2 Photo: Tony Avelar / Special to The Chronicle



“The biggest thing is: Can they bend? Can they get down?” head coach David Shaw said. “Can they kick out the linebacker on the outside? Can they come back and lead on the inside linebacker and get lower — because low always wins — and generate that power? And once they get contact, can they drive their legs and go (from) low to high? That’s all that matters.”

According to Williams, strength and conditioning coach Shannon Turley “takes us through a gauntlet of drills every day to make sure we’re bending and staying low. It’s all about pad level in the game.”

The coaches worried that Williams wouldn’t be fully recovered at the start of training camp after he had shoulder surgery in January. But he said his shoulder is better than ever.

“He’s great, he’s full speed, he’s 100 percent,” Shaw said. “He’s doing what he does, which is uproot people out of the hole.”

At fullback, the Cardinal also have converted tight end Ben Snyder and freshman Jay Symonds, rated the nation’s second-best prep fullback last year by 247Sports and PrepStar.

“It looks like we have good players at the top and some depth,” Shaw said.

At Jackson (Ohio) High School, Williams played inside linebacker and made 340 career tackles. As a tight end, he executed — get this — 176 pancake blocks.

“We ran a pro-style offense like we do here,” he said. “We always ran behind me.”

Jackson is quite a ways from Cleveland, but Williams is “a huge Cavs fan,” he said. “Tough to see LeBron (James) leave. I’m happy he’s going to be happy in L.A. I’m excited about the young guys we have coming up on the Cavs.”

He’s also excited about his music, his other passion away from the football field. He composes and performs rap/hip-hop music, and several of his songs can be heard through his Twitter account.

“After football, I hope to work on my artistry,” he said. “Now it’s a hobby to do with my friends. It’s always been a dream to pursue that” as a career.

If that dream comes true, he’d probably be the first blond-haired, blue-eyed hip-hop artist named after Ronald Reagan.

Tom FitzGerald is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: tfitzgerald@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @tomgfitzgerald