Caleb Williams adds juice to recent run for Effingham County High basketball team

SPRINGFIELD — Well, what would be your first question for Effingham County High point guard Caleb “Juice” Williams?

Juice? You want to know about Juice, he asks, a smile never leaving his face for long.

“I was fat as a baby and my parents started calling me “Juicy” and eventually it shortened to “Juice,” said the slim, 5-foot-8, 160-pound senior who has been the juice behind a juicy recent run for the basketball team.

With Williams in the lineup, ECHS has won 12 of 14 games and has drawn even with Statesboro for first place in the competitive Region 2-6A.

“I want to win the region — we all do — and we’re really close,” Williams said. “And then we want to make a deep run in the (GHSA state) playoffs. I don’t care about the individual stuff.”

Williams isn’t the typical point guard with a perimeter offensive game. His defensive ball pressure, which resulted in 3.5 steals a game last season, earned him the region’s Defensive Player of the Year honor.

“For my height, people don’t think you can be defensive player of the year, like maybe (region coaches who pick the team) are looking at the taller guys, the shot blockers. It made me pretty happy,” Williams said.

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This season, his stats are down. He’s averaging 2.3 steals a game, fourth in the region. He averages just 7.7 points a game.

But in the big games, Williams shows up. He had a team-high 15 points in a 59-55 overtime win over Statesboro on Jan. 18, and a week later led his squad with 16 in a 59-50 victory over Brunswick.

“To me, he keeps us under control. He’s the glue,” ECHS coach Jake Darling said.

The Rebels became slightly unraveled without their glue in the lineup at the start of the season. Williams, an all-region defensive back, played football this season for the first time since eighth grade. In the state playoffs against Westlake, he suffered a concussion while trying to make a tackle.

“It was a screen pass and I was there, but (the Westlake receiver’s) thighs were so big and hit my head,” Williams said. “I felt dizzy. My head, it felt weird. I got up, but I felt like I was going crazy.”

The basketball season started less than a week later and he missed the first three games. Williams played sparingly against Groves, but said his head still hurt and sat out another three games.

After the first seven games, ECHS had a 2-5 record.

It was hardly the start the Rebels had hoped for after posting 18 wins during the 2020-21 season. They returned all five starters and top two off the bench for this season.

During the offseason, Darling created a leadership council for the team and made Williams the president.

“People always look at me like, ‘Why is he the president?’ ” Darling said. “Caleb is a typical high school kid, a little immature at times, cracking on people, trying to be funny. A lot of high school kids are that way, but the position he plays and the role he plays for us, if we didn’t have him, we wouldn’t be the team we are. I think that showed early in the season.”

But now the Rebels are on a roll. And President Williams is dishing out a region-leading 4.5 assists a game with a 58-30 assist-to-turnover ratio.

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Friday will be Senior Night when the Rebels host Bradwell Institute and possibly the last time Williams steps on his home court.

But by winning the region regular-season championship, ECHS would host the region tournament, ensuring Williams at least one more home game.

And if the Rebels place first or second in the region tournament (wherever it’s held), ECHS would be home for the first round of the Class 6A state tournament.

“I might just cry, it will feel unreal if it’s my last home game,” Williams said. “But I have confidence in my teammates. We’ll have more home games this season.