Naming St. Cloud’s Bryce Williams to the All-County Football Team was the easy part. Trying to decide to name him MVP of the defensive team, offensive team or special teams unit was a much tougher choice.
At the end of the day, the Middle Tennessee signee is the pick for 2025 Osceola News-Gazette Defensive Player of the Year. As expected, he is also on the first as the punter, and look for his name on the All-County Offensive Team that will be announced at a later date. He’s also our Ironman of the Year as the county’s best two-way—and multi-dimensional—player.
“It’s a great honor but it would not be possible without my teammates and coaches,” Williams said. “On defense it was so much easier this year because I knew the other guys would be taking care of their jobs and through our practices and training our coaches would make sure we were in the right position to succeed.”
‘He’s the type of player that never wanted to come off the field,” St. Cloud Coach Mike Short said of his versatile and indispensable athlete. “He’s always been a top defensive back, but we were thin at wide receiver and punter heading into the season and he just took over the Number One spots there, too. We won eight regular-season games for the first time in school history and Bryce Williams was a main catalyst for that success.”
One defensive stat absolutely stood out for Williams—he was among the state leaders this season and set a county record with nine interceptions. The ball-hawkish Williams returned three of those interceptions for touchdowns also returned a fumble for a score.
Williams’ versatility on defense was notable. He batted down a team-leading 21 passes, recovered two fumbles, caused one and had 68 total tackles while lining up at corner, safety, and outside linebacker.
He was a force on special teams. As a punter, he led the county with a 50.5 average on 17 punts – five of which were downed inside the 20-yard line.
“My first couple of years, when they had me on defense, I would always bug coach Short about wanting to play offense too,” Williams recalled. “I just love playing football and it was so much fun to get snaps on both sides of the ball. Whether offense, defense or special teams, I just wanted to have an impact.”
With Williams as a main cog, St. Cloud went 8-3 this season, won a district championship and qualified for the Class 7A playoffs.
Williams edges out a pair of Osceola defenders for Player of the Year honors. Defensive lineman Amier Clarke (Georgia Tech signee, 94 tackles, 12 sacks, 23 tackles for loss) and linebacker Colton Carter (116 tackles, 26 TFL) were also considered. Osceola went 7-5 this season, won a district title and advanced to the 6A regional semifinals.
All-County Football Defense
Player of the Year: Bryce Williams, St. Cloud, Sr., CB-LB-P
All-County Team:
Defensive Line: Amier Clarke (Osceola), Jason Mekhi Ealy (Harmony), Dory Thimote (Gateway), Jason Lewis (Osceola), Hank Williams (St. Cloud), Jude Cockcroft (St. Cloud), Milton Caraballo (St. Cloud), Gerald Pifer (Harmony) and Samir Carrilo-Handel (Tohopekaliga).
Linebacker: Dashawn Reese (St. Cloud), Colton Carter (Osceola), Nathaniel Barnett (Osceola), Ryan Rodgers (Harmony), Chase Gilbert (St. Cloud), Jakobi Hines (Poinciana), Jordan Hines (Liberty), and Colton Sklarek (Harmony).
Defensive Back/Secondary: Williams (St. Cloud), Ja’Mario Bradford (Osceola), Jakyri Watson (Osceola), Johnny Reyes (Gateway), Sailor Urban (Harmony), Zeus Howard (St. Cloud), Jaden Taylor (St. Cloud), Evan Couch (Celebration).
Punter: Williams
