Why Auburn Needs WR D'haquille Williams to Be a Difference Maker Against LSU

AUBURN, Ala. — Last December, Auburn recorded a huge victory against LSU on the recruiting trail with the signing of D'haquille "Duke" Williams.

This Saturday, Auburn will hope to secure another win against its SEC West rival with the help of the ultra-talented wide receiver it pried away from Louisiana.

"[Williams] is going to be a great luxury for us no matter who we're playing, but a week like this week, they've got really long, athletic guys that can cover," offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee said. "Hopefully our big wideouts will match up well and play well against them and we can make some plays."

Williams, the former No. 1 overall junior college recruit, was once committed to play for his in-state Tigers but later flipped and signed with the ones from Alabama.

"We really just sold Auburn," Lashlee said. "Auburn's a great place, he came here and fell in love with it. I think home is home to anybody, but I think he was interested in maybe a fresh start somewhere. He fell in love with it, we tried to sell what we had to offer, we had a great need, and it just kind of worked out." 

After a full spring and summer of practices to get him acclimated to Gus Malzahn's uptempo offense, Auburn wasted no time in getting the ball to Williams.

In his debut, an important divisional showdown with a much-improved Arkansas team, the former Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College star recorded the team's best single-game receiving performance since the 2010 SEC Championship Game.

"Honestly, I didn't come in and think I was going to have a big game like this," Williams said after Auburn's 45-21 win against the Razorbacks. "But I just kept catching the ball and catching the ball, making plays. As the game went on, the ball kept coming to me, so I just had to make big plays for my team."

Jamie Squire/Getty Images

The ball kept coming to Williams the next week against San Jose State, when he added 60 more yards to his season tally.

It continued two weeks later at Kansas State, where he caught a late third-down pass from Nick Marshall on a double move to put the nail in the Wildcats' coffin.

And the ball headed in his direction back home against Louisiana Tech last Saturday—although he had to reach a bit more for it to record an impressive one-handed touchdown catch.

"He just has a special gift," Malzahn said after Auburn's recent 45-17 victory. "He knows how to catch the ball, so it doesn’t surprise me."

This weekend, Auburn's coaches and fans alike will hope the ball continues to come to Williams because the Tigers will need some of his "special gifts" against the team that almost signed him.

Standing at 6'4" with top-level athleticism and ball skills, Williams has been the perfect addition to an Auburn offense that was deadly but one-dimensional in 2013.

In 2014, with a couple of pieces from the nation's top rushing attack off to the NFL, the Tigers have been more prone to air it out—mostly to Williams, as former leading receiver Sammie Coates continues to recover from a nagging injury.

Name	Catches	Yards	Yards per Catch	Touchdowns
D'haquille Williams	23	357	15.52	3
Quan Bray	6	110	18.33	2
Melvin Ray	4	107	26.75	1
Ricardo Louis	9	94	10.44	2
Cameron Artis-Payne	5	64	12.80	0

Williams has played on the inside and the outside of Auburn's offense so far this season, creating matchup problems for any opposing defense, no matter what scheme it might use.

While Coates, the No. 3 player nationally in yards per catch last season, was primarily a deep-ball target for play-action passes, Williams provides an intermediate threat Auburn lacked last season against LSU and the rest of the SEC.

"He's huge when you [go against] anybody in our league because you're going to get more man coverage, so it gives us another receiver that can win against man coverage," Lashlee said. "Last year, we were kind of limited with [Coates]. It's also just huge in general, because it makes it hard for people to double and take certain guys away when we've got more than one guy."

As Williams said after the Arkansas game, "You can't double-team everybody."

Butch Dill/Getty Images

Although LSU's defense has been weak against the run when playing power conference teams this season, Auburn will need to throw the ball to defeat the Bayou Bengals in Jordan-Hare Stadium this Saturday.

LSU has had a top-30 pass defense each of the last five seasons and is currently No. 5 nationally by allowing only 130 yards per game through the air, but big games from top receivers have been factors in the Tigers' more recent losses.

With the exception of a pair of conservative, run-heavy Alabama teams, each team that has defeated LSU since the 2012 Chick-fil-A Bowl against Clemson has had a receiver go for more than 100 yards: 

Name (School)	Result vs. LSU (Year)	Catches	Yards	Touchdowns
DeAndre Hopkins (Clemson)	W 25-24 (2012)	13	191	2
Chris Conley (Georgia)	W 44-41 (2013)	5	112	1
Donte Moncrief (Ole Miss)	W 27-24 (2013)	5	107	0
Jameon Lewis (Miss. State)	W 34-29 (2014)	5	116	1

In each of these losses, one receiver was able to record more than 100 yards by hitting LSU's secondary for big gains through the air.

As a healthy receiver with NFL-ready talent, Williams is an easy candidate for that role in this season's edition of the Tiger Bowl.

With that in mind, Auburn's plan of attack with the pass is simple.

"He's a great player," Lashlee said. "We need to get him the ball."

All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. All recruiting rankings and information courtesy of 247Sports. All stats courtesy of CFBStats.com.

Justin Ferguson is Bleacher Report's lead Auburn writer. Follow him on Twitter @JFergusonAU.