D'haquille Williams delivering on the hype

• "Duke" Williams ranks 15th nationally with 324 yards through three games

AUBURN – D'haquille Williams is living up the hype.

The nation's top junior college player last season, Williams has already produced a handful of big plays for No. 5 Auburn through the first three games of the season, including his critical grab 39-yard catch on third-and-nine with 2:06 to go to seal the Tigers' 20-14 win at No. 20 Kansas State on Thursday night.

"I had to make it up because I had a bad first half," said Williams, who focused on his costly drop in the first half more than his eight catches for 110 yards and touchdown against the Wildcats. "Coach is like, 'get your head back in the game' and my teammates kept encouraging me to get back in the game and we believe in you. Once I felt all that, I was back to my old self."

The old self for "Duke" is proving to be the greatest new addition to the Auburn offense.

Williams has 21 catches for 324 yards and two touchdowns a quarter of the way through the season, ranking 15th nationally and fourth in the SEC in receiving yards.

"We're going to keep getting him the ball," Auburn coach Gus Malzahn said. "He's a special type talent and he definitely played well the second half with those catches."

With Sammie Coates still recovering from a left leg injury that kept him out against San Jose State, Williams has taken over as the go-to target for Nick Marshall.

Williams' 21 catches accounts for nearly half of Auburn's 46 pass completions, with no other receiving with more than six receptions, and his 324 yards are 49.1 percent of Auburn's 659 receiving yards.

"We've been on the same page since Day 1," Marshall said.

Williams was shocked, and so were his teammates, when he dropped what was likely a touchdown midway through the second quarter on Thursday.

"He really hasn't dropped much," running back Cameron Artis-Payne said. "I was shocked when he dropped that one earlier in the game. That's the first drop I've seen him have in at least two, three months."

Williams asked for a chance to make a play on the critical third-and-nine and Gus Malzahn and offensive coordinator Rhett Lashlee made the call for him to run a slant-and-go route.

"I just had to let my teammates know that I made a mistake in that first half," Williams said. "So I had to redeem myself."

It was a call Lashlee said Auburn probably couldn't make a year ago, but with Marshall's experience and Williams' abilities, the offense can be more aggressive.

"Nick is a year into the system. Duke has still got a ways to go but he's proven himself in some situations," Lashlee said. "They felt really confident about it. We felt like it was setup. We just trusted those guys and they made the play."