Utah State quarterback Levi Williams has announced that he will not return to the team for his senior year and instead will begin training to become a Navy SEAL.
The 23-year-old player said in an interview on Monday that he is applying for the Navy and aims to be accepted into SEAL training by 2025.
“I love football, and it’s so great. But I knew that, eventually, it was going to come to an end,” Williams told KSL 97.5.
“It’s something that took a lot of thought and consideration,” Williams said. “ And just based with the timeline with the training and stuff, it just kind of works out perfectly that it ends this year. My mom she was Army. My grandparents they were Navy and Army, so it kind of runs in the family. I just want to be in a spot where I can protect this great country where we get to play football.”
He added that SEAL training is exceptionally intense, and he intends to put more time into physical conditioning ahead of his application to join the elite unit.
Navy Seal trainees lock arms upon entering the frigid Pacific waters in this undated photo taken in 2000 at the Coronado Naval Amphibious Base in San Diego, California. (Joe McNally/Getty Images)
“It’s a really competitive selection process, you have to create a really great resume, two awesome letters of reference and then you have to do a PST, which is like the physical standard test for aspiring SEALs,” he said. “So I’ve been training for that, I’ve got a score that’s in a really good spot. I’ll probably take it one more time just to try to get the best score I possibly can.”
Williams has been a standout quarterback for the Wyoming Cowboys before transferring to Utah State in 2022.
While with Utah, he was recently selected as the Mountain West Player of the Week.
This man has some !
Congratulations to Levi Williams for being selected as the @MountainWest Offensive Player of the Week!#AggiesAllTheWay | https://t.co/hGf8W33uJD pic.twitter.com/o47AZrimhE
— USU Football (@USUFootball) November 27, 2023
The QB appeared in 10 games this season, made 40 passes and 36 rushes, and played a vital role in getting Utah State eligible for a bowl game with a 6-6 record this year.
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