Called the finest offensive tackle in Vanderbilt history, Williams became the first Commodore to earned All-Southeastern Conference honors (2007) from league coaches since Will Wolford in 1984. Despite manning the demanding left tackle position, he consistently received winning blocking grades over the last two seasons, as he allowed just two quarterback sacks over the course of his last 1,558 snaps.

“Rex has won a lot of football games for us around here. You look at how he played at the end of the football season until he came up with that injury, he is playing good football. We would like for him to come back again.” - Lovie Smith

As an eighth-round draft pick out of Tennessee State, rookie defensive end Richard Dent immediately exceeded the Chicago Bears' expectations.Dent played in every game as a rookie in 1983 and even started in three.The following year, he became a permanent starter at right end. That year he recorded a team record 17.5 sacks which was also the most of any defender in the NFC. Making his accomplishment even more significant is the fact that he was a starter in only the final 10 games of the season. Appropriately, he was named to the first of his four Pro Bowls and earned All-Pro and All-NFC honors as well.