Western Kentucky right tackle Darrell Williams, Jr., works on blocking schemes on Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2016, at Houchens-Smith Stadium. (Austin Anthony / photo@bgdailynews.com)

Darrell Williams, Jr., earned the nickname “Diesel” during his middle school basketball days.

“Eighth grade playing basketball, I was the post player,” Williams said. “I was known for backing people down and going to the rim, so my friends all gave me that name. It stuck with me ever since.”

Williams’ diesel-like play has carried over from eighth-grade hoops into college football. The 6-foot-6, 310-pounder is a force at right tackle for Western Kentucky.

Williams has started on the right side of the Hilltopper O-line since his redshirt sophomore season of 2014. Now a redshirt senior, he’s one of the most physically imposing members of a WKU team that’s 6-3 overall, 4-1 in Conference USA play and hosts FIU coming up Saturday (4:30 p.m., beIN Sports).

“He really battles out there,” coach Jeff Brohm said. “He’s a great leader for our offense and I love having him on our team.”

Williams was an under-the-radar find for the Hilltoppers, rated a two-star recruit coming out of high school by both Rivals and 247Sports.

Williams started 31 consecutive games at offensive tackle for West Laurens High School in Dublin, Ga. He lettered four years in both football and basketball.

But Williams played in high school at around 245 pounds and didn’t live in a heavily recruited area of Georgia, two factors he said limited his exposure to college coaches.

When Williams arrived at WKU, he was approached about continuing his basketball career with the Topper hoops team. He turned that chance down, saying he “realized that football is a job and I couldn’t do both.”

Williams grayshirted in 2011, meaning he wasn’t officially part of the program that fall. Then he redshirted the following year before finally taking the field as a redshirt freshman in 2013.

“At first it was kind of rough on me, but then I realized as time went on that it was the best thing for me to do,” Williams said of his two-year layoff. “It gave me time to learn everything and by the time my redshirt freshman year came I was ready to play.”

Williams cracked the lineup late in the 2013 season along with fellow redshirt freshmen Forrest Lamp at left tackle and Max Halpin at center. Those three players have all become stalwarts along the Hilltopper offensive line in recent years.

Williams was limited early in the 2014 season due to injury before starting the final 10 games at right guard. He helped protect quarterback Brandon Doughty during a record-breaking season and pave the way for more than 2,000 all-purpose yards from running back Leon Allen.

Williams slid back to right tackle in 2015 and started all 14 games for a team that went 12-2 and won a Conference USA championship. He anchored the right side of a line that helped the Hilltoppers break the school’s total offense record again for the third consecutive season.

“It’s my habitat,” Williams said of playing right tackle. “I’ve been playing right my whole life, so I love it. I love being on an island out there by myself.”

Now as a redshirt senior, Williams has started the first nine games of the year for a WKU team that’s leading the East Division of C-USA and is on the inside track for a C-USA championship game appearance.

The outgoing Williams has become a vocal leader, something he said he wasn’t earlier in his career.

Williams also showed his versatility earlier this season, starting at left tackle in a Sept. 24 loss to Vanderbilt after Lamp was injured the previous week.

“When you change positions it can help you learn the whole offensive line,” the fellow redshirt senior Lamp said. “We have certain plays for the right and left side so he had to learn those as well, which normally he wouldn’t have to run. It diversifies his mindset, which helps him.

“They say in the NFL that when you’re able to play every single position, that’s when you’re really, really able to help the team. Him playing the left side a little bit, he’s always been able to do it.”

Williams will try for an NFL career after this season and at 6-6 and 310 pounds, the player nicknamed “Diesel” has the frame to give professional football a shot. He also already earned a degree in sports management and is currently in graduate school studying broadcasting.

Williams has three regular-season games left in his college career, starting Saturday against FIU. His Hilltoppers are hoping to win their next three contests, win the East Division and get a shot to defend their conference title.

“We’re enjoying it, especially the seniors,” Williams said. “It’s a big deal for us and we just want to go out on top like we did last year.”

– Follow sports reporter Brad Stephens on Twitter @BradBGDN or visit bgdailynews.com.