Jets return specialist Isaiah Williams spent the offseason chasing speed and Olympic sprinters

Isaiah Williams wasn’t close to being satisfied with being voted Jets MVP by his teammates last season. The electric returner believed he could be better and truly went the extra mile -- or 1600 meters -- over the summer.

Wanting to gain an edge and some extra burst when he returned for his second season with the Jets, Williams spent a month training with Olympic sprinters and by with a coach who has worked with more than 80 Olympians.

“I approach every season differently – this year it was all speed,” Williams told Newsday. “That’s something that was just on my heart. It’s something I feel like could separate me."

Separating himself wasn’t an issue last year. Williams finished second in the NFL in yards per kick return (29.9) and fourth in yards per punt return (14.1). He ran back two punts for touchdowns and had a kickoff return touchdown negated by a penalty.

“There were some plays where I felt like if I had that little bit more of that second gear I’m scoring it instead of getting ankle tackled,” Williams said. “I’m always looking for room to improve and room to grow.”

Williams was the Jets’ best story last season. He was released after a mistake-filled game in Miami in Week 4. Williams didn’t know if his football career was over. The Jets brought him back a few days later and he established himself as one of the NFL’s best returners. Williams was voted a captain this year by his teammates.

“It was a crazy season,” Williams said. “There are times where I think about it, like ‘Dang, look at how stuff changed.’”

Williams, 25, was determined to become even more valuable to the Jets. That led to a conversation with Jets director of player performance Erik Korem, who helped arrange for Williams to run in the desert sun in Phoenix.

He trained five days a week at ALTIS - which specializes in training track and field athletes – and with CEO and coach Stuart McMillan, whose sprinters have won 40 Olympic medals.

McMillan doesn’t often work with athletes from professional teams. When Korem reached out and described Williams’ passion and desire to improve, McMillan opened his doors. Williams didn’t let McMillan down.

“He’s just a great kid,” McMillan told Newsday. “A really, really good, curious hard-working athlete. For me, one of the most important traits is curiosity. He was just really curious. He just wanted to know, ‘How do I get better?’”

The two areas that McMillan focused on were acceleration and upright sprinting. Warmups would last more than an hour. Then it was off to the races, literally.

“We’d be out there all day,” Williams said.

On acceleration days, Williams sprinted 10-to-20 meters, 15-to-20 times with two-to-four minutes to recover between each. Some days, Williams ran half of those sprints strapped to a machine that provides different levels of resistance.

Upright sprinting days consisted of Williams running 40 to 60 meters between five and 12 times at various intensities and speeds with four to eight minutes to recover.

Williams trained with Olympians Andrew Hudson, Cravon Gillespie and Tamari Davis. Wanting to see where he stood at the end of his first week, Williams raced Hudson. It was humbling, to say the least.

“It was pretty bad,” Williams said. “But it showed me how gifted sprinters are.”

The training included wickets -- running through a series of hurdles to work on stride length and overall form – and bounding, an explosive drill where you take exaggerated strides to build leg power. They also lifted and worked with medicine balls.

Williams never complained. He always pushed to go harder and do more.

“That was one of the things that annoyed me about him,” McMillan said with a laugh. “He’s just asking to do more. ‘Can I do a little bit more? Can I do a bit more?’”

McMillan needed to feel comfortable with how Williams was moving before letting him “go full out.” That happened eventually.

“The last seven to 10 days that he was with us, he was he was able to run really fast,” McMillan said.

Williams said he hasn’t timed himself. He also said McMillan never shared Williams’ speed with him. Jets special teams coordinator Chris Banjo couldn’t tell if Williams got faster.

“He looks like a blur still to me,” Banjo said.

One sprint time on record is Williams’ 4.6-second 40-yard dash at the 2024 NFL Draft Combine. It was considered slow for his position

“I always knew I was fast,” Williams said. “I didn’t really allow that to define me.”

His training with ALTIS was geared not only toward speed but for Williams to utilize better technique and to be able to run more efficiently. Williams can say without a doubt that was accomplished.

He had a strong camp as a receiver and credits his improved route running to his time at ALTIS.

“I’m running differently, running faster, running more effortlessly,” Williams said. “The biggest thing is that I understand now. Training with Olympians, they’re so in-tune with their body. Being able to run .5 seconds faster, it’s the little details. They’re so detailed and I wanted to kind of pick up on those things.”

“I understand how I want my body to move and what I want it to do.”

That was one of McMillan’s main goals.

McMillan acknowledged Williams might not be faster in football, citing a “a big gap” between running on a track alone and in a game with “all the chaos that's happening.” But McMillan gave Williams the tools, mentally and physically, that he needs to succeed.

“His acceleration specifically got a lot better,” McMillan said. “He was just able to be much more aggressive. He was able to hit the ground a lot harder. I think the biggest thing, though, that improved across the board was just his comfort with all of it.

“He just became much smoother with how he did all of the things because he didn't have to think quite so much about it. Technically, he was already pretty good. and he already had speed. He just became more efficient.”

And maybe even more valuable to the Jets.