ORONO – Jamal Williamson knew something was up. The New Hampshire receiver opposite him was not the receiver Williamson had seen in the films of UNH he had studied prior to Saturday’s football game.

The University of Maine senior co-captain, currently playing left cornerback, looked at the UNH quarterback to see if his eyes might betray where he intended to throw the ball. He looked at the UNH receiver’s eyes, stance, body lean, anything for a clue. The ball was snapped. Williamson saw the receiver step in for what appeared to be a quick slant route. Peripherally, he saw the quarterback take only a three-step drop.

That’s when Williamson reacted.

Ball, receiver, and Williamson converged. Williamson won the race, his dive enabling him to intercept the ball at the UNH 30-yard line.

“It was anticipation,” Williamson said, explaining the process behind the pickoff afterward. “It’s a technique play. I watched the quarterback. I read the three-step drop so I knew it was a short route. He (the receiver) and the quarterback had communicated. Plus they never put him to my side. I knew something was going on.”

Williamson has done a lot of similar anticipating lately. The interception was the first of three he would make on the day against UNH, giving him five “picks” on the season. With 15 career interceptions to his credit, the 5-foot-10, 185-pound education major from East Orange, N.J., has moved within one pilfered pass of the UM record and six of the Yankee Conference mark.

But don’t get the idea Williamson is counting.

“I don’t think much about records,” he said.

Several factors have gone into Williamson’s sudden surge of interceptions. Experience, for one. Williamson has been a starter in Maine’s secondary since the second game of his freshman year. Until this season, he played free safety, the “quarterback” position on defense.

Which leads to another factor in his recent success. He has been switched to cornerback the past two games, ever since starting left corner Larry Jones sprained a wrist.

“Cornerback is interesting,” Williamson said. “I’d never played it before. I’m used to being the field general out there. But you do get more chances to make plays.”

The frequency with which Williamson is making plays despite the position switch – he is tied for second on the team with 29 tackles and has 4 pass break-ups – has impressed defensive coordinator Ray Zingler.

“When you move a senior free safety to cornerback, that’s different,” Zingler said. “I’m sure if we asked Jamal he’d feel a lot more comfortable playing free safety. He could have said, `why move me?’ He didn’t. He approached it as doing what’s best for the team. And he’s doing a good job.”

Williamson’s history of putting the team first, along with his quiet maturity, is precisely why his teammates elected him captain.

“He’s steady and he never gets down,” said senior safety Rhodney Tozier, who has moved into Williamson’s old position in the revamped UM secondary. “Something I noticed since when we were freshmen is his maturity. He was so much more mature than me. That’s why he could come in and start the second game of his freshman year.”

Even Williamson has had trouble, however, adjusting to Maine’s 0-3 start.

“It’s tough,” he said, following the 28-20 loss to UNH. “But there are no guarantees in football. You just have to keep playing.”

Williamson, 21, would like to keep playing football after college. His size and speed (4.55 in the 40-yard dash) aren’t the stuff NFL scouts dream of, but his interceptions speak volumes about his knowledge of the game.

“He’s always around the football,” said Zingler, who has seen his share of big-time defensive backs at Missouri and Pitt. “I think the more an athlete shows a nose for the ball, the more the scouts have to look at him. Sometimes too much emphasis is placed on the stopwatch.”

If the pros don’t come calling, Williamson still plans on making football his future.

“I hope to get into coaching at the top collegiate level and hopefully coach the secondary,” he said.