His mother named him Stanley Williams, but everyone else knows him as “Boom.”

Kentucky’s star freshman tailback can’t remember exactly how long he’s been called “Boom” on the football field, and he can’t remember the first person to call him by that nickname during his illustrious prep career in Bethlehem, Georgia. But he does take pride in the nickname, and he spends every day working as hard as he can to live up to it.

It hasn’t always been easy, but it’s helped him to become one of the faces of the Kentucky offense in just half a season as a collegiate. When he arrived in the Bluegrass for training camp in August, UK offensive coordinator Neal Brown refused to regard Williams by his nickname until he felt the freshman had earned it. Instead, he calls him by the name his mother gave him: Stanley.

However, that doesn’t mean Williams hasn’t already made a “booming” impact on Kentucky’s surprising 5-1 start to the season.

Williams posted a 53-yard touchdown run in just his second career game, a 20-3 win over Ohio in Week 2, and his incredible 25-yard touchdown run in overtime against Florida (involving close to 100 yards of ground covered) nearly led to Kentucky’s first win over the Gators since the 1980’s. In last week’s win over Louisiana-Monroe, Williams returned the opening kickoff 75 yards to set up Kentucky’s first score of the day, then added 104 yards and a touchdown on the ground, highlighted by a 58-yard run as UK began to blow the game wide open.

He’s been a do-everything back in the Kentucky Air Raid offense, amassing 28 total touches in five games while averaging better than 9.9 yards per touch on the year. He’s also scored three touchdowns this season, all three of which have come on plays of at least 25 yards or more.

Needless to say, Williams is the most dynamic pure athlete Kentucky has had in a very long time. “Boom” is a powerful nickname, and Williams certainly runs with plenty of force, but what separates him from the rest of Kentucky’s tailbacks is his incredible speed and agility, especially in the open field. Prior to the season, Brown told 247 Sports that Williams was the fastest tailback on the team, and praised his playmaking abilities in the open field.

Williams can’t recall who gave him the nickname or when, but he knows exactly why it was given to him, which inspires him to live up to the name’s meaning every day.

“‘Boom’ is based off explosion,” Williams told 247. “I feel like every time I get the ball I explode, make things happen.”

Williams has blown past defenders this year, earning a reputation across the conference as an explosive wild card in Kentucky’s increasingly dangerous offense. He still has plenty of his career left in front of him, but to this point he’s done a fine job of living up to his nickname.

Williams has the confidence to warrant the nickname as well. He wore No. 1 in high school, but upon learning that number was unavailable at Kentucky he signed up to wear No. 18 due to its legacy in the program’s recent history. The last two Wildcats to wear 18 on offense were wideout Randall Cobb and tight end Jacob Tamme, both of whom still star in the NFL today.

The Kentucky freshman embraces the challenge of living up to that legacy, and he has high expectations for himself when he steps between the white lines.

However, Williams fell short of those expectations in an off-field incident involving BB guns on Kentucky’s campus earlier this season. He and three of his teammates (all of whom are fellow freshmen) were firing the guns on campus on a Sunday night, resulting in a call to campus police and a subsequent campus lockdown before the situation was resolved.

The four freshmen missed Kentucky’s critical showdown with South Carolina two weeks ago while serving a one-game suspension as punishment, and Williams admitted he knew he’d made a mistake that could have cost his team in a big way.

“I’ve learned a lot,” Williams told the Lexington Herald-Leader following the win over ULM, his first game back from suspension. “(I learned) that you have to be real careful with your decisions and the things that you do knowing that you’re a valuable player to your team.”

Yes he made a mistake, but Williams’ confidence and desire to live up to the SEC’s best nickname did more to straighten out the freshman’s attitude than any coach could. Williams wants to be the best and he wants to star for a winning team. Neither of those goals is possible if he’s sitting out for disciplinary reasons.

Williams went “Boom” on ULM in his return, and he appears to have learned his lesson and put the incident behind him.

As Kentucky enters the second half of its season with a whole lot to play for, including a potential SEC East title, it’ll need its star freshman to make the big plays he’s become known for against some of the best teams in the country. If you couldn’t already tell, Williams is up to the task. He’ll have the chance to make his most “booming” impact yet, and the explosion caused by this one could shake up the entire East division.

The freshman has been hard to miss since his arrival at Kentucky, unless, of course, you’re an opposing defender. The Big Blue Nation hopes its new sensation is here to stay, leaving a “booming” impact on the program for years to come.