Michigan Tech wide receiver Darius Willis looks downfield after making a catch against Saginaw Valley State in a game on Saturday, Nov. 11, 2023, at Kearly Stadium in Houghton. Willis broke Brian Janeshek’s career receptions record of 154 in the game. He finished his collegiate career with 159 receptions. (Photo courtesy of Michigan Tech University)

HOUGHTON — If you were to run into wide receiver Darius Willis on Michigan Tech’s campus, you might not recognize him as a school record holder for career receptions. What would stand out is that he is not overly tall at 5-foot-8, he wears glasses, and he looks and sounds like a typical Michigan Tech student.

In other words, he does not really look like a football player. However, that never slowed him down from becoming one of the greatest players in school history in just three years of actual playing time.

He is also extremely humble, which might be his greatest quality.

This fall, Willis broke Brian Janeshek’s career record of 154 this season. He finished his career with the Black and Gold with 159 receptions in 31 games spread over three years.

“It’s truly an honor, because just over the last five years, just all the work that we put in as a team, and I put on by myself just trying to become the best player I can to be able to win the most games,” he said. “It’s basically a culmination of all those things that were put in the offseason, in the summer, and just putting it out on the football field.”

Willis is a very normal Michigan Tech student athlete in that there is so much to juggle between classes and sports, that his memory is not always perfect. He knows that his first career reception came against Hillsdale, and he thinks he can remember the yardage, but he admits that the catch itself was not very memorable.

“Well, (the) first game I played was Hillsdale, but I, honestly, think it was just a simple hitch route that Will (Ark) found me in a part of their defensive zone, and I just caught it for about six or five yards, I believe,” said Willis. “I think that was the first one. It wasn’t anything spectacular, but that Hillsdale game, it was a big one.”

In his first year in the lineup in 2021, Willis never made more than six catches in a game. In 2022, he started slowly, but he seemingly peaked at nine receptions in a game at home against Wayne State. He then caught no more than seven for three games before finishing the year with 10 catches at Hillsdale and 13 at Saginaw Valley State.

In 2023, he made 10 catches twice, once at Wisconsin-Platteville, and once at Northern Michigan, which gave him a chance to catch Janeshek if he closed out the year strong, which he did.

“You don’t really think about it until you hear about it after the game, ‘Oh, you had 10 catches, 12 catches,’ and you’re like, ‘Oh wow, that’s a lot of catches,'” Willis said. “You don’t even realize that. You’re just in the zone for the whole game. So, I guess, especially after having such a good year last year, and just building up basically on the hype from last year to just continue to pick at it, just catch every ball you see in the air, and then make all those contested grabs that no one thinks you can make.”

After the Northern Michigan game, where Willis had 10 catches, he said that wide receivers coach Kellen O’Neill started to help him realize that Janeshek’s record was within reach, as long as he continued to play the way he was.

“Our coaches, especially Coach O’Neill, were talking about it,” he said. “To me, I think it had to be after the Northern game, because I had like 10 catches that game. So that really helped out being able to break that record.

“I think after the Northern game, we began talking about it just, ‘Oh, I have this much left. I have this much left after Ferris (State). I have this much left after GV (Grand Valley).’ So, basically, about the middle of the year, (we) started having conversations about it.”

After making five catches against Minot State on Saturday, Nov. 4, Willis had tied Janeshek’s record. So, he wanted to get his first catch out of the way quickly against Saginaw Valley State so that he and his teammates could focus on beating the Cardinals, which they were not quite able to do.

“Getting one catch in the game, that’s all I’m thinking about,” he said. “Well, not all I’m thinking about, but it’s big part in the back of my head. So, as soon as I got that catch, then I was like, ‘OK, let’s start playing now that’s out the way. Let’s just get the win.'”

For Michigan Tech’s head coach Dan Mettlach, who was in his first season as the head coach of the Huskies, seeing Willis get rewarded for his consistent effort with a career record was something very special.

“Any time a record gets broke, that’s awesome for the guy, and our program,” Mettlach said. “That one specifically being in the wide receiver room with the offensive side of the football, obviously D-Will was a huge part of our offense throughout these last three years. So, happy for the kid. Like I said the day that it happened, couldn’t have happened to a better guy either. So cool for him.”

For Mettlach, the career receptions record is one that he was already connected to, as he was the starting quarterback during Janeshek’s career and helped him earn the record from 2002-05.

“I think the one thing, the league has changed so much since when Janny and I would have played 20 years ago,” said Mettlach. “There are no days off in the GLIAC anymore. So, to think about the competition that D-Will did this against is another part of how impressive it is to have gone and broke that record.

“To see him play at the highest level week in, week out, where everybody knows he’s the focal point, and still have the production that he did, was incredible.”

After Willis made 74 catches as a sophomore, which was just eight shy of Jeff Geisz’s record of 82 for a season, which he set in 2000, Mettlach knew that teams would be more cognizant of him this season. That made the fact that had two games where he made 10 catches, and he never had less than four in any game other than the season opener against Hillsdale, even more impressive.

“There’s two things, one, every defense that we played knew who he was,” said Mettlach. “I mean, even go back to Week One, Hillsdale’s entire game plan against us was to take him out of it.

“The other part of it is you have a new quarterback that is playing his first football. Schematically, we change a little bit just to go with things that quarterback, or whoever it might be, comfortable running. So the things that Will Ark was comfortable doing in his fifth year of playing were a little bit different than what Alex (Fries) was, especially early in the year.”

Mettlach was impressed by how the changes from week to week never seemed to faze Willis.

“So you’re maybe not running as many concepts, which limits you a little bit in terms of the motions, and movements, and things like that, to where the last two years D-Will was all over the place, pre-snap, post-snap, but you had a quarterback (Ark) that was in his seventh year of school, fifth year of playing, that could handle all of the eye candy, if you will, before the ball was snapped,” Mettlach said. “We limited a little bit of that this year. We got back to a little bit more towards the end of the year, because Alex started getting a little bit more comfortable. So, it changes up how, and where, we’re trying to get D-Will the football just with what we had at quarterback, and up front.

“So, to handle those changes, I thought he did a nice job with that as well.”

On top of having to learn the tendencies of a new quarterback, Willis was also called upon to be more of a leader in the locker room this season, something that he had to work on.

“I’m not usually the most outspoken person in the locker room or anywhere,” he said. “So, just learning how I can, I guess, lead in different ways, like lead by example, or just give this one person, if they’re struggling, or if they need help, just give them a tip or something. Say something that maybe can help them, and then, hopefully, that’ll be passed on to another person and then passed on to another person.”

While he does have another season of eligibility left, and other records within reach, Willis is excited and ready for the next big challenge in his life. That starts with going into a graduate program that best fits what he wants to study in his chosen field of Biology.

“I knew that I was going to probably finish my degree before my eligibility was up,” he said. “So, it was a lot of back and forth about whether I’m coming back, and what’s the right fit for me if I do come back, for a master’s program. It was a lot of back and forth, but it ended up being that I just want to start my (correct) graduate program.”

Looking back on all he has already accomplished on the football field, and in the classroom, during his time in Houghton, Willis already knows what he has enjoyed the most about being at Michigan Tech.

“I’d say, more or less, the family that was created during my time here, just all the teammates that I’ve had,” he said. “They’ve been the best teammates I can ever imagine. So that, and just the coaches. Even from the first visit, well, the visit I came up here back in 2019. They’ve been welcoming, basically like family. (They) just brought me in with open arms.

“It’s a one-of-a-kind experience playing up here in Houghton. You never know what the weather is going to be, especially when it gets to October, November. So, it’s just playing in those cold games with all your boys is super fun.”