Sports
Broken arm to golden leg: Palmer Williams reflects on journey to being All-American punter
By Jeffrey Cohen | Sports Writer
A young Palmer Williams didn’t see it coming.
Standing atop a hill, surveying his kingdom, he stepped onto his RipStik. It was a step toward his destiny.
“I was going down a hill, and I started to get speed wobble, and I went into a ditch and broke my arm,” Williams said. “I started playing football, and I had this massive cast on. It was like, ‘What is this kid going to do?’”
The broken arm became a catalyst for a record-breaking career. Williams wanted to play quarterback as a kid, but the injury put those aspirations on hold. Without a healthy arm, there was a question of how he could play and contribute to his team.
After the injury, his coaches decided to go with Williams’ leg as an alternative to throwing the football.
“I did play soccer, so I knew how to kick a ball,” Williams said. “They made me the kicker, and I thought it was fun.”
Williams “kind of got addicted” to the work, ultimately becoming a dual specialist and embracing punting after the pandemic. It paid off.
Coming into high school as a kicker only, Williams excelled at punting, ultimately being named the No. 4 punter in the nation and a top-50 recruit in North Carolina. He averaged over 40 yards per punt, earning him a spot in the 2023 Adidas All-American Bowl.
“I started to hit a growth spurt after COVID, and I was like, ‘Well, maybe I’ll give punting a try,’” Williams said. “It started to click, and I was like, ‘Alright, this is pretty fun, too.’”
Williams was named to the Ray Guy Award watch list for the nation’s best punter, along with a preseason All-American selection. Last season, he led the nation with 49.35 yards per punt across 43 punts, which was also the best in program history.
“I see [the award talk] on Instagram and stuff, but I just like playing football,” Williams said. “I’m not too into awards, and I know if you get sucked into that, it kind of takes the joy out of the game.”
Williams credits much of his growth to his “biggest mentor”: specialist coach Dan Orner, who has coached multiple professional and collegiate kickers and punters.
“He’s like a mental coach as much as he is like a football coach,” Williams said. “He’s pretty much the main reason why I’m here, other than parents and coaches back home.”
At Baylor, Williams immediately seized the starting job as a freshman. He averaged 42.9 yards per punt and dropped six inside the 20-yard line. He took further steps forward in 2024, gaining national attention after an eye-popping Week 2 performance at Utah: six punts for 376 yards (62.7 average) and a long of 79.
And he still isn’t done.
“You look at what it was on paper, and you’re like, ‘Wow, that was pretty impressive,’ but watching the film, it’s like, ‘I can do so much better,’” Williams said. “If I want to help win a Big 12 championship, I have to do so much more.”
Even as he lights up the stat sheet with his punts, Williams isn’t satisfied with his performance. Watching film has allowed Williams to observe what can be improved and tweaked to reach his potential.
“Last year, paper told one story and watching it told another,” Williams said. “I think there’s a lot of room for improvement.”
Williams will begin his All-American campaign at 7 p.m. Friday, as the Bears take on Auburn at McLane Stadium.
Over his first two campaigns, Caleb Smith has produced successful efforts in the heptathlon and decathlon events. He broke the school record in the heptathlon, posting his best total of 4,952 points to win the Middlebury Winter Classic. A few weeks later, Smith paced the event at the Division III New England Championships to earn all-region accolades and qualify for the NCAA Championships. He translated that success to the decathlon, winning the title at the Carla Coffey Invitational and Williams’ Farley Interregional Extravaganza. He garnered All-NESCAC accolades with a third-place showing in the high jump and claimed all-region honors in the decathlon.
Sam McGarrahan returns after a superb season in the field events. He qualified for the NCAA Indoor Championships in the high jump, clearing the bar with the 18th-best height at 1.95 meters. McGarrahan topped the podium in the event during the Division III New England Championships, soaring to a school-record effort of 2.05 meters. He also set the program mark in the long jump, leaping 6.81 meters at Middlebury’s New England Small College Invitational. McGarrahan became the NESCAC Champion in school-record fashion in the high jump (2.00 meters) and recorded a third-place leap in the long jump. His high jump efforts outdoors earned him all-region honors.
For the first time since the 2018-2019 season, all three schools advanced past the Area round of the playoffs. Archer City and Holliday both were Regional Semifinalists, while Windthorst was a State Semifinalist for the fourth-straight season. With that success comes state recognition Holliday senior Jordan Peters closed out her final season as a Lady Eagle with an All-State honor from the Texa…
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Sports
Cedar Rapids wrestler chases her dream, from a volleyball player to a young star in the sport
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – When Maggie Peters is home, she’s locked in.
She lifts weights at a gym in her hometown of Cedar Rapids. But it’s not just for strength – it’s for safety.
“One things goes wrong, and you’ve got people’s lives in your hands,” she said. “I mean, you don’t want to drop somebody on their head.”
But more often than not, Peters is on the road. Her sport is professional wrestling.
She’s performed performed in front of thousands in arenas and on television. Her fights may be scripted, but her dream of reaching WWE is real.
Peters has a background in volleyball, playing at Cedar Rapids Jefferson, Kirkwood Community College and Mount Mercy. But her dream has always been in the wrestling ring.
“I wanted to do it right when I started watching I wanna say I was eight or nine I would just go wrestle on my trampoline,” Peters said.
She went from the volleyball court at Mount Mercy to a wrestling school in Davenport.
“We would have a show on a Thursday night, so I would leave class early,” said Peters. “But at that point, I will say, my senior year was my worst year of school. Once I got the wrestling training done, I was like, ‘ooh, this is what I want to do.’”
In professional wrestling, the winner and loser are predetermined, unlike traditional sports.
“Pro wrestling, I will say, is like a dance,” Peters said.
But there’s nothing fake about the pain wrestlers endure, what they call “bumps.”
“Any time you get put down on the mat, you’re taking a bump. You’re hitting the top of your back,” Peters said. “Higher on your neck, sometimes, (is) not good.”
Maggie wrestles in independent shows across the Midwest under the ring name Maggie Lee. She also performs in front of thousands in TNA Wrestling as the villainous character “M By Elegance.”
“Yeah, I do like being the bad guy,” Peters said. “I’ve worked a mix of both the bad guy and the good guy on the independents. But everybody was like, ‘you look more like you as the bad guy.’ I was like, ‘gee, thanks,” Peters said.
TNA – Total Nonstop Action – is high-level televised professional wrestling, one step below WWE.
“I actually really love the whole TV aspect. It’s very organized. Being able to see myself on TV is really cool,” Peters laughed.
Maggie hopes a full-time contract with WWE is next. She’s banking on it, writing a card to her mother labeled “open when I’m in the WWE.”
“And it was one of many letters. I made them for her birthday,” Peters said.
When asked about the letter’s contents, Peters said she doesn’t remember what she wrote as a girl.
“I don’t even remember what’s in it, so I’m kind of like scared,” she said. “When she does open it, I feel like it’s going to be a big deal and I might get embarrassed.”
Sometimes she’s flying high, sometimes she’s taking bumps.
Either way, she’s racing towards her dream.
Copyright 2025 KCRG. All rights reserved.
OMAHA (KMTV) — She might have a new name, but Norah (Sis) Tebrake still brings the same infectious smile to the court.
The former CU volleyball star is now married to former Creighton baseball standout Dylan Tebrake.
“He’s always encouraging me and challenging me,” said Norah. “And I try to do the same for him. I think it’s such a cool dynamic.”
After spending her first pro season helping Orlando to a league title, Norah had now returned to Omaha to play for the Supernovas. But returning to her hometown actually did take some getting used to again.
“I’m a wimp when it comes to the cold,” Tebrake said. “But now coming back after spending just one winter away, I feel like I can’t handle the cold.”
Along with reuniting with some former Bluejays, Tebrake has also formed friendships with her former rivals and now current teammates, including ex-NU star Merritt Beason.
“She’s just so joyful and leads with so much grace and so much love,” said Beason. “You can see that in her play. She’s one of the best people that I’ve ever met and it’s been so fun getting to know her.”
“To have people that know just kind of what makes you tick and what you need on the court and off the court is super helpful,” Tebrake said. “Obviously we’re all learning that about each other but just to come in knowing that there’s people that already know that about me has been super comforting.”
The Novas host San Diego in the season opener on Thursday at 7 PM at CHI Health Center.
Jan. 7, 2026, 4:01 a.m. ET
After a strong 2024 fall season, high school girls volleyball on the South Shore had an even better one in 2025.
There were two local state-championship-winning teams on the court this year. Oliver Ames finished off the best season in program history by winning it’s first-ever Division 2 state title in it’s second ever appearance (which came last season). On the same day, East Bridgewater followed that up with a program-first of their own, winning it’s first-ever Division 4 state championship in it’s first appearance.
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