Jan. 8, 2008
Notre Dame nose tackle Ian Williams (Altamonte Springs, Fla./Lyman) was named to the 2007 AON Insurance Freshman All-America Team, the Football Writers Association of America announced Jan. 7 during the association’s annual awards breakfast.
Williams finished his first season with 45 tackles, including 19 solo stops and 1.5 tackles for loss. He played in all 12 contests and started the final two games of the season for the Irish. Despite playing primarily as a reserve for much of the year, Williams ranked sixth on the team in tackles and was the only player ranked in the top-12 in tackles on the team who did not start at least four games.
He was one of six true freshmen named to the defensive unit on the FWAA Freshman All-America Team and was one of 13 of the 28 freshman All-America selections who was a true freshman this season.
Williams was named to the CollegeFootballNews.com all-freshman third team and was an honorable mention member of The Sporting News all-freshman team.
The FWAA Freshman All-America Team and First-Year Coach of the Year Award were selected by a group of writers led by FWAA vice-president Mike Griffith of the Knoxville News-Sentinel. Both true freshmen and redshirt freshmen were considered for the team.
The 2007 AON Insurance FWAA Freshman All-America Team:
| Offense | |
| Pos. | Player, School |
| QB | Sam Bradford, Oklahoma |
| RB | Knowshon Moreno, Georgia |
| RB | o LeSean McCoy, Pittsburgh |
| RB | Harvey Unga, BYU |
| WR | Michael Crabtree, Texas Tech |
| WR | Jeremy Maclin, Missouri |
| TE | James Casey, Rice |
| OL | o Anthony Castonzo, Boston College |
| OL | o Anthony Davis, Rutgers |
| OL | o Rodney Hudson, Florida State |
| OL | o Matt Murphy, UNLV |
| C | Ryan McMahon, Florida State |
| Defense | |
| Pos. Player, School | |
| DL | o Everson Griffen, USC |
| DL | Greg Romeus, Pittsburgh |
| DL | o Ian Williams, Notre Dame |
| DL | Colby Whitlock, Texas Tech |
| LB | o Greg Jones, Michigan State |
| LB | Scott Lutrus, Connecticut |
| LB | o Rolando McClain, Alabama |
| DB | o Eric Berry, Tennessee |
| DB | o Omar Bolden, Arizona State |
| DB | Alex Kube, Northern Illinois |
| DB | Tavious Polo, Florida Atlantic |
| DB | Deunta Williams, North Carolina |
| Special Teams | |
| Pos. Player, School | |
| P | Keenyn Crier, Arizona |
| K | Thomas Weber, Arizona State |
| KR | o Max Suter, Syracuse |
| ATH | o Antonio Brown, Central Michigan |
| First-year Coach of the Year: Jeff Jagodzinski, Boston College | |
o Indicates true freshmen