Penn State football has its fair share of California boys on the roster.

One West Coast native is defensive tackle Keanu Williams, who spent his last five years of college ball between Oregon and UCLA.

Williams knows a thing or two about cross-country travel as Penn State prepares to fly to Seattle to face Washington in Week 10. The trip also means his family can travel up from Clovis, California, to watch him play.

“I kind of took for granted being at UCLA and on the West Coast for a while. All my family would just drive up or take a quick flight, no big deal,” Williams said Tuesday. “Now I’m here, across the country, and it’s like, ‘Oh, y’all can’t come to [as] many games as you used to.’ It’s awesome to see. I’m super excited to play in front of them.”

Williams’ stop at Penn State is his first non-West Coast team in his football career. He caught the beginning of conference realignment in his final two seasons with the Bruins, which got him used to long travel days, long weekends, and stretches without his family coming to games.

Penn State’s trip to Washington will be its first cross-country trip since losing to UCLA in Los Angeles in 2025. Williams was on the other side of that upset.

While Seattle isn’t exactly Los Angeles, it’s close enough that Williams’ family knew they had to attend.

“That was one game my mom was like, ‘Yeah, I’m coming. Make sure you got some tickets for me,'” Williams said. “I got about 10 tickets. Not as much as some guys on the team, but I got 10 of them, which is still a lot. But it’s good though, man. [I’m] happy to go back to the West Coast a little bit, enjoy my time, a couple of days there.”

Despite his West Coast blood, Williams feels he is more on an East Coast wavelength when it comes to scheduling and travel. The travel is lighter for him, and he views it as a business trip.

At the end of the day, it’s just football. You can’t get worked up about the travel.

Matt Campbell is also confident the Nittany Lions have all their bases covered to make the weekend as seamless as possible and to focus on the main goal: turn one win into two.

That cross-country preparation starts off the field for Williams.

“I got to sleep during the week … at least eight hours today [Tuesday], eight hours tomorrow [Wednesday]. If I can get nine going into Thursday, that will help me a lot in just staying off my feet,” Williams said.

Williams also followed one of his main draws from back home to Happy Valley. Defensive line coach Ikaika Malloe joined Campbell’s staff from UCLA, making Penn State an easy place for Williams to choose.

It’s a bit of a full-circle moment for Williams. He gets to go back and play in front of his family on the West Coast while playing under Malloe once more.

“We just have really deep conversations, we have real talks with each other, and we just grew. He’s a guy who has stuck by me through this whole college process, so I love and appreciate him a lot,” Williams said. “I’m just glad I can finish off my career with him, too, and be here at Penn State.”

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