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Ex-Gopher star Maxx Williams set to catch his NFL dream, maybe as a first-rounder

Life outside football hardly existed for Maxx Williams over the past year. The former Gophers tight end was making a seamless transition from collegiate athlete to NFL prospect, without a break until the week before the NFL draft.

So the Waconia native is now on a weeklong vacation in Aruba. It’s a brief moment for Williams to unwind away from football.

“My life is changing pretty drastically and pretty quickly when I get back,” Williams said. “This is the last part of my life where I can just relax and really have no worries.”

The draft, which begins Thursday night in Chicago, will be a hectic process that will determine the team for which Williams, widely regarded as the top tight end prospect in the draft, will play.