Leading up to opening night of the 2020-21 Georgia State men's basketball season, each member of the roster will be featured on a different day with a story, video, and social media elements. We kick off the series with senior Kane Williams who earned All-Sun Belt Second Team honors last year.

Everyone in life is influenced by different individuals who push them, make them work harder, and stronger, and eventually help them succeed.

Coming from a strong family where sibling rivalry existed with love, it is no surprise that for Kane Williams, his mom Shannon was such a guiding force for him. Her influence on him to this day has helped make him the man he has become.

"My mom has been everything for me," Williams said. "She is truly everywhere I need her to be. She has been crucial to my successes and everything that I have accomplished so far. Since I arrived at Georgia State it has been good to have her not too far, but also not too close - I just love it. I love being so near my house which allows her to come see me play."

Mrs. Williams definitely had her hands full with four boys running around the house as Kane was growing up. The senior has two older brothers Cody and Joe, along with a younger brother David, and competition and fun could be found everywhere in the Williams' household.

"We had the fiercest one-on-one battles in the driveway growing up," Williams said. "My little brother thinks he is better than me at everything (said with a smile), so he is always attacking me even now when I come home. It was very competitive in our house. My brother Joe and I laughed at each other jokes all the time and ganged up on my oldest brother. That's probably why we got in trouble the most."

At the end of the day though, sports has the ability to bring out the best in people and with his mom's help, it did for Kane.

"I tried a few sports growing up," Williams said. "Baseball didn't really work out too well. They said the first time someone hit the ball towards me I tackled the guy coming to first base. We had to throw that sport out pretty quick. I never really got into soccer. I just didn't have the attention span for it.

"I was pretty good at football but then got kind of chubby and that ended my football career. At that time, I really started getting good at basketball and it was time to pick one or the other. Basketball seemed like the right choice."

With the help of his mom, Kane pushed that ability to the fullest and he now enters the year just 46 points from becoming the 23rd Panther in program history to reach 1,000 career points. Along with earning All-Sun Belt Second Team honors, as well as be named the 2K Empire Classic Riverside Regional Tournament MVP last year, Kane may have just made the right choice when it came to choosing a sport and no doubt will have the support of his mom and enter family this year on and off the court.