HOLLYWOOD, Calif. – It's a childhood dream come true for new Rams running back Kyren Williams.

The St. Louis native who grew up a huge fan of the team now gets to begin his NFL career with them after being selected 164th overall in the fifth round by them.

"Starting in St. Louis, the Rams being there, now they're in L.A., being with a program like the Rams, it's a dream come true," Williams said on the video conference following his selection. "Could never have imagined it."

Williams admired running back Steven Jackson as kid, looking up to the Rams legend so much that he dressed up as him for Halloween. He said he was at every home game while the franchise was in St. Louis. His friends from St. Louis and his family were on hand as they celebrated Saturday in Las Vegas.

His addition brings valuable tangible and intangible traits to the Rams backfield, between leadership and his versatile skillset. He said he can catch passes out of the backfield and run inside and outside the tackles as well.

"I feel like my game overall will just complement the offense," Williams said.

Williams especially takes pride in using his 5-foot-9, 194-pound frame in pass blocking, harkening back to his days playing linebacker for his dad growing up.

"I think the biggest thing, as a running back in general in pass pro, is having a mindset," Williams said. "You can't have a mindset of being shy or timid, you've gotta be able to deliver the blow first to the linebacker. That's something I've always been taught. Growing up, my dad always made me play linebacker on his defense, so like I obviously wanted to go hit some people. I've always had that defensive mentality in pass pro that I'm going to hit you if you hit me."

Williams said he and his family woke up this morning expecting the phone call to potentially come early but deal with some long unexpected days instead. Still, it proved to be more than worth the wait when he got the call from the Rams on Saturday afternoon.

Not only does he get to begin his career with his favorite team as a kid, he gets to do it with one of the most innovative offensive staffs in the NFL when it comes to the way they use skill position players.

"It means everything. It means I'm going to the best coaching staff in the league right now," Williams. "To me, that's what's going to benefit me the most, because I'm the type of person to absorb everything, and visualize and see what (head) coach (Sean McVay) wants. And he's best to do it."