College Career
Willis was small for a lineman at 202 pounds, and despite signing up to play for Brown he was initially expected to focus on track and the 60-yard and 100-yard dashes. Brown, however, brought him onto the football team as a sophomore in 1942. Willis played middle guard, a defensive position opposite the center. That year, the Buckeyes posted a 9–1 record and won the Big Ten Conference. The team was voted national champion by the Associated Press, a first for the school.
Before the following season, scores of Ohio State players left the school to join the military as American involvement in World War II intensified. Willis volunteered for the U.S. Army, but was classified as 4-F, or only available for service in case of a national emergency, due to varicose veins. With many stars gone, however, Brown fielded a team composed mostly of 17-year-olds who were not yet eligible for military service. The "Baby Bucks", as they were called, fell to 3–6, although Willis was named a first-team All Conference selection in the Big Ten.
By the 1944 season, Brown had joined the military and was coaching a team at Great Lakes Naval Training Station outside Chicago. Under his substitute, coach Carroll Widdoes, the Buckeyes completed an undefeated season. Willis was named to the United Press International and Look magazine All-America teams. He played in the 1944 College All-Star Game at Chicago, and was named the game's outstanding player.
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