You had to know that Willie Williams would make headlines again.
Name doesn’t ring a bell? Well, if you follow college football and the recruiting process behind it pretty closely, you know who Williams is.
He’s the linebacker with the troubled past who landed at the University of Miami after a very colorful recruiting experience documented by the Miami Herald in 2004. The newspaper allowed Williams to recount his official visits to Auburn, Florida, Florida State and Miami.
Well, several websites have confirmed that Williams will suit up with the University of Louisville Cardinals starting this season.
Coming out of Carol City High in Miami, Williams was about as blue chip as you could get. Projected as the country’s top outside linebacker, he checked in at 6’2, 220-230 and clocking a legit 4.5 at combines. He had 173 tackles in his junior year…from defensive end (another website had him with 215 tackles in 12 games). If I remember correctly, the first play of the state championship game of his senior year he broke the opposing quarterback’s leg.
This cat was consider as good, if not better, than the likes of classmates Adrian Peterson, Ted Ginn Jr., Dan Connor, Calvin Johnson, Chad Henne, Brian Toal, Frank Okam, etc. etc. Scout.com had him as the nation’s second-best recruit and Rivals.com had him No. 6. By the way, I just got a great idea. In the coming weeks I’ll take a look back at the last few years of blue chippers and see how far they’ve come.
Back to Williams. As he slithered closer and closer to the spotlight at the end of high school, the darker and darker his image became. Reports of a rap sheet longer than the guitar solo from Free Bird surfaced and quickly Williams became a roll of the dice.
However, he ended up at Miami and had a hard time finding the field in Coral Gables. Eventually he left Miami and spent last year at West Los Angeles (junior college) where he only played in four games. However, in four games he was able to elicit “He’s definitely going to be a first or second-round selection to play in the NFL” from his head coach.
Now he’ll play for Louisville where I’d guess they promised immediate playing time, if not a starting role. UL started two juniors and a senior at linebacker in 2006, the heaviest being 220 pounds (Williams is about 235 according to websites right now). From first glance, the depth chart appears in his favor.
However, that’s all irrelevant. The question is whether he’s worth the risk. It all comes down to whether you think people change or not. After being the sports editor of the Virginia Tech student paper during the Marcus Vick years, it’s hard for me to believe people change more often than not. But they do.
I do think that Willie is a risk UL can take more than anyone else right now. New coach…on the verge of a very uncertain future…why not take some chances.
Comments (1)
I remember reading about him in '04 and I'd wondered how come we hadn't heard about him since. Kid had like 10 arrests on his record, including one during his recruiting visit to Miami.
It's possible for people to change, but I think there has to be a wake-up call. After his 5th or so arrest, you'd think that would've been it.
Maybe having to leave Miami and go to JUCO would've humbled him enough, but I think the Louisville opportunity negates that. If his police record is indicative of his personality, then he's incorrigible and most likely has a sense of entitlement. Like subconsciously he thinks, "I can afford to screw around because I'll always have 6'2"/235 and 4.5 speed to fall back on." Getting a chance at UL and having that coach say he'll go high in the draft will just be another example of his immense talent bailing him out. So I don't know if he's really had reality slapped into him and learned a lesson.