Loserville panicking

[bulls96go]

http://www.sportsline.com/collegefootball/story/9964119

why bring this problem to your team?

Louisville needs Williams to keep the terror on the field  

  Jan. 30, 2007

By Dennis Dodd

CBS SportsLine.com Senior Writer

Tell Dennis your opinion!

   

 

   

Craig Austin probably didn't realize the double meaning. That's what complicates the description of his West Los Angeles College linebacker.

"He was," the coach said, "a terror."

That we knew about Willie Williams.

Willie Williams? Right about now your synapses are firing. The mental Rolodex is flipping.

Willie Williams?

In terms of college football, his name is ancient history. Forgotten. If guys don't play, they're dead to us. Failed. Busts.

   

Steve Kragthorpe and Louisville roll the dice on Willie Williams. (AP)    

But three years ago Willie Williams was the biggest story in the country, not just college football. His recruiting diary in the Miami Herald was so repugnant that it led to widespread recruiting reforms fast-tracked by the NCAA.

At Florida State, there were four lobster tails, two steaks and a shrimp scampi.

At Florida, the kid allegedly went Guns 'N' Roses at the hotel. One felony and misdemeanor later he was charged with illegally shooting off a fire extinguisher and inappropriately hugging a female student.

Probation followed. That was only the foreword of this crime novel.

Miami (Fla.) still signed Willie despite 11 previous arrests. The school rationalized, as schools do in situations like this. We don't abandon kids like this, president Donna Shalala intimated, we nurture them.

There really was no beginning to Willie's career, only torturous transitions for everyone involved. Williams hurt his knee as a freshman, then redshirted. When he returned in 2005, he didn't work. Big-timed teammates. Washed out. Ten games, 17 tackles.

Yeah, he was a terror.

Willie is back in South Florida these days working out, ready to sign with Louisville next week. That might seem repugnant too, except that Louisville has a history of this sort of thing. Success, even.

Another stud high school linebacker, Nate Harris, once ran his career off the track. Five years ago he was convicted for his role in an armed robbery in Miami. The 'Canes lost interest. After rehabbing his image and game at a Kansas juco, Harris thrived at Louisville.

More than thrived. He led the Cards in tackles and became an NFL prospect.

Williams is trying to do the same thing -- times 11.

Dodd's Top '07 Classes  

1. Florida  

2. Texas  

3. Tennessee  

4. USC  

5. LSU  

6. Notre Dame  

7. Georgia  

8. Auburn  

9. Nebraska  

10. South Carolina  

After Miami, Willie's stepfather Leonard Pressley scouted the country for a soft landing spot for his stepson. For a while Pearl River (Miss.) College was an option, then the school got nervous and said no. West Virginia and Tennessee stumbled over themselves saying no, no, no, they weren't interested either.

Leonard kept heading west to Culver City, Calif.

"Then when I found out coach was a sheriff," he said, "you're a sheriff and you bring in a guy who has an arrest record. ..."

Made a lot more sense than lobster tails and fire extinguishers. Or maybe it made sense because of them.

Willie's dad died when he was 12, the year before he was a high school freshman. It seems that most of the legal problems came after that.

So maybe the most logical landing strip had to be West L.A. College. Austin is a coach but he is also a cop, an 18-year law enforcement veteran. The 42-year-old senior supervising deputy oversees 35 L.A. County deputy sheriffs, which means at any given moment he can end a phone conversation like he did this week.

"I've got a police problem, can you call me back?" Austin said without waiting for a reply.

"We have inmates," he explained later. "Sometimes there is a disturbance between themselves or deputies. No force can be used without a supervisor's presence."

After the folly of youth, Willie Williams transferred to West L.A., where suddenly he rode an elementary school bus to games. Craig Austin handled inmates. Willie had been one. There weren't many options left. If he and his father traveled any further west they'd be treading water in the Pacific Ocean.

"I wanted to make things crystal clear," Austin said. "He had a zero tolerance policy. I felt an obligation to weed out the negative influences. I was more interested to see how he was going to react going to school, how he was going to react not living in Miami."

Willie played only four games last season because there was an issue with his Miami transcript. Because he left when he did, Willie was on the hook for student fees at Miami of approximately $2,000, according to one source. It was money that the family couldn't readily afford.

But that was the point. At least he played.

"When he had transcript problems and was not allowed to (initially) play, it caused my entire team to go flat," Austin said. "I had to tell them to quit waiting for Superman to come save you. You've got to save yourselves. That's how much of an impact this guy was with the team."

In those four games, Willie made 60 tackles, nine of them sacks. Austin used words like "professional," "personable," "mature."

Willie will be back in the big time in the fall, with two years of eligibility left. In a weird way, that suits everyone.

Louisville is either a halfway house or halfway crazy. Maybe they lucked out with Harris. Maybe they're getting good at this sort of thing. Austin had been a quarterback at Northern Arizona in the mid-'80s when current Louisville AD Tom Jurich had been there serving in the athletic department.

The pair had faith in each other. Is it wise to extend that faith to a crazy, mixed up 19-year-old who is now 22?

"I saw some of his highlights from high school," Austin said. "He was an animal out there."

That, we knew about Willie Williams.

[JoeB]

They got Matt Simms back too per Rivals.

[BullDoug]

UL fans can never ever complain about a team taking a kid with questionable character now.

[Guest JulmisteForPrez]

UL fans can never ever complain about a team taking a kid with questionable character now.

Questionable?  Who questions Willie Williams' character?

It's awful.

[crambone]

blah....I can't wait until they come back down here this season.

[Triple B]

UL fans can never ever complain about a team taking a kid with questionable character now.

I think UL fans are smart enough about college football to realize that you take chances sometimes and most major college football programs do it from time to time.

[HaulingBull Sucks]

They got Matt Simms back too per Rivals.

Confirmed: according to the Courier-Journal, and they also got hometown runnig back Victor Anderson previously commited to WV away from Rich Rod.

 Simms re-commits to U of L

QB: 'I have a real good feeling'

By Jody Demling

jdemling@courier-journal.com

The Courier-Journal

Matt Simms is coming to the University of Louisville after all.

The son of Louisvillian and former Super Bowl MVP Phil Simms spoke with new U of L coach Steve Kragthorpe yesterday afternoon and told him his choice.

     

His mother, Diana, confirmed the commitment to The Courier-Journal, but neither Matt Simms nor his father returned phone calls. But the Ramsey (N.J.) Don Bosco Prep quarterback spoke to his hometown newspaper about his decision.

"I talked to both (Kragthorpe and assistant coach Jeff Brohm) -- they called me right after school," Simms told The Record. "It was perfect timing because I really thought all day about my decision. When I answered the phone, they said, 'Are you coming to Louisville?' And I said, 'Yes, sir, I am.'

"I just have a real good feeling about it, and I do feel a lot better about it right now than I did a few weeks ago."

Matt Simms, whose brother Chris played at Texas and is now a quarterback with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, had committed to Louisville before his senior season but re-opened his recruitment when coach Bobby Petrino left for the Atlanta Falcons this month. He told The Record then, "I'm not going to Louisville."

He visited North Carolina State and Michigan State but decided he wanted to be in Louisville.

Brohm, the quarterbacks coach and assistant head coach, played a big role in landing Simms the first time and remained his main recruiter. Kragthorpe and Brohm visited the family's home last week.

As a senior the 6-foot-3, 200-pound Simms passed for 1,980 yards and 18 touchdowns. He completed 65 percent of his passes and led his team to the state title.

Simms threw for 6,000 yards and 60 TDs as a three-year starter and was rated the No. 1 quarterback prospect in New Jersey.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Anderson was a member of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution's top 100 All-Southern team. He was a three-year starter at St. X and finished as the school's leading rusher and scorer. He had 452 carries for 4,008 yards -- 8.9 yards a carry -- and 75 total touchdowns. His commitment gives U of L the two top players from Louisville last season, joining Male all-purpose back Douglas Beaumont.

"I've been talking to Doug Beaumont, and we were talking one night and he goes, 'Yeah come here with me and you can be the next Michael Bush and Brian Brohm,' " Anderson said. "If we keep working hard, that's a goal we could both set."

[smazza]

they will be fine

usf should be in such shape

[HaulingBull Sucks]

The new coach isn't doing too poorly recruiting wise...UL will sign 3 of the top 7 Kentucky HS players and Matt Simms...and who knows how many Florida kids. :'(

It may well be a blessing in disguise for UL that Petrino is gone and Kragthorpe in.