Bomar's next!

[Trojanman]

Remember this guy? Share your thoughts Greenies... pros/cons?

Canes LB Williams considers transfer to Troy University

BY BARRY JACKSON

bjackson@MiamiHerald.com

Linebacker Willie Williams is in discussions with Troy University in Alabama about possibly transferring there after receiving permission from the University of Miami to do so, a Troy official said Friday night.

Ricky Hazel, the sports information director for Troy, said the school is interested in Williams and that UM on Thursday told Troy it would release Williams from his Miami scholarship to play there. Hazel said Troy defensive coordinator Jeremy Rowell has spoken with Williams and those discussions will continue.

''We're working on it,'' Hazel said.

UM spokesman Rick Korch said Williams has not told UM where he will transfer, but that he has been given permission to transfer to Troy, which could give Williams a scholarship.

Williams, who attended Miami Carol City High, could not be reached, but an associate said he has strong interest in transferring to Troy, barring a change of heart.

He would be required to sit out this season, but would be eligible to play in 2007 and 2008. The NCAA has said Williams would need to apply for a waiver to play in 2009.

Players typically must complete four seasons in five years, but because Williams missed the 2004 season with a knee injury, he would be permitted to apply for a waiver for 2009, the NCAA said.

Williams still is on probation for 2004 charges that included setting off hotel fire extinguishers in Gainesville. He would need approval from a judge to transfer his probation to another jurisdiction. His attorney, Paul Lazarus, said last month that ``is usually a matter of routine.''

Troy (4-7 last season) plays in the Sun Belt Conference, which also includes Florida International and Florida Atlantic. Troy's schedule in 2007 includes a home game against Oklahoma State and road games at Georgia, Florida and LSU.

UM would not permit Williams to transfer to any school on Miami's schedule in the next four years. That eliminated Louisville, which made an initial inquiry to UM. Williams also had interest in Fresno State, which said it is

not interested.

Williams, the nation's No. 1 linebacker recruit in 2004, wants to transfer for more playing time.

Miami Herald sportswriter Susan Miller Degnan contributed to this report

[untbowler]

Do you guys really want this trouble? The kid is a punk pure and simple and just a tad overrrated.

[good_ken]

huh, everyone dogpiled me in the other thread for suggesting that Sun belt team would take on troubled players who would help them win. Guess their not above that.

[Got5onIt]

Where was North Texas in this recruiting process????

[eeally]

Troy plays a grueling schedule....

Yes I would take this guy! Why not....

[untbowler]

Troy plays a grueling schedule....

Yes I would take this guy! Why not....

←

So we bring him he could tear up the dorms around campus, wait a team has already done that.

[MeanGreen61]

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews...ts/15016703.htm

Posted on Tue, Jul. 11, 2006

Time for Miami to cut Willie Williams loose

By Greg Cote

MIAMI - Trying hard here to work up the charity to wish Willie Williams good luck, but another sort of wish keeps getting in the way.

Good riddance.

Go forth, young man, and become some other coach's headache. Become some other probation officer's account. Become some other college football program's embarrassment.

Williams has told University of Miami coach Larry Coker of his wish to transfer to another school in search of more playing time, Coker said Tuesday, and UM apparently is inclined to let the controversial linebacker go. The phrase "cutting your losses" comes to mind. A small cloud will lift from the Hurricanes the moment they are free of the player who probably ought not have been signed in the first place.

Williams came out of Carol City High as a highly touted linebacker whose athletic resume was unfortunately offset by his equally prolific credentials as a public nuisance. He was on probation related to a 2002 burglary, and his 10 arrests in all for theft-related incidents made his signing mindful of the bad old days when off-field issues gave UM football the reputation as a repository for thugs with ball skills.

There are a number of things a person has earned after 10 arrests, though a prestigious scholarship is not what comes to mind. Second chances are wonderful, and third chances are fine. Eleventh chances might be pushing the point a tad.

Nothing, then, was less surprising than when Mr. Williams managed, during a recruiting trip to Gainesville just before signing with UM, to get in trouble for allegedly discharging hotel fire extinguishers and hugging a female student against her will. For a no-contest plea, a judge who luckily believed in 11th chances gave Williams 250 hours community service and extended his probation through February 2007.

Fortunate to have been admitted by Miami, Williams then missed his freshman season because of injury before contributing modestly as a second-year freshman last season. He missed much of the recent spring practice because of a stomach virus and has been the only player to skip most of the team's voluntary offseason workouts.

Now, Williams appears to have decided the best way to repay UM for its latitude, understanding and patience is to cut and run. To bail on the school that risked its reputation by giving him a scholarship.

Coker and Canes fans deserve better. Dare say Williams' loyalty, perhaps? Instead, what the player displays is gall. Not to mention the appearance of a quitter.

One season as a backup - exactly as many career college games as arrests, for those scoring at home - and Williams is ready to run to a school where the competition isn't as tough, where he might be able to start with less effort and sacrifice, less work than it would have taken here.

You can debate whether this was ever the right person for this program, and it should be noted in fairness that Williams has had no known legal problems since enrolling, and that even double-digit arrests do not automatically place a man beyond redemption or sympathy. But it's hard now to believe this is the right player for this program.

Not a kid who wants to quit because a starter's job wasn't handed to him, entitlement gift-wrapped.

Not somebody who would prefer to spend this coming season sitting out as a transfer rather than busting his tail to prove himself in his hometown for the school that was willing to abide his arrests and his reputation.

Good luck elsewhere, Willie. To the person and to the player.

You might yet become a star for some other school. Maybe you'll even achieve the kind of success that tends to magically apply a fresh coat of paint over one's dubious past. NFL career? Who knows!

Good luck.

Right now, though, for you and UM, good riddance still feels right.

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