Content provided in partnership with

'I'm going to be an original': forget comparisons to Randy or T.O. or Keyshawn. Mike Williams plays only one way—his way—and he's proving he's still on after a year off

Sporting News, The, April 15, 2005 by Michael Bradley

This is the time of year when we search for ways to describe NFL prospects. We wrack our mental highlight reels and try to define these football immigrants in terms all can understand, usually ending up with a Frankenstein's monster of a player, cobbled together with parts of others and hardly resembling the person we're trying to define.

Mike Williams has a solution to that: Don't do it. At least not with him. The wide receiver doesn't want to be told he's T.O. this, Randy that or something like Keyshawn. "I'm going to be an original," he says.

Most Popular Articles in Sports: The first family: Archie, Peyton and Eli are incredibly famous, immensely ...; The growing gap: driving distances are skyrocketing on the PGA Tour. So why ...; Which pistol caliber for self defense? Four different people come to four ...; Drag racing - National Hot Rod Association; The world's most popular .22: the Marlin Model 60 just keeps on ticking; More »

Given the path Williams has taken to the NFL draft, it makes sense not to define him in terms of others. No one has been through what he has, not even Maurice Clarett, the other player who banged on the league's door last year, only to be told by a federal judge to come back later. Now Williams is back, convinced you haven't seen anything like him. He likely will be selected in the top 10 on April 23--War Room scouts predict the Vikings will take him with the seventh pick.

"When I watch football, I can't think of any person I play like," he says, without a trace of arrogance. "When I establish myself, I want to establish me, not be a clone of anybody else."

He's NOT Randy

When some scouts describe Williams, they begin with his speed--or lack thereof--relative to some other NFL receivers. They point to the 40-yard dashes he ran at the NFL Scouting Combine in February and his individual workout March 10, all four of which fell in the 4.54-4.64 range. Hardly slow, but not blinding, either. "I don't think anybody would call him a game breaker," says one AFC college scouting director. Williams (6-4 1/2, 229) doesn't blow past defensive backs or turn 6-yard hitch passes into 50-yard gains, as Oakland's Randy Moss can.

It might be unwise to expect 1,400 yards and 12 to 15 touchdowns from Williams, at least on a regular basis, but he isn't going to leave the field early when his team is losing, and he won't make obscene gestures to the crowd, get into shouting matches with coaches and teammates or take plays off. Williams' decision to run at the Combine gained him big points with scouts, coaches and general managers, who wanted to see if he was in shape and sharp after a year out of football.

"If he had not run at the Combine, that would have pissed a lot of people off," Packers college scouting director John Dorsey says. "He had to show the guys, 'I am who I am.' He did that, and it was a good thing."

Williams didn't even bring a pair of running shoes with him to the Combine, so he had to find former Washington State safety Hamza Abdullah, with whom he had trained at Chip Smith's Competitive Edge in suburban Atlanta, and bum a pair from him (they have the same shoe size). Credit Bengals coach Marvin Lewis and receivers coach Hue Jackson for spurring Williams to run.

At the end of Williams' interview with Cincinnati, during which Williams informed the team be wasn't running at the Combine, Jackson told him, "You carry yourself well, and people think you're a competitor. Why not prove it?" That did it. "He called me out," Williams says.

Williams put up times of 4.57 and 4.64, neither of which reminded anyone of Bob Hayes but which completed the profile on a player who impressed teams with his character during interviews and has a great college resume (176 catches, 14.6-yard average, 30 TDs in two seasons at USC). "He's a quality kid and a quality prospect," says an AFC scouting director. "And it was good for him to run because it shows he will compete any time they throw the balls out there."

He's NOT Keyshawn

When some NFL scouts describe Williams, they invoke Keyshawn Johnson, the former USC standout now with Dallas. They reason that a big guy who doesn't possess great speed will be a possession receiver comfortable in the middle of the field and able to overpower smaller defensive backs in one-on-one situations. "Mike never professed to be a guy who would run a 4.3," says an AFC personnel director. "Anyone who has seen him play knows that. He's fast enough, gets open and is strong."

Williams is slightly taller and about 15 pounds heavier than Johnson. He also is faster, and there is little doubt he'll be a better teammate. After Williams' bid for early entry into the NFL was denied a year ago, he tried to become eligible again for the Trojans by attending classes and paying back any money he had received from his agent. It gave him an opportunity to clear some things up with the USC coaching staff and his teammates.

"Some things were said and reported when I decided to enter the draft," Williams says. "By going back, I could get around the guys and say, 'I didn't say this or that.' They know me. We grew up together as young men. They knew what they read had to be twisted. But it's different when you think things are a certain way and when a person tells you it directly."

'I'm going to be an original': forget comparisons to Randy or T.O. or Keyshawn. Mike Williams plays only one way—his way—and he's proving he's still on after a year off

Sporting News, The, April 15, 2005 by Michael Bradley

Find Research Guides for:

Find Featured Titles for: News

Most Popular Articles in Sports

Most Popular Publications in Sports