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player ready...It’s the most unexpected story of the NFL season, but USC coach Lane Kiffin said it doesn’t surprise him in the least.
Mike Williams, the former Trojans receiver drafted 10th overall by the Lions in 2005, has resurfaced after two years out of football as a central figure in the Seahawks offense. He has caught 21 balls in the last two games — more than his last two NFL seasons combined, when he bounced from the Lions to the Raiders to the Titans.
“Every day when I go to practice I pass a wall with all the pictures of all-Americans on it,” Kiffin said. “There’s a little paragraph underneath each player, and under Mike’s one of the things is ‘CBS National Player of the Year,’ and he was only a sophomore. Not just the top receiver, the top player in America.
“So this isn’t a big surprise. It was just about him getting himself refocused like he was here.”
While Williams’ college career is commemorated on a wall, his pro career simply slammed into one. He fizzled with the Lions and was traded after two seasons to the Raiders, where even then-coach Kiffin — the person who recruited him to USC — couldn’t sufficiently motivate him. Overweight and marginally motivated, he was released after seven games.
A month later, Titans offensive coordinator Norm Chow, who also had coached him at USC, convinced the Titans to sign him. Williams appeared in two games for the Titans and was released before catching a pass.
In those three seasons, Williams had a total of 44 catches and three touchdowns — not what the Lions expected when they signed him to a five-year, $13.5 million deal with $10.5 million guaranteed.
Understandably, Williams doesn’t like to dwell on that chapter of his career. What’s more, it bothers him that people bring it up.
“It’s a unique situation, the road I’ve traveled,” he said. “But everyone always has an opinion about me — what I was, who I was, or whatever. Nobody knew me. They just knew what people said or wrote about me.
“Regardless of what was said about me or regardless of what happened in the past, what I’m doing now is all that’s important. That’s the only thing I control.”
In that sense, he has made a clean break from the past. Reunited with former USC coach Pete Carroll, the 6-foot-5 Williams reported to training camp at 233 pounds, about 40 pounds lighter than his last go-round. What’s more, he had no expectations about getting special treatment and instead treated this opportunity as if he were an undrafted rookie looking to claw his way onto the team.
“I knew that my situation was going to bring a lot of attention,” he said. “I just wanted to come in here and do my work and try to fly under the radar.”
Soon enough, he was a bright blip on that radar screen, but for the right reasons. In his first exhibition game, he beat the defense — the Titans’ defense, mind you — for a 51-yard touchdown.
“This is the way I felt Mike would always play when he got to the league,” Carroll said. “I’m thrilled for him that he’s gotten the chance and he’s answered the call, and he’s coming through and helping us win football games. But what you’re looking for now is consistency.”
Carroll said Williams’ size and ability to make big plays set him apart, just like in college.
“His stature really is an issue for guys, and there’s no way to escape the fact that he’s 6-5 and he has terrific hands,” Carroll said. “You know he can keep (defensive backs) that are right on him a long ways from the ball.”
The Seahawks, atop the NFC West at 4-2, play at the Raiders on Sunday, giving Williams a chance to face the team that kept him around for less than half a season.
Asked how he looks at his opportunity with the Seahawks, Williams said: “I’m just worried about playing well. I feel like I’ve come into a place where people care about winning, they care about people being good people, they care about playing at the highest level.
“I don’t feel like people are out to get me, or make an example of me, or out to prove a point … just different issues that come up. I just feel like the most important thing here is doing right and playing good ball. That’s all you can ask for.”
Of course, it’s tough to make an assessment on the basis of two productive Sundays, and Williams is the first to emphasize that.
“I don’t think I’m at that point yet where teams come into their meeting and say, ‘OK, we’ve got to stop this guy,’ ” he said.
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“It’s just two good weeks.”