ex-Miami/ex-Louisville LB Willie Williams (official thread)

[osugrad21]

Judge Michael Kaplan has postponed his decision on Willie Williams' fate until next Tuesday.

After a brief recess, Williams entered an open plea, basically admitting to the probation violation but falling short of a guilty plea. Kaplan decided he wanted a week to ponder his final decision on how severly to further penalize Williams for the trouble he got into on his recruiting trip to Gainesville.

Willie remains on the hook for now

 

[Buckskin86]

The real question will be if they ajudicate his felony. If they do then he could play.

You called it HH!

http://www.nbc6.net/news/3474097/detail.html

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- University of Miami football recruit Willie Williams admitted violating probation Tuesday on a burglary conviction, but the university has told attorneys that the standout linebacker still might be admitted.

Williams, 19, could face up to a year in jail, but the prosecution is not requesting any jail time.

Miami athletic director Paul Dee told attorneys on both sides in recent days that Williams' chances of admission would be better if the judge agrees to withhold adjudication, which would erase the original burglary conviction from the player's record if he stays out of trouble for a year.

Broward Circuit Judge Michael Kaplan, who allowed Williams to attend both his Miami Carol City High graduation and his prom, did not commit himself to that deal. He said he wanted to read the recruit's responsibilities under the university's athletic and student codes before sentencing next Tuesday.

Williams admitted violating probation imposed for a Pembroke Pines stereo shop burglary in 2002 by getting arrested during a recruting visit to the University of Florida in January.

He was placed on probation for a year last week in Gainesville after pleading no contest to a felony count of setting off hotel fire extinguishers and misdemeanor battery for hugging a woman without her permission.

"He's done everything he could to rectify the situation," defense attorney Paul Lazarus said. He called the January crimes "more boisterousness than anything else."

Kaplan told Williams that he would not send him to state prison even though he could be sentenced to a five-year term. The judge said he would require Williams to write letters of apology to hotel management and the woman, if he has not already written them.

Williams has paid $1,700 to the hotel to cover damages and his room. A misdemeanor charge involving a bar fight on the same weekend was dropped with Williams agreeing to pay the man involved $1,300.

Prosecutors offered house arrest plus three years probation for the probation violation, but the defense opposed the request. Lazarus said the state was initially pushing for six months in jail.

The university is waiting for sentencing to decide whether to admit Williams, Lazarus said. Miami athletic director Paul Dee wrote Lazarus on Monday saying coaches and the university are "free to add additional conditions" on student behavior beyond the standard code for student athletes.

"The University of Miami is the best place for Willie Williams. They will make him tow the strait and narrow," Lazarus said.

The judge agreed it was in "society's best interest if he were in college as opposed to not being in college."

Lazarus said afterward that his communications with the school left him "optimistic" about Williams' chances of admission.

“There's at least still an interest there in taking him," he said.

 

[Oh8ch]

The university is waiting for sentencing to decide whether to admit Williams

I hope I never read that about an OSU player or recruit. Waiting on evidence, waiting on a verdict - I can go there. But knowing what the kid did and just waiting to see if you can sneak through a loophole is sad.

The judge agreed it was in "society's best interest if he were in college as opposed to not being in college.

There are 85 schollies available at Miami - no extras for felons. It is in the best interest of society if kids who don't commit felonies are rewarded with an opportunity for a college education. It just may be in the best interests of society if kids who commit criems and abuse their opportunities pay some sort of consequence.

 

[gregorylee]

I am with ya Oh8ch, why would it be in societies best interest to reward a kid for being a criminal just because he can play ball. It would make more sense to reward a kid for being a good upstanding citizen.

I think for every kid with a criminal record admitted to the athletic department they should have to supply 5 honor roll students with full rides on their dime. "Look guys, free school for everyone!!".

 

[Buckeyejeff]

In society's best interest? Is this judge a Miami grad?

 

[lvbuckeye]

i dont' think that 'judge' and 'Miami grad' should be in the same sentence...

unless it's "the judge handed the Miami grad a x to xx year prison term"...

 

[Buckskin86]

Dennis Dodd weighs in on WW

MIAMI -- The idea of a university halfway house never has made much sense -- especially here.

Like it or not the University of Miami's reputation is largely earned by its football program. High-minded presidents might not like it, but that's the way it is all over the country. It is important the days of the renegade 'Canes are -- if not ended -- a distant memory.

Given Miami's past in that department, you would think the last thing it would want to do is get involved with, well, another renegade. But five months after an incident that led to his 12th arrest in his 19 years on earth, linebacker recruit Willie Williams is a heartbeat away from entering Miami's football program.

Last week, the Carol City High School product admitted to violating probation during a wild recruiting visit Jan. 30 to the University of Florida. Williams later pleaded no contest to setting off hotel fire extinguishers and inappropriately hugging a woman.

For the better part of this year, Williams has been under house arrest with an electronic ankle bracelet monitoring his every move. He had to get permission from a judge to attend his graduation and prom.

There is a large faction of Miami fans that can't wait to see him on the field this fall. There is another, larger faction of ADs, coaches and presidents around the country interested in seeing the long-term result.

Miami president Donna Shalala isn't exactly standing in the way of what could be a societal scud missile headed her way.

For better or worse, Miami is about to open an old trunk and dust off a yellowed and frayed reputation it hoped would stay stowed forever.

"That's a good point," coach Larry Coker said. "That's why I'm going to be very, very careful about what we're doing."

The most celebrated high school football recruit of 2004 will be sentenced Tuesday in Broward Co. (Fla.) court. He likely won't serve any jail time.

Bracelet or bars, why does Miami keep pursuing this contrarian? On one hand, the whole situation looks bad, real bad, for Miami. Two years ago, the school quickly cut loose linebacker Nate Harris after his role in an armed robbery. But, Williams still might be admitted?

Part of it has to do with Williams being rated the nation's best prep linebacker last year. Fast. Unbelievably quick. Could play, or start, as a freshman. Broke the opposing quarterback's arm in the state championship game.

Oh, and there's this: Miami just happens to be thin at linebacker.

The kid is such a hot potato neither Florida nor Florida State would touch him now. Williams' own high school coach, who loves him to death, called him, "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde."

It is obvious the school's lingering interest in Williams goes all the way to the top. If Shalala didn't want him, he would have been dropped a long time ago.

Shalala won't comment, but observers interpret her tacit approval of the recruitment as evidence of her liberal Democrat leanings. In essence: An institution of higher learning can save a kid from the streets.

It has worked before but that is not, or shouldn't be, the issue at Miami. Williams should play college football and get an education, but not in Coral Gables. The program is too deep, too decorated, too ethical now to risk going Miami old school.

"I don't think we need to take him," Coker said. "But he's one that we'd like to give an opportunity."

The kid doesn't make it easy to form an opinion. He is smart, a media darling whose Miami Herald recruiting diary was both charming and alarming. It pointed out the excesses of recruiting, but showed a naive teenager who thought the Radisson in Tallahassee was the Taj Mahal.

But how smart can Williams be? An 18-month probation from a previous arrest was 12 days from ending when he went wild in Gainesville.

"If he succeeds," Frazier said, "it will be a great story for the community. It could be inspirational."

But Frazier added: "Colleges realize they have to get players. There is so much pressure to win until it forces people to do things out of the ordinary."

The Miami administration will all but be waiting on the courthouse steps Tuesday ready to re-offer Williams a scholarship, conditionally. The conditions read like those of a repeat offender which, of course, Williams is:


Fifty hours of community service.
Ten hours of mandatory study hall.
Meet every two weeks with an associate AD.
"The University of Miami is the best place for Willie Williams," Williams' lawyer Paul Lazarus was quoted as saying last week. "They will make him tow the straight and narrow."

Roll that around in your mind for a second. Miami as society's safety net?

Miami built part of its rep wearing a dark hat in some sort of eternal good vs. evil conflict. Remember Catholics vs. Convicts? Warren Sapp and marijuana? Michael Irvin as role model?

The same school that has set down a list of conditions for Williams' admission can't quite decide whether to mandate a curfew for all of its recruits in the future.

"The problem is," Coker said, "... how are you going to enforce it?"

That will be the least of Coker's problems if Williams slips up even once. What if Willie assaults a student? What follows next is a liability lawsuit against the school for admitting Williams, knowing of his past.

Miami announced itself to the sport 20 years ago with a brash, pipe-smoking Howard Schnellenberger, who passed down his attitude and winning percentage to successors until it all collapsed into an NCAA probation inherited by Butch Davis.

Things did change. Coker won a national championship while turning down the outlandish volume. He won with pleasant, interesting, almost boring, players -- Ken Dorsey, Joaquin Gonzalez, Bryant McKinnie, etc.

Now the trunk has been dragged out of the attic. Williams has been compared to former Miami great Ray Lewis as a linebacker. But the mind automatically conjures up another side of Lewis that hopefully Williams will never compare to. "When I heard of the allegations, it was mind-boggling," Frazier said of Williams. "When I heard the things he had been involved in, I was shocked. It's hard for people to believe."

Hard to believe because Williams was Frazier's first transfer in 20 years to play at such a high level. Williams came from Miami Pace High and earned his way into the lineup, minded his business and became a high school All-American.

"Most kids who get into trouble are really bad students," Coker said. "With Willie Williams we'll have a good program. If Willie Williams is not here, we'll have a good program. I don't want it to be out there that the whole school and program depends on Willie Williams."

But, in a way, they just might. Reputations are fragile things. It has taken this long for a lot of outsiders to believe Miami would never pursue a Willie Williams.

Miami's unique problem now is Williams has as many arrests as character references. Good vs. evil, Catholics vs. Convicts has now evolved into high risk vs. high reward.

 

[OSUsushichic]

Willie gets 3 years' probation...

Top Miami football recruit gets three years' probation
July 6, 2004

AP - Jun 29, 3:48 pm EDT
More Photos

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) -- Top Miami football recruit Willie Williams was sentenced to three years' probation Tuesday for violating probation on a burglary conviction.

Williams, 19, could have faced up to a year in jail, but the prosecution didn't request jail time.

Defense attorney Paul Lazarus said Williams was ``ecstatic'' after the judge imposed the sentence. Williams must perform 250 hours of community service while on probation and is banned from drinking alcohol and taking any unprescribed drugs. He'll be subject to random testing.

Lazarus said he's ``extremely optimistic'' Miami will accept Williams. The original burglary conviction will be erased from the player's record if he stays out of trouble for a year.

``It seems to me you've got some promise,'' Judge Michael Kaplan said. He cited Williams' college opportunity, saying, ``For that reason, I don't believe you're a lost cause.''

Williams admitted violating probation imposed for a Pembroke Pines stereo shop burglary in 2002 by getting arrested during a recruiting visit to the University of Florida in January.

He was placed on probation for a year last week in Gainesville after pleading no contest to a felony count of setting off hotel fire extinguishers and misdemeanor battery for hugging a woman without her permission.

 

[coxew]

and is banned from drinking alcohol and taking any unprescribed drugs.

Alright.

 

[osugrad21]

I have a $50 bet with Bomb that WW is in trouble again by the end of his career at Criami....I feel really good about my chances after the above article. No alcohol on a college campus?? Good luck Willie...at least go down in flames when you go down.

 

[BuckeyeNation27]

haha.....arent most 18 year olds banned from drinking alcohol and taking unprescribed drugs?

so let me get this straight....because he committed 2 felonies on a trip to florida and got in a fight that was settled out of court, he now has the chance to erase the burglary charge that has NOTHING to do with any of that? how is this making sense?

 

[gbearbuck]

I think they are setting him up to fail... if he screws up once in the next three years he is in big trouble... Miami isn't exactly cowtown USA... there will be alot to tempt him... I doubt he makes it through the three years without getting caught for something...

 

[BuckeyeNation27]

I doubt he makes it through the three years without getting caught for something...

unless they decide to cover his stupid ass up. maybe this is a good thing...maybe this will get them another probation with all the coverups they will have to do. one can only hope.

 

[Bucklion]

Good call Nation, it only says he can't be CAUGHT for something, not that he can't do anything. My guess is he'll have a "handler" who will make sure he doesn't get caught.

 

[edbuck51]

Another perfect example of society giving athletes special treatment. Sickening! I thought once you violated the first probation, you had to serve that sentence. Guess not. Winston Justice didn't have to serve his sentence either. I imagine some people will be really shocked when these guys get into even bigger trouble somewhere down the road.