WHAT OTHERS SAY:
USC head coach Pete Carroll: "Mike is just so physical. He's bigger than the other guys and there is speed and talent to go along with that size."
Steve Bisheff, Orange County Register: "Williams...is the best college football player I've seen in several years...He is a 6-foot-5, 230-pound leaping, twisting freak of nature. If he is not as fast as Randy Moss, he is bigger and stronger. He has soft, Marvin Harrison-like hands and runs like a halfback after the catch. Williams is Terrell Owens without the attitude or the silly end zone gyrations...This guy is a football player, not just a pass catcher...He makes every opposing defense alter its scheme...Most longtime USC observers will tell you he already is the finest receiver in Trojans history...In less than a season and a half, Williams established himself as the finest all-around receiver USC has put on a football field. He is faster than Keyshawn Johnson, bigger and stronger than Lynn Swann and a more complete package than Hal Bedsole...It was Willliams' presence as a go-to receiver that had much to do with teammate Carson Palmer running away with the Heisman in 2002...Williams was Palmer's 6-5 security blanket. And if you don't believe it, ask Carson. He'll tell you. In 2003, Williams served in the same role for Matt Leinart...Nobody since Bedsole, who was a jumbo-sized, All-American receiver on John McKay's first national championship team in 1962, has broken more tackles after catching the ball than Williams."
USC quarterback Matt Leinart: "He's a great, great player. Big, fast, all the things. He makes big-time, big-time plays. He's such a natural, he phenomenal. He's confident. You know he's good, he knows he's good. He's got a real presence about him."
Former USC Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Carson Palmer: "Mike is a tremendous talent. He's real mature. He's the type of guy who makes quarterbacks look real good. I know that all I had to do was put it up there and he was going to go get it."
Dan Pompei, The Sporting News: "Mike Williams is a very special player...What makes Williams unique is he has a power forward's body but can make plays like a point guard. His hands are exceptional. There really isn't anyone like him in the NFL. Never has been. He will be a physical mismatch for every defender he plays against. He will make catches when he is covered. He will be an extraordinary weapon in the red zone and a playmaker over the middle....Because he can adjust to the throw and catch the ball away from his body, the window he provides a quarterback to throw to is closer to the size of a glass partition."
Mike Ventre, MSNBC.com: "Williams' numbers are sick, twisted and perverse-if you're looking at it from the opponents' perspective. From a USC standpoint, they are wonderful, marvelous, extraordinary...And these days there are more defenders around him than there are bodyguards around Kobe Bryant...Some longtime USC observers think Williams may be the best wide receiver ever at the school, because of his unique amalgam of gifts. He is big, fast, smart, sure-handed, runs exact routes and is intensely competitive. Perhaps his value can best be summed up with one play that the Trojans run regularly, in which the quarterback drops back, fires a line drive laterally to Williams at his wide receiver spot, and Williams proceeds to deke, dodge, fake, fool, squeeze by and knock over anyone in his path. Unlike others at his position, Williams can turn nothing into something with the consistency of a power running back."
Jim Rhode, Los Angeles Times: "Mike Williams is college football's best receiver...Williams does it all. He catches balls long, short and in between, working the sideline and over the middle as well. He hauls in seemingly unreachable passes like Go-Go Gadget, drags defenders around like Ben-Hur, serves as a defender magnet so others can steal away against single coverage and provides a security blanket for Leinart."
Arizona State cornerback R.J. Oliver: "Not only would I pick Mike Williams over anyone else now, but I think he's the best wide receiver in college football in a long time."
California defensive coordinator Bob Gregory: "He causes huge, major problems...It's not like you can just tell a corner to go and cover him. Because of how big he is, you can't do much on him one-on-one. And if you put another guy on him, your run defense suffers because you take a guy out of the box."
Notre Dame defensive coordinator Kent Baer: "He's got deceptive speed. He's a long-strider and you don't realize he's faster than most receivers...The only thing that jumps out how to defend him is to try to keep two guys on him. But is there anything physically we can do? Not really."
Kyle Veltrop, The Sporting News: "Someone his size shouldn't have that burst, which is why he is like Terrell Owens."
Former USC wide receiver Keary Colbert: "He's so big, a lot of people don't realize how much quickness he has. He is big, but he also has the ability to separate from the defense on his routes...People just think that because he's big, he's going to muscle. But he does things a little guy does."
Michigan defensive back Marin Jackson: "He has great hands, he runs great routes and goes up and gets the ball at the highest point. He's a big receiver so he shields you very well."
Former UCLA defensive end Mat Ball: "Williams just diced us up. That dude is Terrell Owens."
Man, Williams is gonna be a friggin beast in the league. IMO we HAVE to get this guy, even if that means we have to trade up to get him.
The Link... http://usctrojans.collegesports.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/williams_mike00.html
ey-Aid of the Redskins.
