Jesse Williams DT

[Blvd_Stang]

ESPN just wrote an article on this guy. He is a man beast. I doubt we still have a shot, but if we did land this guy with Moreland and the way our offense scores, we would be scary good.

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/recruiting/football/columns/story?id=5436284

"He's just one of those guys," Arizona Western coach Tom Minnick said. "Jesse has those athletic legs. He has a big upper body and can really run. He has quick feet and bench presses over 500 pounds. Jesse is a freak."

He does mention the Hawaii connection though:

"Some friends egged me on to play football when I was 15," Williams said. "I fell in love with the game. My friends saw my size and speed in basketball and I guess I was a little too physical. Rugby taught me tackling and basketball gave me the footwork. I fit in well from the beginning because I had speed, size and athleticism. I started by just playing and finding the ball. I have slowly progressed."

Slowly progressed? That's an understatement. It only took a year of playing before he had a scholarship offer.

"Some Hawaii coaches came to Australia to run a football clinic," Williams said. "While the clinic was going on I was the playing in a national tournament and was named the MVP. They saw me and one thing led to another. So I verbally committed to Hawaii when I was 16."

[BUS]

Any new info on this? Would be nice to have a gift come August 20th!

[Stallion]

we aren't under consideration based on recruiting services. His recruitment has blown up nationally

[BUS]

Thanks - It is one guy we could really use.
Go Mustang Militia

[RGV Pony]

so this guy was all set to enroll at Hawaii, then whatever happened happened, and he got stuck in Yuma for two years..isnt that what happened? if so...man, hope he got more than a 'my bad'

[Alaric]

One player of this magnitude in the middle would change our defense drastically. Alas, it would be like winning the lottery now to get him here.

[Garret]

so this guy was all set to enroll at Hawaii, then whatever happened happened, and he got stuck in Yuma for two years..isnt that what happened? if so...man, hope he got more than a 'my bad'

Hawaii had him delay his enrollment for *2* years, then right before he was going to fly to Hawaii to enroll someone checked his classes and found that the credits didn't transfer properly and he was a class or two short of being NCAA qualified. Someone at Hawaii's compliance department could have checked his transcript earlier, especially after McMackin told him to wait an extra year to enroll when he took over for JJ...Jesse could have easily taken the classes needed during the 2 years he waited to go to Hawaii, but he was told his academic situation was fine. So, he had to spend 2 years at a JC instead of going to a D-IA school, especially disturbing since he waited 2 years to enroll at Hawaii.

Several months ago when Jesse's recruiting situation blew up, it was disturbing to hear from Jesse's father that Jesse hadn't heard from *any* of the Hawaii coaches for a year or so and Hawaii hadn't offered Jesse a scholarship. I think I even posted that message here in another thread about Jesse. This was after so many big-name schools had offered him and he was wondering why Hawaii wasn't talking with him or Jesse. It was only after several Hawaii fans made a big fuss over the matter that Hawaii then called and made Jesse an offer...but by then it may have been too late.

[Garret]

In other words, Jesse didn't even get a "my bad" until Hawaii fans made a fuss on the matter...

[RGV Pony]

In other words, Jesse didn't even get a "my bad" until Hawaii fans made a fuss on the matter...

yikes

[PerunaPunch]

Makes one feel somewhat less bad about our recent recruiting faux pas. If it's true, it sounds like Hawaii really screwed this kid.

[Mexmustang]

Yes, the timing was poor and the transcript review sloppy. But, the key fact was that he was "short in his hours to be NCAA qualified", unlike our two cases which were qualified.

[ponydawg]

[Roach]

Don't feel too bad for him. I'm told Williams might end up at Alabama or USC (or some other mega-program)