'05 PA LB Ernest Williams (Pitt signee)

[Buckskin86]

http://scout.theinsiders.com/a.z?s=1...=1&nid=1149182

http://pittsburgh.rivals.com/viewpro...p?pr_key=26771

Inside linebacker / Fullback
Monessen (PA)

Height: 6-foot-2
Weight: 245 pounds
40-yard dash: 4.6 seconds
Bench max: 340 pounds
Squat max: 600 pounds
Stats: 95 tackles in '03

Honors: Pennsylvania Football News Class A 2nd team all state LB. Lemming top 100 for '05, Top 10 PA prospect for '05

Biography:
Great size with 4.6 speed. Plays LB and FB. Benches 340 and squats over 600. Excellent hands, hard hitter, and devastating blocker. Will most likely be recruited as a LB. Excellent basketball player, averaging 17 ppg and 10 rbg.

Williams

Williams, meanwhile, is being listed among the country's top inside linebackers for 2004 by highly-respected Max Emfinger.

Emfinger gives the 6-2, 235 pound Williams a four-star rating which puts him among the country's premier 300 schoolboy gridders.

Williams, whose older sister Latitia is a basketball standout at West Virginia University, has received interest from some of the country's premier college programs including Oklahoma, Miami (Fla.), Michigan, Ohio State, Florida State and Nebraska as well as Pittsburgh and Penn State.

Only eight other inside linebackers get four-star ratings including three from Louisiana and one from Texas, North Carolina, Alabama, Maryland and South Carolina.

Offers from Pitt, WV, Iowa, Indiana and Akron. He also has interest in tOSU, scUM and PSU. He has no plans for summer camps.

[Buckskin86]

http://pittsburghlive.com/x/tribune-.../s_208783.html

Monessen star bigger and better

By Kevin Gorman
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Wednesday, August 18, 2004

His reputation as one of the WPIAL's most powerful players wasn't the only thing that expanded in the offseason for Monessen star Ernest "Mick" Williams.
The senior fullback/linebacker gained 20 pounds, prompting some to believe that, at 6-foot-2, 255 pounds, he was growing into a down lineman.

The Greyhounds are counting on former Monessen standout Jamie Reader, who played fullback at Akron and for the Philadelphia Eagles, to be a positive influence on Williams.

"He's taught me a lot of things, and there's more to come," Williams said of Reader. "He's someone to look up to. He's all ready been there, made it to every place I want to be. He didn't have to teach me. Just his presence helps."

Reader, an assistant coach for the Greyhounds, has become a workout partner and mentor for Williams. A handful of Division I schools have made scholarship offers to Williams, and Reader is helping him prepare for the jump.

"From a conditioning respect, Jamie is teaching him that, when you make the next step, there's a hundred guys like you," Monessen first-year coach Andy Pacak said. "And to get to the NFL, it's even more competitive."

Williams has been dominant on both sides of the ball since his sophomore season and figures to elevate Monessen to the elite of Class A this fall.

He combines incredible lower-body strength with surprising speed for someone his size. Williams can bench-press 340 pounds and squat 690.

"Mick's a flat-out monster," Pacak said. "Mick is an unstoppable force. If he puts his mind to it, I think Mick can do a lot of damage offensively and defensively. He's a ferocious hitter. If we keep people off him, he's going to be a force."

Williams recorded 85 tackles with three interceptions last season at inside linebacker. He doesn't know the particulars of the rest of his defensive statistics, but a brief glimpse of his game film gives you an idea what he is capable of.

"On my highlight tape, I had five sacks and three forced fumbles," Williams said. "But that's just the highlights."


The Williams file

School: Monessen

Class: Senior

Positions: Fullback/linebacker

Height: 6-foot-2

Weight: 255 pounds

40-yard dash: 4.7 seconds

College: Is projected to play either position in college or develop into a defensive lineman. Has scholarship offers from Akron, Indiana, Iowa, Pitt and West Virginia.

Joe Butler's Metro Index scouting report: "A powerful, powerful young man. A multi-position player who can play fullback or inside linebacker. Strong lower body. Excellent leverage. Can run hard. Nice height, weight, speed. He's a real find for somebody."

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/04233/364525.stm

A player to watch: Monessen's Williams creating a name for himself
Friday, August 20, 2004

By Mike White, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Like many teenagers, Ernest "Mick" Williams spends a great deal of time playing video games. When he plays football games, he goes to the "create a player" section and creates himself. He makes his video version big, strong and dominating.

So there you have it. Video games can imitate life.

On the "real" football field at Monessen High School, Williams is every bit of big, strong and dominating. That's why he is expected to have a big senior season and why he has a handful of Division I scholarship offers.

"There are times when he does things you can't teach," Monessen coach Andy Pacak said. "His natural strength and his natural nose for the ball is impressive, and he's a very aggressive kid. Then when you flip it around offensively, he is a very good running back."

Williams is a 6-foot-2, 240-pound linebacker and running back who became a varsity starter near the end of his freshman season. He scored two touchdowns in his first varsity start. On offense, Williams will play fullback and team with halfback Quinton Martin to make one of the most formidable running combinations in Class A.

Last season, Martin rushed for 923 yards on 105 carries (8.8 average) and Williams 866 on 101 attempts (8.6 average).

But Williams is being recruited by colleges to play linebacker. He has offers from Pitt, West Virginia, (his sister, Latitia, played basketball at West Virginia), Iowa, Indiana and Akron.

"I've always been a linebacker," Williams said. "Except when I was little and they tried to put my hand in the dirt and make me a lineman. I didn't like that."

Williams wants to be known as a linebacker. What he doesn't want to be known as is "Ernest."

"It's just a funny name," he said.

He got the nickname "Mick" as a youngster because his father, Ernest, was known as "Mickey."

"People said he had big ears," the younger Williams said.

Like Mickey Mouse?

"Yeah. But I don't have big ears," he said. "Mine are nice."

As a football player, Williams has done a lot of nice things for Monessen. One thing he wants to do is prove he has his old quickness. He ballooned to 250 pounds in the spring. He attended Pitt's camp and ran the 40-yard dash in 4.9 seconds. He ran it again and dropped it to 4.7.

"I almost cried when I ran it the first time," Williams said. "When I was smaller, the worst I had run it was 4.55 or 4.6. When I ran that 4.9, [Pitt coach] Walt Harris was there watching. But then I did better the second time."

Williams said he has gotten into better shape with the help of Monessen assistant coach Jamie Reader, a former Greyhounds running back who had a brief stint a few years ago with the Philadelphia Eagles.

Pacak would like Williams to keep his weight between 235 and 240 pounds.

"We're really pushing these kids in practices," Pacak said. "We run them every morning with different distances and sprints. And we do it before we start practicing."

Williams said, "We're running so much, I should gain 1,000 yards this season."

[LordJeffBuck]

Same offers and favorites; camped at Pitt; he has never been to OSU, but wants to visit.

Bill Kurelic on Ernest Williams (8/22/04)

[BuckStocksHere]

Is there a list of PA players interested in us - and we in them? I might have to go check out some of these games now that we seem to be a player in western pa.

[LordJeffBuck]

BuckStocks - here are a few players in western Pa who are interested in OSU:

Rivals No. 1 - CB Justin King, Pittsburgh Gateway
Rivals No. 6 - LB Andre Mathis, Erie Cathedral
Rivals No. 7 - WR David Harvey, Pittsburgh Penn Hills (not offered)
Rivals No. 8 - RB Shane Brooks, Duquesne (not offered)
Rivals No. 11 - FB Ernest Williams, Monessan (not offered)
Rivals No. 14 - QB Bill Stull, Pittsburgh Seton-LaSalle (not offered)
Rivals No. 16 - DE Christian Fleming, Erie Strong Vincent (not offered)
Rivals No. 34 - RB Mario Henry, Erie Strong Vincent (not offered)
Rivals No. 40 - DB Jayson White, Erie McDowell (not offered)

At this point, Mathis looks to be the best bet to end up a Buckeye; Brooks is a real talent, but has grades issues.

[BuckStocksHere]

LJB,


Thanks a mil. I'm not close enough to check out the erie guys...but any of the pittsburgh guys I could. Thanks again.