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.
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06-29-2004, 01:07 PM
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