The rumor mill can now be
shut down in regards to Greenville running back Jonathan Williams.
Rose High School head
coach Greg Thomas confirmed Wednesday that the 6-foot-2, 195-pounder is
still firmly committed to the Pirates, despite an increase of attention
from other schools since the Shrine Bowl of the Carolinas in December.
Williams rushed for 106 yards and scored a touchdown in leading North
Carolina to a 23-16 win over South Carolina in that all-star contest,
earning him most valuable offensive player of the game honors.
“He started getting a lot
of calls after the Shrine Bowl,’’ Thomas said. “But East Carolina has
gone after him really hard for a couple of years now. (Offensive
coordinator) Coach (Steve) Shankweiler has really done a great job
recruiting him. So, yes, he is still committed.’’
Williams made the Pirates
his choice publicly on January 7 after making an official recruiting
visit to campus. He was scheduled to make other trips to Clemson and
North Carolina later in January. Both those schools had extended
scholarship offers along with Maryland, N.C. State, Rutgers, Virginia,
Virginia Tech and West Virginia.
Some of those schools
continue to call about Williams, but haven’t been able to lure him away
from the Pirates, according to Thomas.
Williams has been
recruited to play running back at ECU even though he played there just
one full season for Rose. But it was one impressive season.
During Rose’s run to a
fourth straight state 4-A championship Williams rushed for 2,804 yards
and scored 39 touchdowns. He capped his career by running for 93 yards
and three scores in the Rampants 26-12 triumph over West Charlotte in
the state title game.
Thomas ranks Williams
right up there with the best who have come through Rose, comparing him
favorably to N.C. State tailback Andre Brown. Brown set the state
single-season rushing record (3,479 yards) and was named state player of
the year by The Associated Press during Rose’s first run to the 4-A
championship in 2003.
“He has unbelievable
talent,’’ Thomas said. “He has the talent of an Andre Brown. He’s not
quite as big, but he’s just as elusive, just as strong and has the
speed. He has worked hard in the classroom, in the weight room and on
the field. I really think he’s going to do a great job at the next
level.’’
Williams could also be a
fine safety on defense if things don’t work out at running back, Thomas
said.
Safety is where Williams
began his career on the Rose varsity as a junior. He spent his first two
high school years at another Pitt County high school, South Central,
which is located in Ayden.
Thomas knew nothing about
Williams until he showed up at Rose during the summer before his junior
year.
“We didn’t know what we
were getting at the time,’’ Thomas said. “The kid just showed up at
summer workouts and enrolled at our school. We just sort of started
working with him from there.
“He worked hard, but we
had our starting tailback returning at the time, so we put him on
defense his junior year. I think that’s one reason not a lot of schools
knew about him last year is because he played so much defense and didn’t
carry the ball as much.’’
Williams still managed to
rack up 1,509 yards and scored 23 touchdowns in that junior season.
Defensively, he made 42 tackles, three sacks and an interception.
“If it doesn’t work out
for him at running back he could definitely play somewhere on defense,’’
Thomas said.
But Thomas is confident
that Williams can excel in the offensive backfield. He cites a play
Williams made this year against West Craven as an example of why he
feels that way.
“We were on our own 3-yard
line and it was third down,’’ Thomas said. “We ran him off tackle. He
broke about four tackles and went 96 yards for a touchdown. That showed
how strong he is and how fast he is. He did a lot of that for us this
year.’’
Williams is another
addition to a bevy of backs the Pirates are assembling for the
recruiting Class of 2007.
ECU also has verbal
commitments from Daronte McNeil from Northeastern High in Ahoskie, Ben
Herlocker of Charlotte Catholic High, and J.R. Rogers, a junior college
player at Bakersfield (CA) Community College.
