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Troy Williamson
GoGamecocks.com
Mixed NFL reception for former Gamecocks
Sydney Rice is an emerging star in Minnesota, while Troy Williamson hopes to bounce back in Jacksonville
Sidney Rice's emergence as a consistent wide receiver in his rookie year with the Minnesota Vikings sent another former USC player, Troy Williamson (below left), to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
File/McClatchy-Tribune
Written by BOB GILLESPIE
bgillespie@thestate.com
Posted on 09.07.08
Sidney Rice
Wide Receiver, Minnesota Vikings
HGT./WGT.: 6-foot-4, 210 pounds
HOMETOWN: Gaffney (Gaffney High)
NFL: Second season
USC HIGHLIGHTS: Broke USC record with 23 career touchdown catches; school-record 1,000 yards for each of his two seasons and two of top three single-season reception marks (72 and 70); 2006 Liberty Bowl MVP
NFL HIGHLIGHTS: Tied for second among NFL rookies in 2007 with four touchdown catches; had 60-yard TD catch vs. New York Giants; had 31 catches for 396 yards in 11 games
Troy Williamson
Wide Receiver, Jacksonville Jaguars
HGT./WGT.: 6-foot-1, 203
HOMETOWN: Jackson (Silver Bluff High)
NFL: Fourth season
USC HIGHLIGHTS: First-team All-SEC as junior, led conference in touchdown catches (7) and receiving yards per game (83.5); set school record for longest TD catch, 99 yards vs. Virginia
NFL HIGHLIGHTS: Caught 24 passes for 372 yards in 2005, third-most receiving yards for a rookie, and had 53-yard touchdown catch from Daunte Culpepper; had 18 catches for 240 yards in 11 games in 2007 including career-best 60-yard TD vs. Chicago
The two are hundreds of miles apart, but they maintain their friendship via e-mail and cell phone. A few times each week, Sidney Rice fires up his Mac Book in Minnesota and waits to see if Troy Williamson, in Jacksonville, responds.
“I try to catch him online, invite him to chat, just talk and see how things are going,” Rice said. “We talk as much as possible.”
They’ve done so since high school, when Williamson starred for Silver Bluff High and Rice was a two-sport standout at Gaffney. At South Carolina, Rice said he was mentored by Williamson, three years older, when both played wide receiver.
“When I came on my official visit, Troy was my host and I stayed with him; he took me in,” Rice said. “You could say he was like my big brother. I kind of followed him around.”
Williamson, somewhat wary in an interview, softens slightly at the mention of Rice’s name. “Me and Sidney have been friends a long time,” he said. “He’s a good kid. He’ll do good things for them.”
“Them” is the Minnesota Vikings, the NFL team that drafted both players — Williamson in the first round of the 2005 draft; Rice, a second-rounder, in 2007 — but ultimately embraced Rice while sending Williamson packing. It is another link between the two, though one that now separates them.
Rice, who turned 22 Monday, will start for the Vikings when they visit Green Bay for a “Monday Night Football” game that could go a long way toward deciding the NFC North. In Nashville vs. the Tennessee Titans, Williamson will start for the Jaguars, a team that experts say can challenge in the AFC South — if it can figure out its six-receiver situation.
Rice and former Chicago speedster Bernard Berrian are seen as “the answer” at receiver for the Vikings, who still are trying to replace Randy Moss. Williamson? He left Minneapolis after three underachieving seasons, unable to fill Moss’ shoes and saddled with a reputation for dropped balls, joining a Jaguars receiver rotation populated by others also looking for a second chance.
Now, Rice looks to the future, while Williamson tries to shed a disappointing past. Different scenarios — but with a common thread.
ONE STAR RISES, ANOTHER FALLS
At USC, Rice was a coach’s dream: a 6-foot-4 pass-catching machine with 142 receptions, a pair of 1,000-yard seasons and a school-record 23 touchdowns, all wrapped in a seemingly ego-free package.
The dream has continued in Minnesota. As a rookie, he caught 31 passes for 396 yards and four touchdowns, second best among first-year NFL receivers. He even threw a 79-yard pass on an end-around play in a game in which he finished with 94 yards passing.
The bomb went to a tight end; a 15-yard completion went to Williamson.
“Great ball catcher, great work ethic,” Vikings receivers coach George Stewart, a 20-year NFL veteran, said of Rice. “(Steve) Spurrier and coach (Lou) Holtz did a great job. He’s got the big body, and his speed is underrated.
“When he got here, I compared him to a Great Dane puppy, all legs and paws, all over the place. I told our staff, in four years, when he starts to fill in, he’s going to be the ‘big dog.’”
Rice’s emergence and the trade for Berrian made Williamson expendable; he was traded for a sixth-round pick. His departure had been coming — his numbers for three seasons, 79 catches for 1,067 yards and three scores, were what some believed he should produce every season — but what truly soured Minnesota on Williamson was the drops.
One Web site writer claims Williamson 25 dropped passes in 39 games (the NFL does not keep statistics on drops). Stewart believes Williamson, who was treated for vision problems — a specialist found his left eye was stronger than his right, causing depth-perception issues — began obsessing about drops, which exacerbated the situation.
Rice agrees. “Everyone drops passes, (but) unfortunately Troy did it at the wrong times,” he said. “I think it did get to him, thinking about it too much.”
The “last straw for the Vikings organization,” Stewart said, was in last year’s finale vs. Denver, when Williamson broke free deep — and had a pass bounce off his chest, a moment agonizingly preserved on YouTube.
“He was at least 30 yards behind (defenders), and that could’ve won the game,” Stewart said. “Troy’s a good kid, worked extremely hard to overcome that, but it was one of those deals ... A fresh start was the best thing for him.”
Williamson, who claims not to read “all that stuff,” does not dispute Stewart’s assessment. “I would agree,” he said. “There was a lot going on there that I left behind when I got down this way.”
Rice, while not happy to see his friend leave, understood. “It was good for him to get away from all the negativity,” he said. “He was in a bad situation, and I’m sure he’s happy to have another chance.”
It’s not as if Williamson walked into receiver nirvana, though. Sports Illustrated wrote “the Jaguars are primed for a deep playoff run, but they need a motley crew of unproven or underachieving wide receivers to stand and deliver on their promise.”
In an accompanying photo of the group, Williamson is No. 84 on the left.
“That’s about right,” he said. “A bunch of us (are) planning to do what we got to do to help this team. We pretty much can put this team over the top.”
Or not. Preseason speculation had Williamson, bothered by injuries and without a catch during the first three exhibition games, a candidate for the final cut. But against Washington, he had four receptions, including a 51-yard touchdown, and the Jags kept all six receivers.
“You saw the speed with Troy. He has rare speed, (and) he did some other things well,” Jacksonville coach Jack Del Rio said after the game. If Williamson felt he dodged a bullet, he didn’t admit it.
“‘Relieved’ had nothing to do with it,” he said. “That’s what I do; I make plays. I’ve done it before.
“It felt real good. I want to keep feeling that way.”
‘IT’S A BUSINESS NOW’
Rice, also bothered by injuries and a virus, caught four passes for 40 yards in the preseason. Of course, no one was speculating about him being let go by the Vikings.
“He’ll out-physical most defensive backs, get mismatches inside,” Stewart said. “The touchdown (in 2007) that impressed me most was against the (New York) Giants’ Aaron Ross — the ease with which Sidney closed on the DB, then made an athletic catch on the right boundary, and then broke the tackle and went in to score with it.”
That play covered 60 yards. Stewart said Rice outran the defense the final 20.
Working with the speedy Berrian has made both receivers better, Rice said. Berrian, in turn, calls Rice a “game-breaker” and a student of the game. “We stayed in and watched film (after a practice) and made sure we finished it,” he said. “It’s the little things like that, you can tell (Rice) wants to get better.”
Rice credits his offseason in Minneapolis, working out and eating right, for the addition of eight pounds to his frame and better speed.
“It’s a business now, and you’ve got to be ready to step up any moment,” he said. “It’s a job.”
Williamson said despite feelings about the Vikings, he will follow his friend’s career. “They wanted to bring in their guys, and I wasn’t one of (Vikings coach Brad) Childress’ guys,” he said. “The dropped balls, all that going on ...”
He paused, went silent — until asked about a Nov. 23 game between the Jaguars and his old team, and his old friend.
“Of course, I’m looking forward to that game,” Williamson said. “It’s always good to play Minnesota.”
Rice said he eagerly awaits the reunion, too. Until then, he and Williamson will monitor their computers and their cells, keeping an eye on each other. Like brothers do.
Reach senior writer Bob Gillespie at (803) 771-8304.
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