Taking responsibility: Willie Williams

I was reading this article about a former top football recruit out of high school. Its about Willie Williams and I'm glad to say after reading the article I feel that he is sincere and takes responsibility for his actions.

A linebacker who was once widely considered the nation’s best defensive prospect coming out of high school – in the same year Minnesota Vikings star Adrian Peterson was tabbed as the country’s best prep offensive player – Williams is less than a week removed from the NFL draft. But rather than sitting in the green room with other celebrated draft picks in New York City on Saturday, he’ll watch with a small collection of family, eating some modest home cooking and hoping that some team, any team, will give him an opportunity to play in the league. According to his college coaches, at least 17 NFL franchises have shown some level of interest. Whether any of them are willing to go further will be one of this draft’s underrated story lines.

Indeed, Williams’ career has been nothing like many projected. Once considered the next great heir to a Miami linebacker lineage that includes Ray Lewis, Dan Morgan, Jonathan Vilma and D.J. Williams, his arrival with the Hurricanes was merely the first stop in a spiral that ended in the NAIA. Along the way, Williams’ painful history became riveting Internet fodder. Websites like Deadspin delighted in his every misstep. Message boards buzzed with each development. Among the lowlights, which Williams openly discusses:
• Eleven arrests in high school, most for petty larceny or burglary.
• A journal in the Miami Herald which spilled wild details of recruiting visits and caught attention from the NCAA.
• A recruiting visit to Florida where Williams discharged fire extinguishers in a hotel and was questioned by police for “hugging a female student against her will.”
• A transfer out of Miami after failing to crack the starting lineup as a true freshman.
• A traffic stop and arrest for marijuana possession at Louisville that ended in his dismissal from the team.

Looking back on it, Williams is apologetic but accepting, saying immaturity and a lack of patience kept him from making good decisions. He admits that he sometimes wonders what could have been had he stayed at Miami, where he expected to bide his time behind eventual first-round pick Jon Beason at outside linebacker. Instead, he succumbed to friends and some family around him, who expected that he would immediately become a college football star.

Reading this, he really messed up what seemed a promising college and possibly a pro career. I just wish more of these guys would take more responsibility for their actions and admitt they messed up.