Mat Williams to Leave Team? [Archive]

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OmahaBound

07-25-2007, 01:04 PM

South Carolina freshman tight end Mat Williams has left school and his future with the Gamecocks is uncertain, according to his high school coach.

Williams, rated a three-star prospect by Rivals.com and Scout.com, has returned home to Fort Myers, Fla., Riverdale High coach Scott Jones said today. Williams began taking summer school classes and participating in workouts at USC this month with most of the other members of this year’s top-10 recruiting class.

“I think he and his parents are going round and round with what’s going on,” Jones said. “When he first got up there, he seemed to be OK. But apparently as it went on, he got a little more discouraged.”

Jones said Williams’ departure is not related to academics or a disciplinary situation. The coach said he was uncertain whether Williams planned to return to USC.

“I hope he would. I know the coaches want him to come back,” Jones said. “But he’s going to have to do some soul-searching.”

Attempts to reach Williams were unsuccessful.

Williams, a 6-foot-5, 226-pounder who caught 52 passes for 802 yards and nine touchdowns in three seasons, chose the Gamecocks over Louisville, Mississippi, Pittsburgh and several other schools.

“He had a lot of offers,” Jones said, “but this is the one he wanted to go to.”

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If this goes down we won't need to grayshirt any players, right?

palmettocock

07-25-2007, 01:23 PM

Well we brought in 32 I believe....if Williams doesn't go back, I think thats three from our class that are gone which brings us to 29. We're only allowed to bring in 25, so I would BELIEVE we would still have to grayshirt a few

WayzUp

07-25-2007, 01:37 PM

I heard that he just got real homesick and it got him wondering if he really belonged at USC.

I hope the various message boards out there who tend to rip players on knee-jerk reactions (Rivals board, Scouts, some others who are linked to this site) stay off this kid's case and give him no reason to stay down there and/or go somewhere else. Given a year or so to mature physically and get used to the system, he looked like a great fit at TE for us in the future judging by his highlight film.

Hope he gets his head straight, gets himself re-dedicated to what he really wants and comes back soon. If Ryan Broadhead could do it; going from a 2-star to the 2-deep in a year and a half, Mat Williams can certainly do it too.

Williams-Brice

07-25-2007, 01:39 PM

Williams-Brice

07-25-2007, 01:49 PM

I'm hearing that his parents want Mat to tough it out and come back up to Columbia, but they're leaving that decision up to Mat. The first thing I heard about why Mat left was due to being homesick. The latest I've heard (from my sources) is that he didn't feel like he could crack it here. Either way, I'd love to have Mat back. He signed knowing he wasn't going to play this year. I talked to his parents at the spring game, and they said they went into this knowing he would be redshirted. Thus, I doubt that Mat feels as though he can't cut it, so I'm actually going against my sources on this one.

I'm guessing that Mat is just homesick. If he is, then that's okay. That's a part of growing up, and it happens at every school with every type of student. There's no need to rip him for this, and there's no need to rip another program's freshmen when they run into this same issue.

Hopefully, Mat will realize the opportunity that's in front of him, and hopefully he'll get over his homesickness. The reality is that he would redshirt this year, but when he'll likely be on the field next fall. Our tight end group next year won't be very deep without Mat.

Williams-Brice

07-25-2007, 01:50 PM

By the way, the door is definitely not closed for Mat. He can come back if he wants.

JerryBeeds

07-25-2007, 02:31 PM

Kind of a puss move IMO. Hopefully his dad will straighten him out.