re: Classic Willie "William" Williams Lines

quote:

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“I feel great about today,” he said.
Then he shook his head and was silent.
Everyone waited.

“I’d like to ask everybody to give me five more minutes just to think about it if that isn’t asking too much,” he said. The crowd groaned.

“Coach, can I have five minutes?” Williams called to Frazier, who was now standing off to the side. Frazier came to the podium and said some words but nobody was listening. All eyes were focused on Willie.

“Why do you always have to be a character?” his mother said to him as he approached her seat. Williams began whispering with his stepfather and others. His stepfather and mother had shown up at the media center wearing Miami hats. Was that a sign?

The crowd waited. And waited. And waited.

Williams spoke briefly with teammates. Then he sat at a table with his family.

Camera crews were gathered around the table where Williams was huddling with family members, recording every micron of detail for future generations to see.

Finally Williams, with some urging from his family, got back up and headed to the podium.

“That wasn’t quite five minutes, it kind of took a little longer -- seven minutes,” Williams said. “I talked to some of the players, my family, I already had discussed it with my family…”

He paused and took a deep breath. “Basically…” He paused again. Another deep breath. He asked a family member for the Deion Sanders jersey. “Let’s see how it looks,” Williams said, his voice barely above a whisper. He put on the jersey and FSU hat. “I feel like I’m a throwback player,” Williams said as he put on the outfit. Then he took it off and asked for the Miami jersey as classmates applauded. He put on the Jerome Brown jersey. “Go ahead and say it,” one of Williams’ family members urged The crowd roared once he had the Miami uniform and hat on. “Jerome Brown would be proud,” one classmate yelled from the back of the room.

But then Williams began taking the jersey off. His classmates grumbled. That’s when Williams made his big announcement. “I’m gonna go to UM,” Williams said.

The room exploded.

Williams headed back to sit down at a nearby table to sign his UM papers. Camera crews and reporters followed him the whole way.

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