Interesting...
Hurricanes’ recruit Travis Williams is burning down the house
by Jorge Milian
It seems like all you hear about lately is why top high school football recruits don’t want to attend UM.
Travis Williams, a four-star linebacker from Norfolk, Va. and lifelong ‘Canes fan, is different.
Many of the nation’s elite college football programs offered Williams scholarships by the start of his senior season at Norfolk Lake Taylor High. But when the Hurricanes weren’t among that group, Williams had his high school coach send a highlight tape to UM.
If Miami wouldn’t come to him, Williams decided, then he would go to Miami. Three days later, UM coach Randy Shannon called offering a scholarship. Williams, who was eating lunch in the cafeteria at the time, ran back to tell his friends the news.
“Once they offered me, I already had in my mind that’s where I’m going to end up,” Williams said. “I didn’t send my film there for no reason.”
Williams was so certain of his decision that he orally committed to UM in October even though he had never set foot in the state of Florida. He made his official visit to UM last weekend and is staying in town to play for the USA all-star team in Saturday’s Team USA vs. The World game at Fort Lauderdale’s Lockhart Stadium on Saturday. The game, which pits top college prospects against players from several different countries, begins at noon and is free to the public.
“I want to get the feeling of going up against college-level people,” Williams said of his decision to participate in the inaugural event. “I’m a competitive guy.”
A bit mischievous too.
There’s no easy way to put this, but when Williams was a small child – 2 or 3 years old in his recollection – he burned down the family house. Williams said his grandmother was bathing his little brother when he began playing with her matches, flicking them into a closet.
Next thing everybody knew, “the house was in flames,” Williams said.
“Everybody ran out of the house,” Williams said. “I was hiding behind the couch. My grandma came back and saw me sticking my head over the couch and she went back and got me. I was scared.”
Williams said he was too young to get in trouble for the incident but his mother and grandmother “were really, really mad. We had just moved there. Everything was brand new.”
Williams is still dangerous but limits it to the football field. He registered more than 70 sacks in high school and is ranked by Rivals.com as the nation’s 14th-best outside linebacker prospect.
Although various recruiting websites have him closer to 190 pounds, Williams said this week he’s up to 200 pounds. Williams said he plans on arriving at UM this summer at 205 pounds “and letting the school put the rest of the weight on me. I’m not pushing the weight thing. I want to keep my speed up.”
Speed is his greatest strength, according to Williams, who claims to have run 40 yards in 4.38 seconds. Speed is also what initially attracted Williams to the Hurricanes.
“It’s a linebacker thing over there,” Williams said of UM’s reputation for fast ‘backers. “I think they liked the fact that I’m fast. I’m an athlete. I may not be so big, but they can make me into a linebacker. I have the instincts of a linebacker.
“Looking at the style they play, how that defense moves, I just see myself fitting in there perfectly.”
