The Mario Williams Story - A Favorite

I always use the Mario Williams story to support the fact that recruiting high school players or drafting college players is not an exact science, but, most of all, is not the job of the media. Supposedly, Williams is the highest rated free agent in pro football today. My comments go back to when he was taken as the first overall draft in the NFL draft.

Charlie Casserly of the Houston Texans took him with the first pick. He did not take a highly rated QB from Texas, nor did he take a highly rated running back from USC. Both put up great numbers and were media darlings. Kiper and the other self annointed experts trashed Casserly and said that he should be fired. Williams was a DE at North Carolina State, with suspected work ethics, but great talent and very smart. Williams went on to make All-Pro in his first two years. Tremendous speed rusher off the edge. Bothof the other "media darlings" have already been traded once. The point is that the media's evaluations make for good stories, but should not be taken seriously.

My advice to young players coming out of high school is that rankings and evaluations, including mine, make for good stories, but should not be taken seriously. Internet sports media people get paid to write content. Internet sites need to get readers to their sites, so they provide rankings of high school players. Just because you are not ranked high does not mean that you are not a good prospect. The key is to work hard and show your stuff on the field in front of college coaches. Let the college coaches make the decisions, not guys

Remember the Mario Williams story. The college coaches are the only ones that matter. They are the ones making the decisions. Not Rivals. Not Scout. Not Tom Lemming. Not John McCallister. Guys like Charlie Casserly matter.