When it comes to hype and expectation The University of Memphisfootball team is like a five-star restaurant. However, when itcomes to the final product the Tigers are more like a some fastfood joints, one health inspection away from being shutdown.
To say one thing or one person is going to make Memphis footballbetter next year is absurd, but I can say, as I mistakenly did lastyear, that the pieces are there.
The main thing Memphis has going for them stands 70 inches abovethe grass at the Liberty Bowl Stadium. Of coarse it's DeAngeloWilliams.
Williams showed flashes of greatness last season in the smallamount of time he was allowed and now, without Dante Browncluttering up the backfield, Williams should get
the chance to prove himself to be, what I believe can be, one ofthe elite backs in college football.
Williams' numbers from last season are slightly skewed due to aconcussion, which limited him to playing in nine games, plus theone play at Ole Miss.
The most telling stat is his 6.6 yards per carry average, whichranked him 8th in the country overall.
Williams finished ahead of Willis McGahee, Maurice Clarett andLee Suggs and virtually every other big name back in the NCAAexcept for Penn State's Heisman Trophy nominated Larry Johnson.
In the seven games that Williams carried the ball, at least 11times he averaged more than 105 yards per game.
Williams' 86-yard touchdown run against Tulane, in which heeluded a defender he saw chasing behind him on the JumboTron, wasthe fourth longest in the NCAA last year.
Williams was also 30th in kick return yardage in the nation ashe averaged 23.3 yards per return.
Too bad not a stat for tackles broken because Williams wasrarely, if ever, tackled the first time he was wrapped up (unlikehis counterpart Dante Brown who seemed to fall down at the line ofscrimmage, defender or not).
Williams should help take the pressure off Danny "Record Book"Wimprine.
Wimprine broke or is on the verge of breaking every meaningfulpassing record in school history.
The Tiger hurler and Brett Favre look-alike set thesingle-season attempts (435), completions (235), yards (2,820) andtouchdown (37) records.
Wimprine could break every record (again), Williams could rushfor 1,500 yards and the Tigers will still suck if the defenseforgets how to tackle (again).
The Tigers were 101st out of the 112 Division I teams in thenation in stopping the run last year, allowing just under 200 yardsper game.
That's why Tommy West brought in Joe Lee Dunn, who may be JoeLee Done if he can't turn the 11 guys the Tigers called "a defense"last year into honest to goodness football players.
Good luck Joe Lee. You're a braver man than I.
