It was more than four years ago, but University of Memphis football coach Tommy West remembers it like he remembers a great round of golf.
"We're waiting on one more," he told the gathered media four years ago as the signing date of high school seniors began.
That "one more" turned out to be DeAngelo Williams, a small, speedy tailback from Wynne, Ark.
Williams barely cracked the top 25 list of high school running backs that year. Now he has moved past Ricky Williams into the NCAA's all-time leader in all-purpose yards.
"I don't think any of us knew the impact he'd have," West said. "I've been around some good players in my time, but there's never been a player that I've enjoyed watching more than DeAngelo."
This Saturday, Williams will run through the inflated tiger head at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium for the last time.
It's a fact not lost on the precocious senior.
"I've been trying to stay away from that question for a while and I've done a pretty good job, but now it's a few days away from us," Williams said, pausing. "I know I'll be very emotional Saturday. I get choked up talking about it because I know that will be my last home game.
"(I'll miss) all of it really. Nobody knows how it feels to run out of the tiger head with all those fans at the Liberty Bowl cheering."
All of the sudden, Williams' last home game is more than just a farewell tour.
With their 24-22 win over Southern Miss in Hattiesburg, Miss., this weekend the Tigers are a win over Marshall in the season finale from going to its third-straight bowl game.
A win would move them to 6-5 on the season and make them bowl eligible.
"If you look at the big picture, we still have an opportunity to go to a bowl which was one of our goals before the season started," Williams said.
A few weeks ago the prospect of a third straight postseason seemed bleak. The Tigers would have to win at Tennessee, which it nearly did, or win at USM, something it hadn't done since 1984.
"It's great to still be alive for a bowl game," said offensive guard Andrew Handy. "There's a whole lot of teams who are in their 11th game and aren't alive.
"When you have no other choice but to come out fighting and it's either get it or go home, then you have no choice but to come out and put it all on the line and that's what we're going to do."
One of those teams that isn't alive is Marshall. The Thundering Heard lost at home to East Carolina last week, effectively eliminating them from postseason eligibility.
This year's senior class is the first class West ever recruited to The U of M, and in their time, they've changed the perception of Tiger football, erasing a 32-year bowl drought and setting plenty of records along the way.
Much of that transition, West said, was made easier by No. 20.
"I don't know how you could put it into a sentence or a paragraph what he's meant to this program," West said. "As a head coach, when your best player stands for what you do then it becomes easier to sell yourself. He stands for everything I want this team and this program to be.
"I really don't want to think about him being gone to be honest with you."
