Carnell Williams

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"Cadillac Williams" redirects here. For the jazz trumpeter also known as Cadillac Williams, see Nelson Williams.

Carnell Williams

Carnell Williams in his college days at Auburn
Tampa Bay Buccaneers — No. 24
Running back
Date of birth: April 21, 1982 (1982-04-21) (age 26)
Place of birth: Gadsden, Alabama
Height: 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)	Weight: 217 lb (98 kg)
National Football League debut
2005 for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Career history
College: Auburn
NFL Draft: 2005 / Round: 1 / Pick: 5
Teams: Tampa Bay Buccaneers (2005-present)
Career highlights and awards
9x SEC Player of the Week AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year (2005) Diet Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Year (2005)
Selected NFL statistics (through Week 17 of the 2007 NFL season)
Rushing yards	2,184
Rushing average	3.8
Rushing TDs	10
Stats at NFL.com

Carnell Lamar "Cadillac" Williams (born April 21, 1982 in Gadsden, Alabama) is an American football running back for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the NFL and a former running back for the Auburn Tigers.

[edit] High school career

Williams started all four years while playing for Etowah High School in Attalla, Alabama, rushing for over 2,620 yards with 38 touchdowns as a junior and 1,729 yards and 23 touchdowns as a senior. He received Parade, PrepStar and SuperPrep All-America honors and was nominated for the ESPN.com Offensive Player of the Year Award. He was named The Gadsden Times Area Player of the Year as a senior and Etowah County Player of the Year as a junior. He was also the Orlando Sentinel and USA Today Alabama Player of the Year in 2000. He also played defense and recorded six interceptions and 78 tackles during his senior year.

Quoting Carnell, "The nickname Cadillac came from this guy named Mike Raita (Raita is a Birmingham sportscaster at ABC 33/40). He gave it to me my junior year in high school. He just said I ran smooth like a Cadillac. Every time he would see me running he would say: 'There goes the Cadillac...' It just stuck."

[edit] Collegiate career

Williams came out of high school as a very highly rated and very heavily recruited player. He originally committed to the University of Tennessee but changed when Auburn University football head coach Tommy Tuberville visited Williams personally at his home in Gadsden, Alabama and convinced him to play football at Auburn.

Williams moved on to Auburn University after graduating high school to play college football and major in Sociology. When the season started in 2001, he was a true freshman, and the #3 running back on the depth chart, but in the 8th game of the season he had a break-out game against the University of Arkansas and showed his outstanding talent and versatility as a running back. After the Arkansas game, Williams was promoted to starting running back. Williams didn't miss a beat and in the next game, the annual Deep South's Oldest Rivalry game against the University of Georgia, he led Auburn to an exciting victory as he amassed 179 yards on an Auburn record 41 carries in one game, and scored 2 touchdowns one of which was the game winner. Unfortunately for Williams, he was injured early in the bitter in-state rivalry game against the University of Alabama (also known as the Iron Bowl) with a broken collar bone and had to sit out the rest of the season. Before breaking his collarbone, Williams played in nine games and finished the season with 614 yards on 120 carries (5.1 avg.) and six touchdowns.

The 2002 season started out as a very impressive and promising season for Williams, but unfortunately, it also ended prematurely for him when he broke his lower left fibula against Florida and missed the last six games of the season. He was able to amass 745 yards on 141 attempts (5.3 avg.) and 10 touchdowns in only seven games prior to the injury.

In 2003, Williams was told that he would share the load at the running back position with fellow running back Ronnie Brown after Brown had a stellar season the last year after picking up the starting role at runningback when Williams went down with a broken ankle. However, when Brown pulled a hamstring early on in the year, he sat out most of the rest season, leaving Williams as the sole starting runningback. Williams went on to have a sensational season setting an Auburn single-season record with 17 touchdowns, and gaining a career high 1,307 yards on 241 attempts (5.4 avg.). The 2003 season was an important season for Williams seeing as it showed that he could stay healthy and still excel on the field on his own.

In 2004, Williams decided to return for his senior year at Auburn. This turned out to be a wise decision as he along with quarterback, Jason Campbell and fellow running back, Ronnie Brown and others, helped lead the tigers to an SEC Championship and Sugar Bowl winning season with a perfect 13-0 record and finishing a controversial #2 ranking team in the nation behind the University of Southern California (USC). Williams went on to earn All-American honors and was named to the All-SEC first team as both a running back and return specialist. He led the team in rushing for the third time (excluding the 2002 season when he got hurt and Ronnie Brown started) with 1,165 yards on 239 carries (4.9 avg.) and scored 12 touchdowns. He also finished the season with 1,718 all-purpose yards, the third highest single-season output in Auburn school history. Williams also threw one touchdown pass as a senior, against Georgia. Some argue that Williams senior year preformance was not as good statistically (4.9 yard rushing average for example, the lowest in his college career) as his others because of poor blocking, while others argue that it was because of all the defenses focusing on him specifically even before the game.

Williams finished his collegiate career with 3,831 yards on 741 attempts (5.2 yards per attempt) and 45 touchdowns, breaking the all-time Auburn career records of most rushing attempts by Joe Cribbs (657), and most touchdowns by Bo Jackson (43), while finishing second in total rushing yards in a career behind Bo Jackson. His career total of 5,033 all-purpose yards also ranks second in school history behind James Brooks.

Williams also has the distinction of earning nine SEC Player of the Week honors in his career, the most in conference history.

[edit] Collegiate statistics

Williams evades a would-be tackler at Auburn.

Note: Bold indicates Auburn University school record.

[edit] NFL career

Williams entered the 2005 NFL Draft and was drafted with the 5th pick of the 1st round by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He signed a five year contract with the Bucs worth $31 million while fellow running backs who were drafted ahead of him, including former Auburn University teammate Ronnie Brown, who was drafted 2nd by the Miami Dolphins, and Cedric Benson, drafted 4th by the Chicago Bears, held out of training camp seeking much more lucrative deals.

Jeff Reynolds of Pro Football Weekly predicted Williams was the rookie most likely to have the greatest impact in the 2005 NFL season, writing that "at the Senior Bowl, Jon Gruden was salivating over this kid. He pulled him out real early. Don't think that was a coincidence. He's the offense. Gruden has set it up, Cadillac or bust".

The first half of the season for Williams was an up and down affair. Williams rushed for 434 yards in his first three weeks, setting records as the first rookie running back to ever have three consecutive 100 yard games, and rushing for the most yards in the first three weeks of a career, a record previously held by Alan Ameche of the 1955 Baltimore Colts now the Indianapolis Colts. Williams was also named rookie of the week for the first three weeks of the season and rookie of the month for September. His shoes and gloves from week three were subsequently retired to the Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. In week four however, Williams came down with injuries to his ankle and arch in his right foot, causing him to miss two weeks. In the four games he played since, including the game in which he acquired his injury, Williams only managed to rush for a combined 82 yards on limited carries. However, in his next four games, he averaged over 100 yards per game (408). In his rookie season, Carnell has six 100-yard games (in 14 starts, he was out with an injury) and led all rookies in total rushing yards (1,178), rookie of the week honors (3), and finished second, behind Brandon Jacobs (another former Auburn football player), for rushing touchdowns (6).

On January 4, 2006, Carnell was awarded the Associated Press NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award. He drew 47 votes of a nationwide panel of 50 sports writers and broadcasters who cover the NFL. He beat the likes of former running mate Ronnie Brown of Miami, who received one vote. Tight end Heath Miller of Pittsburgh and offensive lineman Logan Mankins of New England also received one vote. On February 2, 2006, Williams was announced as the NFL Rookie of the Year Award winner based on the votes of over 1,000,000 visitors to NFL.com.

Carnell was unable to match the success of his rookie campaign in the 2006 NFL season as he failed to reach the 1,000 yard mark. His reduced production was attributed to poor offensive line play and an injury that nagged him all year.

In 2007, Williams suffered a torn patellar tendon against Carolina which required surgery and ended his season. Doctors are doubtful he can ever come back to full strength after this devastating injury. But Williams says that he has "no doubt" that he will play in 2008. But the Bucs have added Warrick Dunn, and retained free agent Michael Bennett, and also have Earnest Graham.

[edit] NFL statistics

[edit] Controversy

Williams was mentioned prominently in a July 14, 2006 New York Times article by Pete Thamel. [1], [2] [3] based on allegations by Auburn sociology professor James Gundlach of inappropriate independent study courses being offered by fellow professor and then-department chair Thomas Petee. Gundlach found Petee had managed 250 independent study courses in the 2004-2005 academic year including some by athletes, specifically noting 18 football players (only 7.5% of the students taking such courses from Petee). The University's internal investigation of the situation resulted in new policies limiting the number of independent study courses managed by a professor and in the resignation of Petee.[4]

For his part, Williams was highlighted as having taken only two classes in the spring of 2005 (having already completed his collegiate eligibility and preparing for the NFL draft) both independent study courses under the supervision of Petee.

[edit] External links

• CadillacWilliams.com
• Carnell Williams at ESPN.com
• NFL.com Player Page
• Pro-Football-Reference.com - Current Stats
• [5]
• ESPN's Will Carroll Says Williams Has Herniated Disks