The Five Biggest Disappointments of 2006: #5 - Derrick Williams

I saw this over on BON and thought it looked like a good idea, so in traditional blogger fashion I'm totally stealing it (with his permission of course). So over the next few days I'll be breaking down the five biggest disappointments from the 2006 football season. But we're not all about negativity here, so we'll also be pointing out the five biggest surprises. Today we start with disappointment #5, Derrick Williams.

DWill broke onto the scene in 2005 with the promise of the savior capable of returning Penn State back to the short list of prominent football programs in America. Before breaking his arm against Michigan he showed the big play ability Penn State had been craving from a wide receiver since the days of Bobby Engram and Joe Jurevicius.

Unfortunately, that big play ability never materialized in 2007. Penn State moved him around from wide receiver to runningback to punt returner and even quarterback. None of it worked. Williams started the season well with a long touchdown catch against Akron, but that would be his only touchdown catch of the season.

In his defense, most of the plays he got the ball on were readily predictable. Short bubble screens, end arounds, and direct snap draw plays. Any time he went in motion it was obvious he was going to run the ball. When he got the ball on either a run or pass he never had room to run. They threw him some occasional deep balls, but he rarely came down with the catch. His most memorable play of the season was his reverse direction 75 yard punt return against Temple.