Top Miami football recruit gets three years probation

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Posted 7:38AM on Wednesday, July 7, 2004

FORT LAUDERDALE, FLORIDA - Top University of Miami football recruit Willie Williams was placed on probation for the second time in two weeks Tuesday under conditions that his attorneys believe will help him get admitted to the school. Williams, 19, could have faced up to a year in jail, but the prosecution didn't request any jail time. The 6-foot-2, 225-pound linebacker was named an All-American by Parade magazine and the No. 2-ranked high school player in the country by SuperPrep magazine after last season. ``I just feel so great right now,'' Williams said after the ruling. ``I feel magnificent. Words can't express what this means to me.'' Williams must perform 250 hours of community service while on probation for three years for violating probation for a store burglary and is banned from drinking alcohol and taking any unprescribed drugs. He'll be subject to random testing. Defense attorney Paul Lazarus said he's ``extremely optimistic'' that Miami will accept him because the judge withheld adjudication, which leaves Williams' record clean of his felony conviction. ``He's going to get a chance to pursue his education,'' Lazarus said. ``He wants to get his education and excel on the football field.'' Another Williams' attorney, Bradford Cohen, said he expects the university to hold an administrative hearing within two weeks to review Williams' past misconduct, which includes 10 arrests, and decide whether to admit him. Miami athletic director Paul Dee said in a statement that the school will make an admissions decision now that Williams has been sentenced. ``I don't believe you're a lost cause,'' said Broward Circuit Judge Michael Kaplan. ``I think you've got some promise and I don't think the thing to do is put you in jail.'' Williams told the judge that he understood he risks going to state prison if he violates probation again. As part of his probation, Williams must undergo a psychological evaluation and get any recommended treatment. Cohen denied Williams received preferential treatment, saying he believes the judge would have imposed the same sentence on any college-bound teenager. Williams, a graduate of Carol City High School in Miami, admitted violating probation imposed for a Pembroke Pines stereo shop burglary in 2002 by getting arrested during a recruiting visit to the University of Florida in January. He was placed on probation for a year last month in Gainesville after pleading no contest to a felony count of setting off hotel fire extinguishers and misdemeanor battery for hugging a woman without her permission. Kaplan said the crimes committed in Gainesville were ``the type of events committed by someone who is still immature.'' Lazarus blamed alcohol for the crimes, saying, ``His problems in Gainesville stemmed from the fact that he was given liquor.'' Williams has paid $1,700 to the hotel to cover damages and his room. A misdemeanor charge involving a bar fight on the same weekend was dropped with Williams agreeing to pay the man involved $1,300.