Mike Williams Scouting Report

Mike Williams is certainly a quality wide receiver, but it is his off the field behavior that will drop his stock down. After leading the team with 461 receiving yards as a freshman and catching 60 passes for 837 yards and ten touchdowns as a sophomore, Williams was suspended for the entire 2008 season for breaking the Academic Integrity Policy. Williams was quick to apologize and all seemed well heading into 2009. All had gone well in 2009 through the first six weeks of the season while Williams was single-handedly carrying the offense. He had 45 receptions for 712 yards and six touchdowns. Nobody else on the team has over 150 receiving yards, and then the trouble started. Williams was suspended for Syracuse's game against Akron for unspecified reasons. It does not really matter what the reason is and the fact that Williams once again lost the trust of Coach Doug Marrone is a bad sign. At 6-2 and 204 pounds, Williams has a great combination of size and speed and that will keep him pretty high on some draft boards. However, some teams will simply drop him off their board entirely due to the off-field issues. He can be a great NFL wide receiver, but he better do a good job during interviews with NFL teams if he wants to get drafted in the first few rounds. 1/24 Update: Williams has yet to prove that he is still in game shape and his off-field issues are still a problem as well. He will need to have some quality workouts heading into the draft if he wants to be selected in the top three rounds. If he cannot separate himself from some of the other receivers in this class, he will likely fall to the fourth or fifth round. That is where a team will feel more comfortable giving him an opportunity to prove himself on and off the field.