True freshman nose tackle Ian Williams was named to the All Freshman Team by the Football Writer’s Association of America.
Williams finished his first season with 45 tackles, including 19 solo stops and 1.5 tackles for loss. He played in all 12 contests and started the final two games of the season for the Irish. Despite playing primarily as a reserve for much of the year, Williams ranked sixth on the team in tackles and was the only player ranked in the top-12 in tackles on the team who did not start at least four games.
He was one of six true freshmen named to the defensive unit on the FWAA Freshman All-America Team and was one of 13 of the 28 freshman All-America selections who was a true freshman this season.
Williams was named to the CollegeFootballNews.com all-freshman third team and was an honorable mention member of The Sporting News all-freshman team.
Williams was very effective at one of the toughest positions for a true freshman to play in the 3-4 defense this year and is expected to take over as the starter in 2008 if Pat Kuntz moves over to the end to take over the start spot vacated by the graduation fo Trevor Laws.
The emergence of Laws down the stretch this season as at least taken away some of the sting of the decommitment of Omar Hunter earlier this month. While he was not dominan, he held his own against double teams which in itself is impressive for a true freshman. Throw in the fact that Ian registered 45 tackles (more than starting OLB John Ryan) and his performance in 2007 is even more impressive.
On a side note, am I the only one who thinks it’s BS for redshirt-freshmen to be included on all of these All-Freshman teams? There is a big difference between a true frosh and a kid who has spent an entire year in the weight room at a major division 1 school.
frank,
1. congratulations on another fine article and a big cheer for ian williams, who did not get many of those stars from rivals or scout.
2. however, charlie and corwin and their staffs saw ian’s talent( they never place too much stock in those star ratings, thinking correctly that they are better at talent and character evaluation than the people who award these stars at rivals and scout) and defeated urban meyer and others in the recruiting wars for ian.
3. for many years, notre dame players have been shafted by the people who vote for these awards, including brady quinn for the heisman.
4. now that we are forcing the disclosure of the names and backgrounds of these voters and forcing the dishonest voters to quit, we will see many more notre dame athletes get the awards that they deserve, just as we will see honest refs and tech reviewers replace the current
corrupt conference run systems.
5. deeply rooted corruption and dishonesty are not easily driven out of any area of human endeavor and college football and sports are no exception.
6. given the limitations on what charlie and corwin and their staffs can do about these problems, we are happy to be of assistance.
7. and just remember, a few short years ago,before the 2005 notre dame/pitt game, when you composed that immortal article called “the good, the bad and the espn”, ivan maisel and some of his crooked associates at the espn.com, illegally using disney corporate funds, were writing and posting articles stating, among many other things, that there was not one notre dame football player that could even made the 2 deep at usc and that notre dame football was dead and no longer had any relevance in college football.
8. ivan and his associates are much quieter on these subjects these days. fixing those problems has been fun, especially when, by accident, i happened to run into maisel( he is even uglier in person than he is in hisd picture posted at espn.com) and his wife in los angeles in 2006 when i was watching the notre dame mens’ basketball team beat then no 4 alabama.
9. ivan did not know who i was until i started using the exact words some of his nd bashing comments posted at espn.com and asking him how a notre dame basketball team with no athletic ability could possibly be beating no 4 alabama.
10. as soon as ivan made the connection between my verbal coments and the emails i had been sending him for a few years. ivan and his wife did not just leave that establishment, they fled without eating their dinners.
11. the economic payback in the civil courts is going to be very painful for ivan and his associates. neither disney nor espn nor abc is going to pay for their defenses in the civil courts.
12. in fact, after firing them, their employers will be paying me to sue them.
13. we do not enjoy taking people down economically in the civil courts just to collect scalps or money.
14. however, ivan and his associates have had plenty of warnings and opportunities to apologize and post retractions. they have not and watching them suffer on the witness stands and stripping them of their material possessions will be a great pleasure and many other people will think very carefully before they start any nd bashing or usc promoting campaigns in any media outlet that is owned by pubicly traded companies or companies that we can purchase.
15. wars, whether in the military or in business and other areas of human endeavor are always very nasty and no one ever won one by being nice about the fighting, once the peaceful avenues have been rejected by the opposition.
we thank you for your eloquence, for keeping things positive, and for not mincing words when fighting words are required,
bob gilleran