Freshman sensation

  • Kirby Arnold / Herald Writer
  • Saturday, November 17, 2001 9:00pm
  • Sports

By Kirby Arnold

Herald Writer

SEATTLE — Ten weeks ago, Reggie Williams stepped onto a college football field for the first time and could barely function through the shivers that crawled up his spine.

"That first play when I went out there, I was so nervous," said the 18-year-old freshman receiver, who a year ago was helping Lakes High School near Tacoma reach the state championship game.

That might explain the first pass that sailed through Williams’ hands in his college debut against Michigan on Sept. 8.

Forget being able to read the Wolverines’ defensive alignment. What Williams needed to grip was his own adrenaline before he could start catching passes for the Washington Huskies.

Two and a half months later, Williams experienced the emotional rush of his first Apple Cup on Saturday and handled it with the coolness of a kid who isn’t daunted by much anymore. He lined up against Washington State University, saw the one-on-one coverage the Cougars dared attempt and thought to himself, "Hmmm, this could lead to something big."

And then Williams had a day bigger than anything he’d ever done, and close to being better than anything anyone had accomplished. In the Apple Cup, it was.

Williams caught 11 passes for 203 yards, setting records in both categories in the UW-WSU series. His 11 catches tied for second place on UW’s single-game list and the 203 yards placed him fourth in the Huskies’ record book and broke the school freshman record.

Such an achievement didn’t exactly bowl Williams over when he was told about it.

"I did?" Williams said when told of the Apple Cup record. "I don’t really worry about records. I jut try to do what I can to help the team win."

From the moment the Huskies called Williams’ number Saturday, he did plenty.

WSU put one man on him and tried to jam him off at the line of scrimmage by giving him a jolt as he began his pass route. Oregon State did it effectively last week, holding Williams to just four catches for 49 yards, and WSU tried it again Saturday.

Wrong move.

"I definitely started drooling because I knew I could take him up top," Williams said.

When backup cornerback Erik Coleman lined up tight on Williams on the first play of UW’s second possession, he shook the WSU defender off enough to gain clearance for a catch-and-run that produced a 58-yard gain.

"When you are going to try to cover guys like him one-on-one without any help, you have to try to expose it," UW coach Rick Neuheisel said. "Their cover guys are very good."

Good but vulnerable, as Williams pointed out.

"One of their cornerbacks is just 5-7 or 5-8 (Jason David, who is 5-foot-9) and the other had a cast on his hand (Marcus Trufant)," Williams said.

At 6-4 and with hands that aren’t the Jello they were on those first few plays of the Michigan game, Pickett’s passes were easy pickings for Williams in the first half. He had nine catches for 158 yards by halftime before WSU cornerbacks changed their approach and backed off the line of scrimmage.

By the time Pickett threw to Williams again midway through the third quarter, the Huskies led 19-7 and the legend of a fast-maturing teen-ager already had been established.

"Reggie has all the physical skills to be one of the greats," Neuheisel said. "He has the work ethic to be one of the greats. The thing Reggie will have to deal with is the notoriety and the attention."

Williams says that won’t be a problem, as long as he keeps listening to Wanda and Reginald Williams Sr.

"Both my parents keep me in my place," Reggie said. "I don’t think it will get to my head. This is only my first year and I’ve still got a few years to go."

Besides his advice to remain humble, Dad also had a few other important words that his kid remembered well on Saturday.

"Big-time players play in big-time games," Reggie said. "It was definitely time today to pick it up."

Neuheisel said Williams is the best freshman he has ever coached.

"There’s not another one that comes to mind," Neuheisel said. "He’s pretty special."

By his own assessment, Williams says he has improved tremendously since the opener against Michigan, even though he recovered from two straight incompletions to catch four passes for 134 yards.

"I feel like I’m a lot better now," he said. "It’s a lot easier for me to read coverages, and I don’t get nervous like I did the first game."

No stage has been as prominent as the one Williams starred on Saturday, and his exposure will be even greater this week. The Huskies play Saturday night at No. 1 Miami in a nationally televised game at the Orange Bowl.

Reminded of that, Williams showed his teen-age side.

"That’s going to be exciting," he said. "I’ve never been to Florida before."

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