Ball Is Still in Williams’ Hands

Under dark clouds, through a chill wind, the USC Trojans straggled into Heritage Hall on Tuesday for a quickly scheduled meeting about

One of the veterans shrugged.

He didn’t know. His buddies didn’t know. Some of them didn’t want to know.

“Could be rings,” the veteran said. “Could be Mike Williams.”

There was a time -- try last month -- when the Trojans thought they couldn’t discuss one without the other.

But one loud gavel later, everything has changed, the courts issuing a ruling allowing the separation of this football church and its stately receiver.

The co-national champion Trojans met Tuesday not to continue their honeymoon, but to face this nightmare.

Williams, arguably the best player on a title team that would have been favored to repeat next season, is probably turning pro.

Barring a late argument from Pete Carroll, Williams is expected to announce his departure later this week.

He would be the second big-name player to take advantage of the recent federal court decision to overturn the NFL’s eligibility rules, which excluded players who are not at least three years beyond high school graduation.

It was the lawsuit of Ohio State’s Maurice Clarett that inspired the ruling, but it is Williams who could initially make more money from it, and whose college will be more damaged by it.

A couple of weeks ago, USC was looking at a preseason No. 1 ranking and two Heisman Trophy candidates.

Soon, both could be jeopardy.

If Williams leaves, their offense will be without any veteran receivers, and Heisman Trophy candidate quarterback Matt Leinart will be without any safe targets, and this superpower suddenly looks a bit human.

Not completely human, of course. Remember, the Trojans won this season’s title after losing their Heisman winning quarterback. They probably have enough Reggie Bush and Steve Smith and lanky freshmen and Norm Chow to overcome Williams’ departure.

But the frustrated buzz around the Trojan nation this week was, why?

Why does Williams need to be the pioneer?

Why can’t he realize that his value might increase if he stays?

Why does this team sport of football suddenly have to start resembling the star system of basketball?

Why couldn’t this party have lasted a little longer?

To which Williams could counter with different questions:

Why stay in school when you’ve already won a national title and would be considered one of the top three receivers in the draft?

Why stick around to risk injury or academic problems for a guy who really doesn’t like school?

Why doesn’t anybody ask a young golfer or tennis player to turn down a guaranteed $5 million?

“It’s a frontier we’re all working through,” Carroll acknowledged after Tuesday afternoon’s get-together.

It was a meeting in which players were informed about Williams’ status and options. But it was a meeting that did not include Williams. It has been that kind of week.

“We didn’t even tell him about it, he’s got other things to take care of,” Carroll said.

Williams, who just turned 20, has indeed been emotionally sapped since Friday afternoon, when he made his initial decision to turn pro.

He has since been inundated by calls from former USC players and reports from NFL general managers that he would be nothing more than a middle-first-round pick.

He has reacted with frustration, inexplicably recently ripping his teammates’ work ethic in the Daily Trojan -- his national championship teammates.

Then he criticized the school for allegedly releasing his grades, although nobody has seen those grades.

Williams is spent, and his mother, Kathy McCurdy, is exhausted. She and her husband Jack flew to Los Angeles last week when Williams made his decision, then returned to their Tampa home Friday night thinking everything was set and an announcement would be made two days ago.

She has since come back to Los Angeles for a day of meetings, returned to Tampa, and probably will come back to Los Angeles for any sort of announcement.

“This has been a very difficult process,” she said Tuesday. “I don’t think I’ve eaten since we got that first call last week.”

Williams has until Monday to finalize his decision, but Carroll said he is hurting himself with the delay, during which Williams is not working out with the team.

“It makes it difficult for Mike to prepare to show his best,” the coach said. “He has to get moving and help himself if he wants to go

So should Williams stay or go?

Carroll said, for him, the evidence is plain.

“I’m clear as a bell on it,” he said. “The evidence is overwhelming that Mike would better himself by staying.”

Carroll, a veteran of NFL war rooms, talked about the danger of a receiver turning pro in a year when scouts would not consider him one of the top two receivers.

Many feel that despite Williams’ size and athleticism, his rawness and lack of sprinter speed would downgrade him below Pittsburgh’s Larry Fitzgerald and Texas’ Roy Williams.

“These scouts don’t go on emotion, they go on numbers ... and they love the real fast guys,” he said. “And now we’re talking about hurting Mike’s value. Look at last year’s difference between the first receiver taken and the third receiver taken.”

Last year, the first receiver was Charles Rogers, taken second overall by the Detroit Lions and awarded a $40-million non-guaranteed contract with a $14-million guaranteed bonus.

The third receiver was Bryant Johnson, taken 17th overall by the Arizona Cardinals and given an $8-million contract with a $5.3-million incentive-laden bonus.

So the difference in guaranteed money was about $8.7 million.

If you believe Carroll’s advisory panel, that would be a pretty expensive coming-out party.

“But next year Mike could be the player in the country, the player in the draft, and he could be paid like it,” Carroll said.

“I think he’s the best player in America right now, and I’d just like everyone else to know it.”

On the other hand, $5 million is $5 million. And while Carroll is also paid to serve the interests of his entire team and program, Williams needs to worry only about himself.

Was there a more exciting player in college football last year? At 6 feet 5, 230 pounds, was there a more dominating player who seemed more prepared for the NFL?

If planning your roster for the next three years, would you really take Larry Fitzgerald over Mike Williams?

None of the scouts have officially checked Williams yet, so this entire affair remains filled with sensational predictions and wild speculations.

Only one thing is certain, and a bit sad.

On Tuesday afternoon at Heritage Hall, the USC Trojans did not discuss their rings.

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Bill Plaschke can be reached at [email protected]. To read previous columns by Plaschke, go to latimes.com/plaschke.