Williams Is Hoping Long Odds Won’t Stop a Short Quarterback : Football: Former Fullerton College standout pinning his chances for a CFL or WLAF tryout on a strong showing in semipro league.

Victor Williams still envisions a professional football career, but his dreams don’t have prestigious backdrops such as San Francisco or Buffalo.

He would settle for Saskatchewan or Barcelona.

When you’re a 5-foot-10, 180-pound aspiring pro quarterback, you learn to set your sights a little lower.

“I’m not even thinking about the NFL,” said Williams, a former standout at Fullerton High School and Fullerton College. “But I believe I can play in the Canadian Football League or the World League of American Football. All I’m looking for is a chance.”

That’s why Williams is playing semipro football, sort of a last-chance league for players who don’t want to let go of their dreams.

Williams is a quarterback for the Oklahoma City Twisters, who are ranked 12th in the 80-team Minor League Football Alliance. The team is coached by Jimmy Rogers, a former NFL running back who knows a little something about little guys making it big.

Rogers is only 5-10 and 190 pounds, but that didn’t stop him from a seven-year NFL career with the New Orleans Saints and San Francisco 49ers.

“I can relate to Victor’s situation,” Rogers said. “People have a tendency to look at your size and downgrade you, but you have to beat all odds in life. You have to go be successful, and then say, ‘I told you so.’ ”

Williams, a 23-year-old who is married and has three children, has been successful to this point.

He helped Fullerton High win the Southern Section’s Central Conference championship in 1985 and led Fullerton College to an undefeated (10-0) regular season in 1988 by completing 153 of 243 passes for 2,036 yards and 16 touchdowns.

The Hornets, ranked No. 1 in the J.C. Grid-Wire national poll, lost a bid for the national championship when they fell to Bakersfield, 30-24, in the 1988 Potato Bowl. Bakersfield scored the winning touchdown with 26 seconds remaining.

“We were undefeated until the last 26 seconds of the season,” said Williams, who is third on Fullerton College’s career passing list behind his brother, Richard, and Dave Wilson. “That was the biggest game I’ve played in my life. It felt like I was at USC or something.”

Williams never got a taste of major college football. He was recruited by two Division I schools, Liberty University and Northern Arizona, but opted for Northwestern Oklahoma State, an NAIA university.

In two years as a starter, Williams completed 327 of 675 passes for 3,774 yards and 28 touchdowns and set 13 school records. He graduated last spring, joined the Twisters this summer and has torn up the semipro ranks in two games.

Williams threw for 189 yards and four touchdowns in a 66-0 victory over the Plano (Tex.) Cyclones July 20 and dazzled about two dozen relatives and friends by completing 14 of 19 passes for 213 yards and three touchdowns in a 49-14 victory over the California Bears in Santa Ana Stadium Saturday.

“I didn’t go to a major university, and my whole career I’ve been underestimated,” said Williams, who has six brothers and three sisters. “Even though this is semipro, we have a lot of talent, and this was my chance to show my family that this is for real.”

Now, Williams must convince pro scouts he’s for real, a difficult task for a quarterback whose style doesn’t seem to match his size.

Like most small quarterbacks, Williams relies more on instincts and accuracy than arm strength. But unlike most small quarterbacks, he is not a Frank Tarkenton-type scrambler.

He’s a straight drop-back passer who throws the long ball with touch, but he is not the most adept at avoiding the rush.

“My strength is the thinking part of the game,” Williams said. “If you know where to put the ball, you don’t have to have a John Elway-type arm. Teams blitz me more because of my size, but I’ve always felt comfortable in the pocket. I’m sure if I were 6-6, it would help, though.”

Rogers believes Williams has a legitimate shot at playing in the CFL or WLAF because he has a strong arm, strong leadership qualities and an ability to dissect defenses with quick decisions.

“He’s like Archie Manning--a commander,” Rogers said. “He knows what he wants to do and he’s able to relate that to his teammates. He reads zones and coverages well and adds a lot to the offense. The only thing that hurts him is his height, but he makes up for it in so many other areas.”

Williams hopes to earn a tryout with a pro team, but he’s realistic about his chances. He said he’ll play one season with the Twisters, and if he doesn’t catch on with a pro team within a year, he’ll quit football, return to Orange County and try to put his mass communications degree to work.

He’d like to go into broadcasting or coaching, something that pays a little more than his current job as a cashier in a general store.

“I’ll try to do this (football) while I’m still young,” Williams said. “I have a degree to fall back on, so I have nothing to lose. But if I don’t make it, I’ll probably come back home because I have a family to support.”

That’s not easy to do these days with a wife who doesn’t work outside the home and three kids--3-year-old Victor and 20-month-old twins Aaron and Renee.

“We’re barely getting by--it’s month by month,” said Williams, who lives in the Oklahoma City suburb of Del City. “But it’s not too difficult knowing it’s a short-term thing. We have a three-month season. That’s a twinkle in the eye of a lifetime. That’s how we look at it.”