In Arizona, Williams Is in Dreamland

Rodney Williams last year was playing football at Pierce College while taking 18 units and working full time.

Working the graveyard shift as a security guard at a Los Angeles warehouse, Williams slept during the day between classes--in his car--and dreamed of playing big-time college football before roaring crowds.

Today, Williams sometimes wonders whether he is still sleeping.

Now a starting receiver at Arizona, Williams on Saturday will be playing in sold-out Arizona Stadium (capacity 57,803) against USC.

“I always dreamed of playing Division I ball,” Williams said. “Now I’m here and it’s real good. Especially being in the [Pacific 10 Conference].”

Williams, 22, a sophomore from Palmdale High, certainly has arrived.

He leads Arizona with 14 receptions in three games, has two touchdowns and averages 12.8 yards a reception. In a 9-7 loss at Illinois last week, Williams caught nine passes for 128 yards, including a 17-yard reception for Arizona’s only touchdown.

His 179 yards are second among Wildcat receivers to potential All-American and former Alemany standout Richard Dice, who has nine catches for 207 yards. At the start of fall practice, Williams was relegated to fourth string, but with maturity on his side he quickly moved up the ladder.

“A lot of guys have speed, and most everybody can catch,” he said, “but mental mistakes is what separated us.”

If Williams is mentally tougher than many of his teammates it is not by accident.

As a teen-ager in Santa Monica, he ran with a gang until his mother, Gail Barton, moved the family to Palmdale. At Palmdale High, Williams had to overcome grade problems to graduate, but he didn’t meet NCAA academic standards and was not offered a football scholarship.

After playing baseball for only one season at Palmdale, Williams was drafted and signed by the Kansas City Royals. He lasted two years in the minors before he was released.

“I liked baseball, but I still had my mind on football,” he said. “I was focused but I was only 95% focused, not 100%, because I knew I could still play football.”

In 1993, Williams enrolled at Pierce and suffered a season-ending knee injury after two games. The following spring, Williams had to go to work to support himself and Rodney Williams II, his son, who was born in May.

Williams managed to balance his hectic schedule and catch 41 passes for 687 yards and six touchdowns for the Brahmas in 1994.

He says the opportunity to play for Arizona against USC is “cool.”

It is also pay-back time. The Trojans beat the Wildcats, 45-28, at the Coliseum last year. USC comes to Tucson 2-0 and picked to finish No. 1 in the nation by Sports Illustrated. That magazine predicted the same for Arizona last year, and the Wildcats wound up losing to Utah in the Freedom Bowl.

“Rankings don’t mean anything,” Williams said. “The game will be sold out and we’ll be pumped.”

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Pacific linebacker Vince Bruno (Westlake) said he laughed at and taunted his opponents during a 70-21 loss at Nebraska last season.

Reasoned Bruno: What else do you do when you don’t have a realistic chance to beat what would become the No. 1 team in the country by season’s end?

With the Tigers set to play in Lincoln again Saturday, quarterback Chad Fotheringham (Hart/Snow (Utah) College) will neither laugh nor taunt. He is trying to keep his starting job.

Fotheringham, a 6-foot-6 junior, was pulled in the first quarter of last week’s 56-24 loss at Fresno State after completing four of 11 passes for eight yards.

“I missed a couple throws I shouldn’t have,” he said. “I started off bad and got worse. But I felt really good about my first two games.”

Fotheringham has completed 46% of his passes for 275 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions. His backup, Nick Sellers, has completed only 43% of his passes but has four touchdowns in 37 attempts.

“I’m excited for the chance to play,” said Fotheringham, whose Tigers on Wednesday were listed as 54-point underdogs. “Really, all the pressure’s on them when they’re playing that much of an underdog.”

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Former Hart lineman Sant Sikand balked at signing a letter of intent to Syracuse last spring because he was hoping to get one from Washington. When Washington passed him over, and Syracuse signed someone else, Sikand thought he was left out in the cold.

The 6-7, 285-pound tackle was ready to enroll part time at College of the Canyons in late July when Syracuse came calling again.

Two players the Orangemen had signed did not meet NCAA academic requirements. One week later, Sikand was in New York.

“One of the hardest things was not having time to say goodby to my friends,” said Sikand, who is coming off knee surgery and is using ’95 as a redshirt season.

But he’s delighted to be at Syracuse, his No. 2 choice behind Washington.

“Redshirting is pretty tough,” he said. “You’re doing all the work and actually doing more hitting than the first- and second-string players. But at least the coaches are cool.”

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Fresno State receiver Brian Roberson (Sylmar) had a 35-yard reception and a 15-yard run for scores against Pacific. . . . Quarterback Cody Lee Smith (Crespi) has been sidelined at Kansas State because of illness. . . .

Delaware kicker Sean Leach (Nordhoff) tied his own record by making seven of seven extra points in a season-opening victory. . . . Sophomore free safety Shaun Williams (Crespi) is UCLA’s second-leading tackler with 22 in three games. . . .

Sophomore running back Tarik Smith (Oak Park) is California’s second-leading rusher with 99 yards in 17 carries. Cal senior receiver Iheanyi Uwaezuoke (Harvard-Westlake) could play this week against San Jose State. He has been out because of torn ligaments in his left thumb.