He Doesn’t Regret Running an Out Pattern

Mike Williams’ football career potentially could be in limbo, but the former USC All-American wide receiver said Thursday that he remains at peace with his decision to forgo his final two seasons of eligibility to turn pro.

Williams announced in February that he would take advantage of the Maurice Clarett decision that made all underclassmen available for next week’s NFL draft. He also left school and hired an agent.

In late March, a three-judge panel of the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York scheduled an expedited hearing of the league’s appeal of the landmark District Court ruling. That hearing is scheduled for Monday or Tuesday.

If the court rules favorably on the NFL’s appeal, Williams, Clarett and junior college and high school players who applied for early eligibility will be blocked from the draft.

By hiring an agent, Williams also is ineligible to play college football.

On Thursday, after taping a segment for Fox Sports Net’s “Best Damn Sports Show Period,” a lean and fit-looking Williams said he is prepared for both scenarios.

“It’s one of the things that was calculated into the decision -- this could happen,” Williams said. “I was a man when I made my decision, and I’m going to be a man about it if it goes one way or the other. That’s pretty much the bottom line. I’ll be fine either way.”

Williams said playing in Canada or in the Arena Football League for a year was not an option.

He said that if the NFL and the NCAA close their doors to him, he will work hard to prepare for next year’s draft. “When that [NFL] combine comes around again ... I’m really going to be a freak, and then I’m really going to be a No. 1 guy,” he said.

Williams was in Los Angeles for the first time since late February, when he ended a week of speculation about his future by returning to his family’s home in Tampa, Fla., and announcing he was leaving USC after helping the Trojans win a share of their first national title in 25 years.

The 6-foot-5 Williams spent several weeks in Georgia working out and said that he weighs 226 pounds and was recently measured at less than 7% body fat.

Williams, who had an impressive workout for pro scouts in Florida last week, said he has been contacted by phone by several teams that will pick high in the draft.

This week, he met with NFL coaches and executives in Miami and Detroit. He visited with several USC players after he arrived in Southern California on Wednesday night, and worked out at USC and met with Trojan coaches on Thursday. He is scheduled to fly to San Francisco today to meet with representatives from the 49ers.

Williams said he is confident that the appeals panel will rule against the NFL and that he will be a high pick next Saturday, the first day of the draft.

“Come the 24th, I’ll be sitting in Tampa with some barbecued chicken ... just waiting for them to call my name out,” he said.

Williams said he had not given much thought to appealing to the NCAA to restore his eligibility if he is barred from the draft this year. Hiring an agent is a violation of NCAA rules and Williams has not attended classes this semester. Some have speculated, however, that if Williams appealed, the NCAA might consider the unique circumstances that led to his decision.

“We have done the groundwork so we can be prepared for all options,” USC Coach Pete Carroll said Thursday night in a phone interview. “There are some eligibility issues that have to be dealt with. He’s in good standing. He’s not in academic trouble at all.”

Williams said that if the NCAA were to grant him a year of eligibility, USC “is the only team I can see myself playing for.”

But he questioned whether it would be fair to come back after other receivers had worked hard to seize the opportunity created by his absence this spring.

He also said that he has received phone calls from other schools in the Pacific 10 Conference as well as schools in the Southeastern, Big Ten and Big 12 conferences.

“It would be hard to decide whether to come back to SC or not,” he said. “There [were] a lot of things that happened behind the scenes at the university.”

Asked if he could imagine the reaction from USC fans if he were to attend another school, Williams said “the Trojan family” was “die-hard” and had become spoiled by recent success.

“They’re very cocky and they’re very critical.... I don’t know if it’s because they don’t know how to treat the success that Coach Carroll has brought to the university,” Williams said. “They ripped me up when I left. ‘He turned his back on his teammates and he was this that and the other.’ ”

Williams, however, said he does have one regret about his decision to leave USC.

“The only thing that makes me regret leaving is when I watch highlights on the TV,” he said. “That cardinal and gold in the Coliseum. It’s like, ‘Hey man, that’s where it was at.’ I’ll never have that feeling about [being a pro], because now it’s a job.”