Southern California sophomore wide receiver Mike Williams, the nation's second best wideout this past season behind Pittsburgh's Larry Fitzgerald, is expected to forgo his final two years of eligibility and enter the NFL draft.
He will easily be one of the top five players taken.
On the surface, Williams' decision seems like nothing more than an extension of what Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett started in an attempt to allow underclassmen to leave the college ranks early.
But if you dig a little deeper, it's not about Clarett or Williams possibly violating the sanctity of college football and opening the door for student athletes to enter the draft.
It's about how recruiting rankings should not be kept as gospel. There's a viscous dichotomy that exists in that, sometimes the rankings are relatively right on target, but more often than not, they're way off. Rivals.com, widely regarded as the premier recruiting service, puts out its annual rankings of high school football players every year. Fans lose their minds on a daily basis as they watch prospects from around the country verbally commit to programs. Ninety-nine percent of those fans have never seen a single prospect play, opting to passively follow along on the Internet, yet complain when their team signs the No. 25 player at a position instead of the No. 3. Williams provides a perfect example as to why the rankings aren't always precise.
In 2002, Williams graduated from Plant High School in Tampa, Fla., and was ranked as the No. 23 wide receiver in the nation by the service.
Of the 22 prospects ranked ahead of Williams in 2002, Penn State's own Josh Hannum actually was ranked higher -- No. 18 -- as well as a dozen other current benchwarmers.
This isn't a knock on rivals.com because the service does a very comprehensive and detailed analysis on high school prospects that provides many college football junkies with offseason tidbits of information that keep them sane.
Rather, it is a knock on the college football junkies who hold Rivals' rankings in such high regard and go nuts over who is ranked where.
Hannum's skill has yet to be fully displayed on the field, but needless to say, Hannum is no Mike Williams. And that is the last time Hannum's name will be used in the same sentence as Williams. Williams has been a dominant playmaker since he was a freshman. This time next year, he will have an entourage of fans, millions of dollars and endorsements. As for Hannum, he will be fighting for a starting spot at Penn State and eating shrimp-flavored Ramen noodles in his dorm room.
Look at some of the other wide receivers that were more "highly touted" than Williams.
Notre Dame's Maurice Stovall and Miami's Ryan Moore were ranked No. 12 and No. 1, respectively. While both start for their schools, like Hannum they're not Mike Williams. But to be fair, sometimes the rankings are relatively accurate.
Clarett was ranked as the No. 1 fullback by Rivals in 2002. He enrolled a semester early at Ohio State University, played in nine games and went on to win a national championship. It would seem that Rivals was right on Clarett.
Hindsight is 20/20, but that doesn't hold water in recruiting.
