When Mike Williams quit the Syracuse football team Monday, his draft stock took a nosedive. But according to one NFL Draft expert, he should still be selected anywhere within the second and fourth rounds.

Despite the star receiver quitting with four games remaining, Scout.com’s Chris Steuber still sees Williams as a top-end prospect. Leaving SU is a blow to Williams’ value, but a lot will hinge on how he performs in pre-draft workouts and interviews, Steuber said.

The nature of the draft process gives Williams a chance to redeem himself.

‘Quitting the team doesn’t really reflect well on him at this point, but if he goes to the scouting combine and mans up a little bit and tells them what happened, I think he may be alright,’ Steuber said.

Steuber said he watches an ‘obscene’ amount of film on a given week. On weekends, he barely sleeps. But through it all, he admits he has never seen a situation quite like this. That is, a prospect of Williams’ magnitude getting suspended an entire season, returning and then quitting midway through.

When asked if Williams cost himself a lot of money by ducking out with four games to go, Steuber was unsure.

‘Probably. That’s still yet to be seen,’ he said. ‘It’s tough to say. Quitting the team is going to hurt you. He’s still a productive player and sometimes teams judge you more on your talent than your character.’

And that’s where Williams’ hurt himself most. More than anything, this ordeal raises a huge red flag. In an age where team officials create Facebook pages to find dirt on players, SU’s former wideout certainly did himself no favors by bailing with four games to go.

Teams look for the slightest blemish.

‘They have to find all the dirt on all the players,’ Steuber said. ‘That’s what the draft process is half about. You have to find something wrong with somebody because everybody is not squeaky clean. Whether it’s an injury, a character flaw, a failed test in fifth grade, whatever it may be, they’re going to find it out.’

Before Williams quit, Steuber had him slotted fourth overall on his wide receiver rankings behind Louisiana State’s Brandon LaFell, Cincinnati’s Mardy Gilyard and Minnesota’s Eric Decker.

Oklahoma State’s Dez Bryant, Illinois’ Arrelious Benn and Kansas’ Dezmon Briscoe – all juniors – could also factor into the mix. Through seven games, Williams had 49 receptions for 746 yards and six touchdowns.

With a sharp performance at the annual NFL scouting combine, Steuber believes Williams could have climbed to the top of the second round. Not the first round, considering the glut of talent at the position, but definitely high second. Now, it’s unclear.

A lot will hinge on Williams’ individual meetings with teams and how he performs at the combine. Many draft prospects have been taken in the first few rounds despite character concerns. Steuber uses former Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett as an example. After a rash of off-field incidents, Clarett was still drafted in the third round by the Denver Broncos.

Many times, talent overcomes. Williams’ pro hopes are alive and well.

‘As far as skills and his ability to be a playmaker, he’s up there,’ Steuber said. ‘This could hurt him. It’s not going to help him at all. But if he does test out well, he should be fine.’

thdunne@syr.edu

Published on November 4, 2009 at 12:00 pm