Derrick Williams

Notes: Williams, who will be one of the top prospects in the class of 2005, does everything for Eleanor Roosevelt. As a junior, he threw for 558 yards with seven touchdowns and rushed for 1,363 yards with 22 scores as a quarterback. He made three picks from the defensive backfield. For his junior-year efforts, Williams earned first-team all-metro, all-league, all-county, and all-state honors.

Coach Rick Houchens: “The thing that separates Derrick is his passion. He’s so relentless in the sense of trying to be the very best at what he does. The other thing is his character. You can’t be a great athlete without great character. Hand-in-hand, his passion and character are spectacular. Coaches ask me all the time who I compare him to, and I tell them he has the fire of Ray Lewis and the character of Darrell Green. He’s an ambassador type of figure. Those are some things that make him different. He’s also a guy that loves to have the ball with the game on the line.

“He plays quarterback because, in high school, if you have a player with his capabilities, you have to give him the ball. He’s a gamebreaker. It’s all about getting his hands on the ball. I think that ultimately in the NFL, he’ll be a wide receiver. He’s the kind of player who can take a quick pass and take it the distance.”