Wideout KJ Williams was supposed to be the¬†first 4-star recruit to come to Syracuse¬†in a long time. He was expected to play right away and become a difference maker for the Orange offense as early as this season.¬†With the recent news¬†of his academic ineligibility, we know this won‚Äôt be the case, at least for the time being. Williams will not enroll this summer, making him ineligible for the upcoming season. In the wake of the O’Bannon case and other NCAA criticisms, it’s a reminder there are still academic pitfalls for these student-athletes.
Where does this leave the SU receiving corps? Syracuse is facing with a ‚Äúdepleted‚Äù group without him. This leaves the Orange with mostly the same receivers it had last year. Jarrod West will be option number one.¬†Ashton Broyld will likely be option two after transitioning to wide receiver full time. Jeremiah Kobena remains as a possible deep threat every once in a while. Quinta Funderburke may become a big factor depending on his development. Alvin Cornelius could be become a red zone target. As an H-Back, Brisly Estime could provide a spark as well. The Orange didn’t need Williams to come in and be a 1,000 yard receiver off the bat, but it would have been a nice addition to this crew.
Did his academic concerns scare other schools away? Hard to say. He was certainly one of the highest-rated commits the program has seen in some time, so maybe there was a reason he fell to SU. Many felt like the commitment of his cousin A.J. Long was a big factor in him coming. But reportedly, he had offers from schools like Michigan, Arizona and Mizzou. So it seems like enough big-time schools trusted him to make the grades.
When will we see Williams? Hard to say. He could be back on the SU campus as soon as next fall, or he may never play for the Orange. It comes down to him. Williams could go to a prep school for a year and work his grades up, not losing any eligibility. Or he could go to a junior college, like Wayne Williams did by going to ASA in Brooklyn. That would subtract years he could compete at SU. Playing at a JuCo level would likely keep Williams out for two years, while a prep school could take as little as one semester before Williams is allowed to enroll in SU.
Williams had an opportunity to be a big-time wide receiver for the Orange, and that will have to wait. He needs to decide what route is best for him. For this season, the Orange will move on without him.
Posted: Seth Goldberg
241 responses to “Answering Syracuse’s Questions Surrounding KJ Williams’ Ineligibility”
Others knew, SU knew and most importantly HE knew that he wouldn’t qualify!! Total bad move on staff for this on. Good move on others knowing its a wasted signing!! Major gains this year in recruiting, but this is a black eye. Depth also was hurt. Stop the gambles!! Also non qualifiers might not be done yet!
DO NOT FORGET THE KIDS OF PSABUSEDU!! THE NCAA DID!!
Terry no one wants to hear your negative comments, go somewhere else and post them. Things are turning around for Cuse nation, we don’t need your negative attitude. And no one has forgotten what happened at Penn St why don’t you leave it alone. I think the kids that were abuse don’t want to be reminded.
Terry,
Keep posting.. I enjoy your “side of the story” and really would hate the site to fall to the “Homers”. Everyone on the site should be welcome to have an opinion. Civil…intelligent posts should be welcome!
I haven’t forgotten the PSU/NCAA cover up….or the kids….why would any of us?
Dan.. No one wants to hear your opinion of who belongs on the site!
are you kiddin.. the cuse bringing in some descent receivers, still feel we will be ok there.
I agree… Williams appears to be special..but their kids…Shafer is doing a great job of recruiting and we can’t do it all in one year…I think the receivers are more than serviceable…I’m more concerning about the QB/RB’s….I’m not sold! We have to go with what we got?????
@Dan;
If anyone has a bitch about Terry and his comments it’s me. It use to be that Terry and I went head to head in debating any subject relating to Syracuse Football. It’s his right to say what he wants to say here. It’s called Freedom Of Speech and quaranteed to all of us by the United States Constitution. I’ll stand with him no matter what he says, I might not agree with him but I’ll fight to the death to protect him. So I agree with “Cuse17”,if you don’t like what he say’s,move on, because I know when the rest of us have something that needs to be said we’re all kind of to the POINT and never back away from what we say.
Terry’s comment about what happened to the kids at Penn ST is his way of letting everyone know what happened there and how hypocritical the idiots are that run the. NCAA
What I find disturbing about the whole Penn St mess is,how come the guy that reportedly saw Sandusky molest that child in the shower didn’t lift/raise a damn ounce of courage to help that child? If it was me that saw what was happening,I would have probably killed the SOB.
My point is Dan,I stand with Terry on all that he’s posted here over the years and if I don’t like what he says I’ll debate him to the bitter end.
Have a nice 4th of July weekend.
KJ Williams and Treevon Prater wasn’t going to be the whole team. I agree with “thesackster” we have some great WR’s coming here. It’s going to be real hard to keep a 6’5″ kid like Enoicy off the field. I’ve always said if the upper classmen aren’t producing on the field put the under classmen in that want to play.
Syracuse is not going to miss KJ Williams this year. Whatever he decides to do will give him time to think/reflect on what should have been done during his time in high school and might come to the conclusion thart he should have tried a little harder.
Williams hurts,sure but there re others that are coming into the team able to impact the passing game. Ishmael, Custis Phillips, Enoicy and Corey Cooper. One or more could provide the big play ability.Who knows if Williams will become another lost cause like a kid named Preaster a number of years back that disappeared from the college scene entirely.
What’s to debate?? Terry gets mad at HCSS because two recruits don’t qualify for school this year?? This is D1 football, should a coach check out a recruits grades etc?? Possibly, more importantly he should see that he has good moral character, willing to grow as person. Remember some of these kids come from rough environments. Support them rather than attack them and say they shouldn’t be given a chance to come here and play football
Yeah I agree with Cuse17 and Ron that Terry gives us valuable balance we can’t find on some Cuse sites because of too much rah rah bs and it gets dull…a fan is a fan positive negative or lie me in balance with reality! Lets eep it real and this yr our recruits look good(not great) and able to raise the level of play to upper tier ACC level with 1 or 2 more similar classes…I hated loading up on JUCO’s and caught some flack from 1 or 2 but this ain’t SU dot.We now we can ‘t get um all but need our share like this yr.top 40 classes are great for now.
@Dan;
What’s to debate? first I would agree with Terry if Shafer and crew knew about these two having trouble in school and wasn’t going to qualify,then it was all a waste of time and money and we could have gone after a couple more that would have qualified.
You have to be kidding when you say the two have good moral character. If that were true then the two would have studied a little harder in high school to qualify.
You’ve completely missed Terry’s argument. These two recruits took two scholarships away from two recruits/students that deserved it more. I’m not stupid and blind and I can’t speak for Terry but I feel the same way about him. We both know where these kids come from,but the one thing you forgot to mention is that these kids were probably pampered from their Pop Warner days always getting told how good they were and don’t worry because of the color of your skin and talent as a player and where you come from would automatically qualify you for any college in America. People need to wake up and start educating these kids,because football is not going to last forever.
What we don’t need in 2014 is another Dexter Manley playing at Syracuse University.
Get the picture here.
One other thing Dan you ought to know,I not only support the football players at Syracuse University but all of the student athletes that represent the University throught the year. I get a chance to meet and talk with players from all of the mens and womes teams.
If you were a regular on this site you’d find that Terry and a lot of others here support and love the Football program.
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Ron
Grades have nothing to do with moral character, you don’t know either one of these players. They may have learning disability, possible not good test takers. Lots of different possibilities. And I’m sure with your contacts with all the athletes you can get the information.
@Dan;
I know all to well about being labeled “LEARNING DISABLED” by your local high school. My youngest son had that label put on him at a very young age and my wife and I fought the wars with him until he graduated. I almost know the Education Dept rules and regulations by heart. I also know what rights these kids have when it comes to taking a test. I’ve been there and done that.
What you probably don’t know is that Syracuse University has an excellant program already in place to handle this type of student. I’ve seen the program in action and for me Dan there’s just no reason for any kid to be coming out of high school failing to meet qualifying admissions to a college.
With these two not qualifying tells me,that they both were listening to the wrong people going through high school and or they were just to damn lazy to do anything about improving the quality of their lives.
On another note Dan,look I’m not looking for an argument with you. I do wish you’d take the time of trying to understand where a guy like Terry is coming from. His point of view is different than most,but if you understood his comments instead of condemming him and asking that he leaves this sight. Well your going to hear from guys like me. The points that he makes is usually on the money,it took me 4 years to figure that out.
I hope you enjoy the rest of your 4th of July weekend.
The only thing I said to Terry was to post his NEGATIVE comments somewhere else. I never told him to stop posting on this page. Read the words that are posted. Their is a difference between the two just have to read, don’t add words that aren’t posted.
I for one agree with Dan that Terry’s dark clouds with no silver lining are tough to look at, especially so often. Closest I’ve seen to contrition was when he acknowledged that Acosta might not be as bad a hire as he thought. I accept that. I think it should have been more, as Terry was pretty harsh not just to me and others, but to coach Acosta. The guy has thus far been a GREAT hire and Terry wanted him strung up because he came from a small school. My point in bringing this up, beyond just begging him to think before bashing, is to point out that hires like Acosta are symbols of where we are in the process of building. For this program to land four star recruits, we need to take some chances. Like Acosta, like Williams, like Shafer and McDonald. We aren’t Bama that can pluck any hot assistant, or four star recruit. I respect your right to an opinion, but Terry please take your time and apply some perspective. And while I’m at it guys, give a 17 year old kid a break.
Love how you experts truly believe williams was going to contribute as a true Frosh. If he had issues with character, discipline, academic and work ethic in high school, how do u think he was going to play this fall? If he did, then syracuse needs to join the Mac.
Man the love out there is amazing!! Thanks CUSENICS!! LOL!
Ron’s right!! I’m pissed because the two slots are empty now. SU is hurting in quality over all depth!! That will bite SU in the coming years. But really Other players I heard before these two might not qualify!! Watch out Darth Vader Dan you haven’t heard enough from me on this issue if that happens!!
As for Darth Vader Dan and Malone sorry I’ll still spill out the truths. Malone is a NJ guy so don’t slap his people. Acosta is building in NJ for sure, but his coaching is very suspect from sources in that state. Unless HCSS just keeps him for recruiting and that ain’t going to happen!! Another I hope I’m wrong!! With Vader Dan from where ever he came crawling from welcome to the blog. We can see your negativity of a different kind of breed!
Its amazing how many comments I get from people on my PSABUSERU statement. I have been retired from the field that deals with human suffering from young to old for over 30 years. Guess what the day after I retired they called and asked for help. They missed my wit and wisdom I guess!! So I’m volunteering for mankind. What happened at PSABUSEDU and the super minority few(like Darth Vader Dan)that say “just get over it”. Those young boys will never get over it. Even with intense counseling they’ll have to find a way to deal with it. To me and the facts prove my theory is PSABUSEDU from the very top to the very bottom knew what was happening for YEARS. So many kids got abused unnecessarily!! The A$$ that did it and the whole program that knew about are guilty. SMU was $$$$ issue and legal issues. PSABUSEDU was a child rape issue. What is worse?????????????????????????????. These kids other than suing have no real way to hit back at PSABUSEDU. Hell the NCAA enabled PSABUSEDU with giving them back schollies!! The public from my understanding of them has to areas where you do not F#@* with(excepts Vets) and that the young and old. They are very vulnerable. Both of these peoples need our help to get through. They really can not defend themselves. So I put the message out there!! They ask me when will you stop it Terry. I do not know!! But as long as PSABUSEDU still goes on and denies its deeds(and it has) I will post that small demonstration against one of mankind’s worse behaviors=Child Rape!!
Ron and others thanks for your words. They do mean a lot to me!! You are stuck with my spewing at times, but discussion is always a fans best drink!!
DO NOT FORGET THE KIDS OF PSABUSEDU!! THE NCAA DID!! AMEN!!
I guess Dr. Gross picked the wrong Head coach. Clearly Terry should be the guy to run football team.
Terry I do love NJ, guilty as charged, but it has very little to do with my defense of the Acosta hire, and your response is indicative of what all your “haters” are saying. We needed to get back into NJ for recruiting, and we hired a lower division head coach to do so. One who has lots of experience in that region, including at the High School level. You blasted that we were going after inferior hires, and were being small minded. Miami does it all the time, most recently with Ice Harris. WVU just did it too in order to shore up their Fl recruiting. Chuck Daley was one of the greatest NBA coaches of all time and prior to the Pistons, he had no high level experience. Now you say, if I can paraphrase; OK he might be a good recruiter, but he’s still probably a bad coach!? Your reason for this is you heard it from someone? The guy went from HS to college from nowhere, has a good track record, coached at the NFL level (which is where McDonald met him) but your sources give you cause to spew negative (notice, not truth, because you know no more about his truth than I do, and both of us less than the guys who hired him).
That is my only issue Terry. There have been occasions we’ve seen eye to eye, but not on the dark cloud you represent, and the baseless statements about guys showing their worth for our Syracuse University.
As to the rest, KJ took no spot that wouldn’t have been a late fill of an unheralded diamond in the rough, and we all know how that would have gone over with you. Taking risks is shared between the school and the recruit. There is no such thing as a sure thing. Let’s hope these kids can go the route of Corey Cooper, or even Ashton Broyld, or the MANY other SU recruits who did not qualify, but fought to make it and had success on the hill.
@Terry;
I consider the two of us as ‚Äúfriendly adversaries, ‚Äúwho when the time is right will go after each other tooth and nail. Our differences are few. We’re never going to agree on politics,your always seeing the glass as half empty where as I always see it as half full. I’m considered a people person,I like meeting and talking to different people. I just don’t see how anyone can throw a 17 or 18 year old kid under the bus as easily as you do without meeting them just because they don’t have a 4 or 5* rating accompany their names on a website. I’m sure that coach Shafer and crew know what they’re doing and we as fans should let them do it without all the fuss.
Last year we had a LB out of NJ by the name of Jason Cabinda that decommitted and went to PENN St. That still hurts for me because I thought he was a special kid that could have unlocked the doors to the recruits in NJ.
This year we had another player Davonta Davis who was one of those N/R recruits that you didn’t like decommit and since has become a highly regarded 3* player that schools like ‚Äú
Alabama, Cincinnati, Clemson, Florida, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Florida State, Georgia, Illinois, Louisville, Miami (Fl), Mississippi State, Ohio State, South Carolina, Syracuse, UCF, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin” want.
let’s face the fact that Shafer was thrown head first into the fire when Marrone took his staff and left for Buffalo. Not a one of us knew anything about any of the coaches that Shafer had brought in,that caused us to second guess him. I feel Bobby Acosta was one of the best hires that we’ve ever had at Syracuse. He’s opened the doors to NJ and is going after recruits from NYC/LI areas. Isn’t that what we’ve all wanted?
Terry, I will stand with you on your right to free speech. I wish at times that you would/could change your style when making you opinion known.
Have a nice day kiddo,maybe we’ll see each other at a game this year,just letting you know I’ve invited Russell to a game,I hope he makes it. That would be really interesting if the three of us were ever to meet and talk some football,wouldn’t it?
I apologize for babbling here Terry.
Apart from expressing my dislike for the overall negativity, my main point Terry is that you make it very hard to understand your point of view, let alone support it, because it is always wrapped in such caustic language. You have and may continue to make valid counterpoints, but your analysis is lost in the rhetoric.
@Terry;
I think we’ve said enough and I hope that we’re done dumping on Terry.I’m going to change the subject here fella’s and get a little personal with him.
How’s the summer going with the grandchildren Terry? My 12 year old granddaughtes 12U team is taking my wife and I places that we’ve never been. They took the District 9 and Section 2 Championships to advance to the NYS 12U Fastpitch Softball Tournament being held out in Dunkirk NY. Play starts in the double elimanation tournament on Wednesday and concludes on Sunday with the championship game.
Her 12U team will play a double header tomorrow night over at the Gillette Road complex in North Syracuse. My 16 year old granddaughter is playing on a 19U team and has a double header under the lights over in Rome NY. They keep my wife and I busy and I know Terry your’s must be doing the same.
Enjoy the time with them kiddo. I learned long time ago it’s not going to last forever.
Guess KJ’s elibility has been usurped by the discussion about Terry.
Malone is on point as far as Terry is concerned. Everyone is definitely entitled to their opinions. That includes Terry and those who feel like some of his viewpoints are a bit over the top. He is the ultimate passionate fan, but that passion should be balanced with some semblance of fairness and less of the caustic language.
In my honest opinion, I feel like there is a generation/culture gap in terms of some of these issues. Harder to relate to some of the youngsters. I am about 12-13 yrs older than the typical recruit, but I can relate to them and where they come from in some respect. I feel that sometimes, a few of the posters are very quick to judge the characters of young HS recruits based on some very limited access and information about them. This judgment often comes without the desire to try to understand them. There are even times where a guy’s character/judgment is questioned because he chose NOT to come to SU. Now I consider that line of thinking asinine and unfair. I didn’t care that much about where my own HS friends/classmates at Brooklyn Tech chose to go to school, so I’m not going to get overly emotional about where a kid I don’t even know chooses to go.
When I read some comments it almost throws me into the position of advocate instead of fan. Heck, reading that Jerome Smith…a man who was graduating and had been a redshirt jr, was so called selfish because he didn’t come back to use up all of his athletic eligibility was the tipping point. Reading that assertion was mystifying. I could not follow that logic.
As for the Penn State thing, I can’t knock Terry’s decision to run the tag line about never forgetting the abused no more than I can knock jewish people for never forgetting the holocaust or some of the older members of my family who will never forget Jim Crow segregation.
To swing this back to KJ: The bottom line is that if KJ Williams, SU wr prospect, were Jonathan Hawkins, regular joe blow student…very few of us would actively care about him making the grade. But Jonathan and KJ are in the same exact academic plight and would likely benefit from the same resolution. Academics need to be emphasized more, but when a guy does not make the cut, he shouldn’t be ostracized and cast away. He should do what countless students(whether athletes or otherwise) do. They go get the academic assistance they need. The reality of the situation is that not every student in HS…or even college is going to make the grades. Some guys take a harder road. Look at Jay Bromley. The dude wasn’t overly concerned about school in HS, but eventually got himself on the ball. Our hope as SU football fans(and good decent human beiings) is that a guy like KJ will seek and obtain the academic help he needs. Not because he only so he can score tds on saturdays, but because when his ability to play football is no longer there, the man can still lead a productive life.
@BK SU FB Fan;
Amen,great post,AMEN.
I was wondering where my partner BK SU FB Fan was. Always like your collected and clear thoughts.
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