Glauber: Seahawks' Williams has epic comeback

To understand the magnitude of the Mike Williams comeback story, imagine if Ryan Leaf somehow had returned to the NFL after a disastrous career in San Diego. Or Todd Marinovich had come back with another team after flaming out with the Raiders. Or JaMarcus Russell somehow made it back after his own Raiders debacle.

Get the picture?

Williams, the former USC star receiver now playing for the Seahawks, was high on the list of all-time draft-day busts after his quick departure from Detroit, where he lasted only two seasons after being selected with the 10th overall pick in 2005. Thought of as overweight, inattentive and unwilling to work, Williams was traded to the Raiders before the 2007 season. But he lasted only six games before coach Lane Kiffin, his former wide receivers coach at USC, sent him packing.

Williams got another chance that year in Tennessee with former USC offensive coordinator Norm Chow, but he lasted only two games with the Titans.

His career looked to be over. The 6-5 Williams, 23, had ballooned to nearly 300 pounds - nearly 70 pounds over his playing weight of 235 - and seemed uninterested in the sport he had loved as a kid growing up in Tampa and then at USC. Williams assumed that was it.

"It was shocking to see what had happened to him," said Pete Carroll, who recruited Williams to USC in 2002. "I mean, here's a kid who was the best freshman in the history of college football, and then the best sophomore, and you wondered what happened, why it went wrong."

It was a stunning fall from grace for Williams, who caught 176 passes for 2,579 yards and 30 touchdowns in two years at USC. Even though he sat out the 2004 season because he'd been ruled ineligible for the draft as a result of a court case brought by Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett, former Lions general manager Matt Millen thought enough of his potential to take him with his first-round pick. But Williams quickly fell out of favor with the organization.

Now, after two years away from the game, Williams has returned. Given another chance by new Seahawks coach Carroll, he's 235 pounds again and is the Seahawks' leading receiver with 33 catches for 375 yards and a touchdown heading into Sunday's game against the Giants.

It is one of the NFL's feel-good stories of the year.

"It just took time for me to really evaluate things and answer the question, 'Am I willing to pay the price?' " said Williams, who has been nursing an ankle injury and has missed practice this week. "Once I was willing to do that, I put a plan in place and decided to come back."

As much as anything, the constant reminders from people who recognized Williams in the Los Angeles area convinced him his career didn't have to be over.

"Where I live, you can't dodge it," he said. "It's like, 'Oh, you're Mike Williams from USC. Man, you were great.' That's how you're viewed and people expect you to be. But I think it has to come from inside, too."

Williams also took inspiration from his two daughters, realizing that he wanted them to grow up with a sense of pride in their father.

"You want to feel like you've accomplished something, that you put your best foot forward," he said. "When I think about the past, it puts a bad taste in my mouth and it motivates me to do everything I can to put my best foot forward."

He has done just that. Whereas Williams once threatened to finish atop the list of all-time busts, he now tops the list for Comeback Player of the Year.