All-American accolades for ’Canes’ Willis
CORAL GABLES Before the Miami Hurricanes took the field for their regular-season finale against Pittsburgh last month, defensive coordinator Manny Diaz made it clear — Gerald Willis III deserved national recognition for the performance he’d put together this year.
On Monday, more of that recognition came.
Willis, a redshirt senior defensive tackle, was named to the Football Writers Association of America and AP All-America teams, earning a second-team nod behind Alabama’s Quinnen Williams and Clemson’s Christian Wilkins.
Last week, Willis earned Sports Illustrated secondteam All-America honors, and earlier this fall, he earned both second-team All-ACC honors and accepted an invitation to play in the Reese’s Senior Bowl.
Willis was a force for Miami’s second-ranked defense this season.
He started all 12 games and notched a career-high 59 tackles, four sacks, a fumble recovery and had 18 tackles for loss, the most by any FBS defensive tackle in America.
Those 18 tackles for loss, which ranked 14th overall among FBS players, were the most by a Hurricane since current Jacksonville Jaguars Pro Bowl defensive end Calais Campbell had 20.5 in 2006.
Willis’ performance came a season after he took a leave of absence from the Hurricanes and did not play in 2017, making his accomplishments more meaningful.
“Number one is as a person, he’s as solid of a human being as we have in our football program right now,” said Diaz. “Always does the right thing, hard worker and a guy that any young guy would want to emulate their career after. On the field, [he’s] a guy who has made the transition from a person who had talent — which is usually the thing you’re blessed with — in high school and then really learned the craft. That’s what I’ve seen with Gerald. I mean a lot of guys, their talent gets them to this level, but their desire to really learn the craft takes them to another level, and that’s what I’ve seen from him in the past 12 months. He’s a guy that every day has just absorbed everything that [defensive line] coach [Jess] Simpson has taught him and taken his game to an elite level.”
St. Louis to Shrine Game: Offensive lineman Tyree St. Louis, who started all 12 games for the Hurricanes, has earned an invitation to the East-West Shrine Game.
The senior showcase game is set to be played Jan. 19 in St. Petersburg.