It’s quality not quantity for Williams
Panther RB’S average per run ranks among the NFL’S best
COLLEGES
UT-Martin senior forward Kendyl Wilson was named to the Ohio Valley Conference preseason women’s soccer second-team. The former Collierville High Star was third in the OVC last season with six assists and scored two goals. ... Second-year Rhodes football coach Dan Gritti welcomed 78 players and 35 newcomers to pre-season camp on Monday. The Lynx participated in shuttle testing and had their first official practice. Rhodes returns 19 starters from a 2011 team that finished 3-6. The 35 freshmen are the largest incoming football class in Rhodes history. ... Former Ole Miss and Arkansas head coach Houston Nutt will serve as an in-studio analyst for the CBS Sports Network’s college football coverage this season. He will be joined by former Florida and Illinois coach Ron Zook.
Mardracus Wade scored 19 points and Coty Clarke posted the University of Arkansas’ first double-double of its Italy tour on Tuesday night as the Razorbacks defeated Atletas of Lithuania, 84- 67 outside of Florence, Italy. Clarke earned his first start in Italy and responded with 10 points and 10 rebounds in 17 minutes of action. The junior college transfer was 4-of- 6 from the field and 2-of-2 from the free-throw line, grabbing five of his 10 rebounds on the offensive glass. BJ Young scored 12 points for the Hogs, who are 3-0 in Italy, Michael Qualls added 11 points and Jacorey Williams scored 10.
GOLF
Bobby Wyatt finished at the top in qualifying at the U.S. Amateur championship at Cherry Hills, and his hope is he’s just getting started. Wyatt, a junior at the University of Alabama, shot a 2-under 68 Tuesday at CommonGround golf course for a two-day qualifying score of 9-under 132 to snag the top seed heading into match play. He also tied the 36-hole tournament record for stroke play, accomplished previously in 2011 by Gregor Main and in 1994 by Hank Kim. The preliminary rounds whittle the field of 312 golfers to 64 for match play, which commences Wednesday.
TENNIS
Andy Roddick developed back spasms during his opening match at the Western & Southern Open on Tuesday, setting up a two-set loss that left questions about his health heading into the U.S. Open. Wild card Venus Williams survived a three-set opening match, another encouraging win coming off her Olympic gold medal in doubles with sister Serena. Later Tuesday, Serena Williams beat Eleni Daniilidou of Greece 6-3, 6-4, overcoming 42 unforced errors as she struggled to get readjusted to a hard court. Roddick, who has played through a sore shoulder this summer, developed a new concern as he lost to a player who was in the draw as an injury replacement. He got treatment for his back during the second set of his 7- 6 (4), 6-3 loss to France’s Jeremy Chardy, who replaced injured No. 9 seed John Isner. Roddick had won all three of his career matches against Chardy.
From Our Press Services
Associated Press
SPARTANBURG, S.C. — DeAngelo Williams still enjoys playing in Carolina’s offensive system even though his workload is far less than other starting NFL running backs.
Williams had fewer than 10 carries per game last season and his 155 carries were less than 27 other tailbacks in the league. That’s largely because of the presence of fellow running back Jonathan Stewart and athletic quarterback Cam Newton.
But Williams, the former University of Memphis star from Wynne, Ark., wasn’t upset in the least about that role.
“It’s easy,” Williams said of how he deals with sharing carries in Carolina’s offense. “You have to approach it as a team game.”
This year Williams’ workload could be reduced even more after the Panthers signed free agent fullback Mike Tolbert in March and re-signed Williams’ close friend, the younger and equally talented Jonathan Stewart, to a five-year, $36.5 million contract extension last week.
Panthers coach Ron Rivera maintains that splitting carries not only allows his backs to stay healthier, but it also makes them more productive as the season — and their careers — wear on.
It’s hard to argue that point after seeing the results last year.
After a slow start, Williams came on strong and averaged 5.4 yards per carry, second only in the league among running backs to Dallas’ DeMarco Murray (5.5).
Likewise, Stewart also averaged 5.4 yards per carry on 142 total carries.
And Newton, whose electrifying nature landed him on the cover of GQ magazine for the month of September, carried 126 times and averaged 5.6 yards per carry. As a team the Panthers finished third in the league in rushing.
This offseason they added Tolbert, who’s expected to be used as a blocker, receiver and running back.
Williams has welcomed him with open arms, knowing that Tolbert could also be the guy who opens a few more holes for him at the line of scrimmage and springs him for some long runs.
“I always welcome new talent and competition DeAngelo Williams, who was a workhorse at the University of Memphis, has split carries in all six of his seasons with the Carolina Panthers. because it makes us better,” Williams said. “He’s definitely a great fullback. I’ve seen him dancing on TV and YouTube. He does a great job and I think he’s going to add another element to our offense.”
What helps Williams’ perspective, perhaps, is that he’s known nothing else since coming into the league.
After an unbelievable college career at Memphis where he became Conference USA’s all-time leader in carries and left for the NFL as the then-NCAA Division I all-time leader in all-purpose yards, Williams has been sharing carries in Carolina with DeShaun Foster and Stewart since joining the Panthers as a first-round draft pick.
Only twice in his six seasons has he registered more than 200 carries in a season, the most by far, coming in 2008 when he carried 273 times and set a Panthers record with 1,515 yards rushing.
“It wasn’t easy to cope with coming from Memphis, where I was getting 20, 30 carries a game,” said Williams, who is Carolina’s all-time leading scorer. “I’ve gotten used to it. It’s a team game. There’s only one football on the field.”
Then he laughed, saying “Now had there been two or three footballs on the field, then I may have had a problem with not getting the ball more.”
What the Panthers will do on offense remains to be seen — they’ve even experimented with a few plays in training camp where Newton, Williams, Stewart and Tolbert are in the backfield at the same time, a throwback to the old wishbone look.
But it’s a pretty good bet that as long as Newton remains under center and Stewart is healthy Williams will be no threat to challenge for the individual NFL rushing title. And he’s OK with that. “I think our guys realize that what we’re doing and the way we do it is good for them, and if it’s good for them it’s good for the team,” Rivera said. “If our guys are getting anywhere between eight and 10 touches, 12 touches, and they’re effective, it’s great.”
While Williams’ numbers in terms of total yards remain fairly modest, he’s about to enter some legendary territory.
With four more carries Williams will join Jim Brown as the only two backs with at least 1,000 rushing attempts to average at least 5 yards a carry — assuming Williams doesn’t lose 48 total yards on those four rushes.
Williams didn’t know about that statistic, and called it “sweet.”
“When I get a chance to look back with my kids or my grandkids, I’ll be able to tell them, ‘Do you know Jim Brown?’ They’re probably going to say no,” Williams said with a laugh.