Background:   Carnell Lamar Williams, son of Sherry Williams and Aaron Turner, started all four years for Etowah High School (Etowah County, Alabama), compiling 1,729 rushing yards and 23 touchdowns as a junior and 2,612 yards and 38 scores as a senior, while being named USA Today Alabama Player of the Year in 2000, earning high school All-American honors and being nominated for ESPN.com Offensive Player of the Year.  On defense, he recorded 78 tackles and six interceptions during his senior year.  Williams credits Mike Raita, a Birmingham, AL, sportscaster at ABC 33/40, with giving him the sticky nickname “Cadillac”, “He gave it to me my junior year in high school. He just said I ran smooth like a Cadillac. Every time he would see me running he would say “there goes the Cadillac.”

After his first two seasons at the University of Auburn were marred by injury, breaking his collarbone and left fibula in consecutive seasons,  Williams finally stayed intact for all of 2003 and set an Auburn single season record with 17 touchdowns and rushed for 1,307 yards on 241 carries (5.4 avg.).  In 2004, he earned All-American and All-SEC honors as both running back and return specialist, leading the team in rushing for the third time with 1,165 yards on 239 attempts (4.9 avg.) and 12 touchdowns, finishing the season with 1,718 all-purpose yards, the third-highest single-season output in Auburn history.

Despite having to share carries with, not one, but two current NFL backs (Miami’s Ronnie Brown and the New York Giants’ Brandon Jacobs), Williams capped off his collegiate career with 3,831 yards rushing on 741 carries (5.2 avg.) and 45 touchdowns, breaking the all-time Auburn career records of Joe Cribbs (657 rushing attempts) and Bo Jackson (43 touchdowns), while finishing second in total rushing yardage and his 5,033 all-purpose yards currently ranks second behind all-time leader James Brooks.  Williams also holds the distincion of earning nine SEC Player of the Week honors in his career, an all-time SEC record.

After coaching Cadillac in the Senior Bowl, Bucs head coach Jon Gruden made sure the Tampa Bay organization selected the Auburn all-purpose threat with the fifth pick overall in the 2005 NFL Draft.  Williams got off to a scorching start in his rookie campaign, rushing for 434 yards and two touchdowns in the first three weeks, setting records as the first rookie running back ever to have three straight 100-yard rushing games and the most rushing yards in the first three weeks of a career (formerly held by Alan Ameche of the 1955 Baltimore Colts).  A week four whammy seized Williams, with injuries to his ankle and arch on his right foot, limiting his output until late November.  Healthy once again, Cadillac had a strong finishing kick to the 2005 season, finishing with 1,178 rushing yards, six touchdowns and the Associated Press Offensive Rookie of the Year award.

What’s new for 2006:   The Buccaneers offensive line’s noticeable improvement, from being ranked 29th   out of 32 teams with 93.1 rushing yards per game in 2004 to last season’s respectable 14th overall ranking with 114.1 yards per contest, plus the meaningful reinforcments through free agency (Tonu Fonoti, Torrin Tucker) and the Draft (OU’s Davin joseph, BC’s Jeremy Trueblood), will bolster a now-healthy Cadillac’s statistical projections for 2006, making him a late-first, early second round choice in a majority of leagues.  Indeed, the Buccaneers offensive line was one of the most durable in the league in 2005, with all five starting the full 16 games last season, a first-ever event for the franchise, and the entire unit (RT Kenyatta Walker, RG Sean Mahan, C John Wade, LG Dan Buenning and LT Anthony Davis) will be back intact for 2006.

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