For Ryan Williams, draft selection brings a flurry of emotions

NEW YORK  — Ryan Williams wasn’t sure who the individual was who called him from the Arizona Cardinals, but it didn’t matter.

It didn’t matter either that the night before he endured a three-and-a-half-hour wait only to be passed over in the first round.

Nor did it matter that in just a few minutes after Williams heard from Arizona, it would be announced that the NFL lockout was back on after the league was granted a temporary stay against an injunction that had lifted the lockout for a day.

The only thing that counted right then, close to 6:30 p.m. on Friday night inside a side room at Radio City Music Hall, was that Williams had indeed received a call and it was from an NFL team that had promised him that if he was available in the second round at the No. 38 spot, they would take him.

The moment was finally here, one the Stonewall Jackson High School graduate had dreamed about for so long and had worked so hard for. So as his family and friends closed in around him with cameras ready to capture his reaction as a newly informed NFL draft pick, Williams’ eyes filled up with tears.  He couldn’t hold back anymore.

Still holding the cell phone up to his left ear, Williams buried his head into his right arm and cried.

It was an unusual reaction for Williams, who usually keeps his emotions to himself. In fact, the last time his mother Sharon recalled her son ever being that emotional was in 2009 when Williams fumbled deep in Virginia Tech territory with two minutes left in the fourth quarter against North Carolina. The Tar Heels recovered and were able to kick a field goal as time expired to win 20-17.

But Friday’s announcement that the Cardinals had selected him had a different tone to it. It set off a wave of feelings that expressed joy and relief at the same time. And the mood was infectious.

To Williams’ right, older brother Dontaye clasped his hands together in prayer and bowed his head. To Williams’ left, Sharon Johnson shed tears and comforted her son.

The ESPN cameras captured Williams’ tear-stained face as word was now out that the Cardinals had chosen him. But at that point, he didn’t care.

“Well, I was about eight years old when I knew what I wanted to do,” Williams said. “And I just turned 21, so that was about 13 years of hard work, blood, sweat and tears combined in about 10 or 15 minutes. So that’s what it was. It came pouring out. I don’t like crying. I don’t like showing people that I cry or anything like that, but today, it’s an excuse.”

The Cardinals were one of four teams that Williams visited. The other three were Washington, Atlanta and Kansas City. Williams also worked out privately for Miami, New England, Baltimore, Cincinnati and Denver.

He thought there was a possibility the Falcons might take him in the first round, but when they traded up to the No. 6 spot, he realized that was not realistic.

“Yeah, I can’t lie, I thought the Redskins would take me,” Williams said. “I thought the Atlanta Falcons, until they jumped 21 picks.

"I heard that the Packers needed a running back so I thought they would take me, too. And that's just my fault for listening to everybody and paying attention to those mock drafts and stuff.”

Williams said the Cardinals told him during his visit there last month that if he was available at No. 38, they were going to take him.

“I don’t know how many other players any team said that to, but they told me that, and I feel great, man,” Williams said.

Cardinals general manager Rod Graves and head coach Ken Whisenhunt were surprised to hear that.

“I can tell I’m not sure that anyone said that,” Graves said in reference to Williams’ comments about the organization promising they would select him at No. 38. “That would be highly risky I would think, but we’re glad we made an impression on him when he came to visit.”

Although the Cardinals have Beanie Wells, Tim Hightower and LaRod Stephens-Howling at running back, they felt they could not pass up drafting Williams.

“Let’s face it guys, we were 5-11 last year,” Whisenhunt said, “and when you take the best players that are available in your opinion, we put a lot of work into this, we feel like it makes us a better football team and that’s really what it's all about.”

Wells, who was the Cardinals first-round pick out of Ohio State in 2009, has been banged up, while Hightower was fumble-prone last season.

“[Ryan’s] going to get a lot of touches,” said Williams’ agent Malik Shareef. “He’s an every-down back and he’ll get plenty of chances to start.”

Williams had to wait until Friday to hear his name called. He was one of 25 draft prospects to attend the draft, which started Thursday with the first round.

He was disappointed he wasn’t chosen among the first 32 spots, but as is his nature, he bounced back with the expectation that he would be drafted in the second round.

Williams was generally regarded as one of the two top running backs available in the draft. Alabama’s Mark Ingram was taken Thursday with the 28^th overall pick by New Orleans.

Williams would have to wait a day, but the consensus was it would be a short wait once the second round started at 6 p.m.

“You know, they said Mark really was going to be the only one taken [in the first round] and he was. But I stand by my name as the No. 2 running back and the Cardinals took me. And I didn’t wait all that long on day two,” Williams said. “And all of my family and friends out here got another day in New York.”

That last remark drew an enthusiastic response from his entourage, which totaled 21 people. Besides Williams’ brother and mother, those in attendance included Williams’ former teammates from Stonewall Jackson, Shane Smith, Kareem and Keithen Washington, Eric Alloway and Rashaud Harris, Williams’ cousin Daniel Stevens, and Williams’ former Virginia Tech teammate Lorenzo Williams.

Loren Johnson, Williams’ head coach at Stonewall Jackson, and Tiara Tillery, a student at Virginia Tech and Williams’ girlfriend, also were there.

With a good portion of the “green room,” where the draft prospects back behind the stage, already cleared out by Friday since 20 of the 25 invited players were drafted Thursday, there was plenty of room for Williams’ family and friends to sit. They took up three tables. The night before, Williams and his supporters were further back in the room, but tonight they were right next to the entrance that led to the stage.

Keeping an eye on all this was Shareef and Josh Hare, who along with Rodney Thomas, formed Dimensional Sports Inc. based in New York City.

Elaina Watley was on the move as well. Watley, who runs her own company called Brand Infinite and does marketing and publicity for Dimensional’s clients, was busy especially on Thursday. With bad weather cancelling flights, she had to rearrange schedules for Williams’ girlfriend and best friend so they could arrive on time for the festivities on Thursday.

Prior to that, Watley oversaw Williams’ various activities leading up to the draft. After arriving Tuesday, Williams and the other invited draft prospects did an early morning segment Wednesday with “Good Morning America” then met with Goodell and attended a community event with kids. The draft prospects also rang the closing bell on Wednesday at the New York Stock Exchange.

In addition, Williams is one of five players who will be followed in a one-hour series produced by NFL Films called “Hey Rookie.” The program will track Williams and the others as they transition into professional football.

At this point, Williams has signed an endorsement deal with Nike and with three trading card companies, Topps, Panini and Upper Deck, but there are other deals in the works. His only expense so far has been purchasing a Range Rover.

On Friday night, Williams’ biggest struggle was with a bow tie. His mom tried to fix it first, but with no luck. So Loren Johnson came around and helped him.

When the announcement was finally made that the Cardinals had chosen him, Williams was handed an Arizona hat. He placed it on his head and then walked out on to the Radio City Music Hall stage where NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and former Cardinals cornerback Aenaes Williams, who announced Williams’ name, waited for him.

Williams hugged both of them and was given a Cardinals helmet to hold as he stood between the two men for pictures. After that, Williams’ family and friends came out on stage and joined him for a group shot.

Then it was off for interviews and a celebration dinner later that night.

What happens next for Williams remains unclear. Because of the temporary stay, Williams cannot talk or negotiate at all with the Cardinals. Usually, a week or two after the draft, teams bring in their rookies for a mini-camp, but that’s on hold as well.

Williams cannot even receive a playbook to start learning Arizona’s system.

Williams did say that on his visit to Arizona that the Cardinals gave him Wells’ number so Williams could contact him and pick his brain about what to expect as a running back there.

“I heard that he’s a really good guy, a good kid and heard he’s a team player and I’m part of the team now, so I hope he’s willing to help,” Williams said.

After things settled down Friday, Sharon Johnson took a moment to reflect on her son’s journey to this point.

Williams’ biggest fan and strongest influence, Johnson recalled that at age three or four how her son was already drawn to football. It was close to Halloween and she was in a store with him, preparing to buy him a costume. But Williams objected, saying he wanted one that was a football uniform.

“He threw a fit,” Johnson said. “There was this plastic helmet and when I put the helmet on his head, he was in another world.”

Williams made it clear a few years later to his mom that he was planning on making a career in the NFL his job. Johnson, though, made sure that Williams understood that academics still came first.

Williams obliged and kept his grades in line, but football was clearly his calling. He scored a touchdown the first time he touched the ball and with two exceptions, Johnson has attended all of Williams’ games.

So as Williams finished his press conference in the interview room and was whisked away behind a curtain, Johnson stood and watched with amazement all that had transpired. At that point, there wasn’t much more for her to say, except this.

“My son is in the NFL,” Johnson said.

David Fawcett is the sports editor of the News & Messenger. Reach him at 703-530-3911 or at dfawcett@insidenova.com