The jitters have never felt so fine

Bucs top pick Carnell Williams is nervous and excited during his first NFL rookie minicamp.

By JOANNE KORTH
Published April 30, 2005

TAMPA - The equipment manager handed Carnell Williams a helmet and told him to see how it fit, but the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' first-round draft pick just couldn't help himself.

He needed a mirror.

To see how it looked.

"I was like a little kid," Williams said.

In a week filled with firsts, Williams went through his first NFL practice Friday as one of more than 50 nervous players, including the team's 12 draft picks, at rookie camp at One Buc Place. Camp lasts three days, but Williams will always remember his first.

He was nervous.

He was excited.

He was anxious.

All eyes were on the player called "Cadillac" as he took handoffs and dashed upfield, his No.24 jersey flapping this way and that. Chosen with the fifth overall pick, Williams hardly could believe his childhood dream had come true.

"It still hasn't hit me yet that I got drafted," said Williams, an Alabama native who played at Auburn. "I'm a Tampa Bay Buc. To be the fifth pick and go to a team I really wanted to go to, and just be down here in Florida and in this organization ... I'm like, "Wow.' And it's a great feeling to have."

Williams' workday began at 5:30 a.m. and lasted well past 5:30 p.m. He attended meetings for offense, running backs and special teams. He had his first walkthrough, his first lunch, his first practice wearing shorts, a jersey and a helmet.

And he had his first NFL butterflies.

"It felt like the first time I stepped on the college field, nervous and excited," Williams said. "But once the older guys get out here, I'm going to be even more nervous."

Bucs coaches were equally excited to see Williams in his new uniform. Running backs coach Art Valero said Williams gives the offense a weapon it previously did not possess.

"He's just so sudden," Valero said. "There's been a lot of times when we'll go into the same type of practice and there will be seams we can't hit. They open and close so fast in this league that certain guys can get in them and get out of them, and certain guys can't. Today, even though it was a younger group of guys, he was getting in and out of those things to the point where you went, "Whoa."'

Though Williams is at the head of the Bucs' draft class, in many ways he was just one of the crowd Friday. All the players at camp have less than a year of pro experience, so everything was new.

"We've got a long way to go with him, obviously, to teach our system," Gruden said. "He's got to get to know the NFL. The defenses that he's going to see here are not anything like what he's seen on the college level. So there are a lot of things that he's going to have to learn and experience here in the next three or four months."

Williams, who shared the Auburn backfield with Ronnie Brown, said he had no trouble picking up the Bucs' offense, but knows he only scratched the surface of Gruden's voluminous playbook. With the Bucs, Williams will be expected not only to carry the ball, but also catch passes and dissect complicated blitz schemes.

"It is overwhelming, but at the same time I have a lot of guys around me to help," Williams said. "I'm coming back in May to get started with the older guys. I'm sure they're going to be helpful and bring me along."

While Williams embarks on his first business trip, his hometown of Attalla, Ala., is buzzing. Before he left home Thursday morning, Williams saw signs of support.

Literally.

"I mean, back there right now, it's crazy," he said. "Everywhere I go, I wouldn't say billboards, but on (different signs on) hotels it says, "Congratulations Carnell Williams, Go Bucs.' You see things like that everywhere around the town. They're very excited about me and they're looking forward to the season.

"Most of them are Bucs fans now."

[Last modified April 30, 2005, 00:51:14]