Man, I miss this kid.
(Link above to the video…silly WaPo video player won’t let me embed it)
I wish GV had given us a little shoulder shimmy after his jersey went up.
At the request of one of my favorite Maryland fans (hi Mike!), I give you the Jordan Williams backboard shattering dunk from his high school days in Torrington, CT.
“What’s a Terp?” the hecklers asked.
BOOM. Jordan Williams answered. As he does.
This clip’s a little slow to start but be sure to pay attention starting around :16.
At the :20 mark, there’s an adorable snapshot of Jordan Williams as a high-schooler. That baby face! He looks so young. Say it with me now: Awwwww.
Cut to the actual video, where he looks like a man among boys. And he dunks like one.
Well, with the glass that ends up all over the court, I’d say he dunks more like a stegosaurus among boys but that’s splitting hairs.
Bottom Line: Dude.Is.A.Beast.
Stay tuned for the Keep Jordan Williams Campaign coming soon. And by “campaign,” I mean series of posts, photos and really stellar arguments for why he should give us Terps fans another year. It’ll be worth the wait. Trust me. And while you’re waiting, head on over to the Sports in Stilettos Facebook page & let me know what you think about Jordan Williams’ future at Maryland.
My face may or may not have looked pretty much like this when I logged onto Twitter on my lunch break and saw this friendly little post from (former) Terp Jordan Williams.
In case you missed it, Williams has hired an agent and will remain in the NBA draft.
This is a huge blow to a Maryland team that likely would’ve been much improved next season now that its young stars have some more experience.
It might be a little easier for Terps fans to take (ok, maybe not) if they knew Williams would make an instant impact at the next level. Can’t hate on a guy wanting to get started with his career, but I haven’t read anything that projected him as a first or second-rounder, and from what I saw, he had a bit of room to continue to improve his game in college.
Part of me wants to channel Pete Carroll circa his USC days, when he publicly criticized Mark Sanchez’s decision to go pro after just one season as a starter, and call it a misguided, stubborn, even stupid decision. (Maryland coach Gary Williams has said in the past Jordan should maybe think about staying, so maybe that’s why Jordan initially made the announcement via his Twitter page, rather than formally through the school.)
Still, another part of me knows I should say “Good for him.” It’s a lot easier to be excited about it when you look at the situation not in terms of Maryland losing its best player, but as he’s looking at it: an incredible opportunity to play out his dreams.
With a possible lockout and questions about his potential at the next level, the easy decision would be to stay at Maryland, to continue being a star, to continue being a kid in college. Williams isn’t taking the easy road here, and I have to admire him for that. He knows what his coaches would advise, he’s heard from former teammates and from critics, and he knows all the possible disadvantages of entering the draft this year.
But playing in the NBA is what he really, truly wants, so he’s giving it his best shot anyway.
Think about it: If your lifelong dream was that close to coming true, would you give up a sure thing to take a chance on fulfilling that dream, even if you knew it was a huge risk? That’s a difficult leap to take sometimes, but Jordan’s taking it.
As a Maryland fan who hoped he’d back out of this year’s draft, it’s a bit of a letdown. As someone who knows all to well what it’s like to settle for what’s comfortable, I think it’s awesome that he’s definitely not doing that. Good for him.
No one has any idea how Jordan Williams’ career in the NBA might play out. Maybe he’ll start slow and end up being successful. Maybe he’ll look back on this decision five or ten years down the road and wonder if he should’ve chosen differently.
Whether you agree with his decision or not, whether you think he’s determined or just plain hardheaded, you can’t blame the kid for seizing this opportunity. (Well, you can, and a lot of Maryland fans are, but it’s not going to change anything.)
Maryland was successful before he showed up and the team will be successful after he leaves. It’s really not the end of the world so, Jordan, good luck dude. Wish you the best.
(Photo via The Toy Department |baltimoresun.com)
I’ve been a huge Torrey Smith fan for about a year, since he really started to become a big playmaker for Maryland.
I became even more impressed with him - almost in awe of him, honestly - after I read Eric Prisbell’s phenomenal Washington Post story about Smith’s life last December. (Spoiler alert: It wasn’t easy. You might want to grab tissues.)
I was beyond thrilled when the Baltimore Ravens selected him in the second round of this year’s draft. He was the only player in the entire draft I really wanted the Ravens to get, and I didn’t think it would happen. When the media started reporting that the Ravens were interested in him, I thought it was too good to be true and refused to get my hopes up.
When the Ravens actually picked him, I was ecstatic - for him and for his family, because I’d read the above article and had a little insight on what it took to get to that point, and for the Ravens, because they desperately needed the kind of offensive firepower that we saw against the Rams this weekend.
If I wasn’t a big enough Torrey Smith fan as it was, as a Ravens fan, the 3 awesome TDs would’ve won me over.
It was a great game for the Ravens and the fans - I’m sure the players were as eager as the rest of us to move past the Tennessee debacle ASAP - and it was a great game for Smith in his first start. All in all, a great end to the weekend.
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My media colleagues seem to be split in their opinions of Maryland football coach Randy Edsall. One camp thinks Edsall is a self-serving, hypocritical turd. The other camp thinks he is a shameless, ruthless disgrace to his profession.
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I don’t like reading about Randy Edsall and Maryland. Even thinking about Randy Edsall and Maryland makes me angry, and I don’t like being angry, so I try to avoid the subject all together.
But when Michael Rosenberg opens a column like that, there’s no way I’m missing it.
It didn’t disappoint, and all the situations and arguments he presents in the middle make a pretty solid case that, as Rosenberg says, “The University of Maryland should be better than the people who have been hired to run it.“
It’s a strong statement but, unfortunately, not a uncommon one among many Maryland fans I know.
Maryland’s handling of Danny O’Brien case shows NCAA hypocrisy - Michael Rosenberg - SI.com
