FSU signee Willie Downs leaves JC football due to unspecified "personal issues"

Willie Downs is the player FSU fans salivated over after seeing him dominate on defense during the Army All-Star Game. But in an exclusive interview with ChantRant, Downs' JC coach told us the Godby High grad quit the program before the season was over.

Here's what we learned from Tim Hatten, Head Coach of Pearl River (Ms.) Community College, where Downs enrolled in August after not qualifying at FSU.

"Willie left our program after the sixth game. He had some personal issues and left campus. When he was here he had a good season for us. He was a really good player. But he's got issues I think he needs to resolve to be any kind of football player. He had a Plan A, we were Plan B, now he's going to Plan C."

Do you expect him back next season?

"I don't know if has an intention to come back, but he won't be coming back to our program. That's my decision."

Can you describe the issues he had?

"I really don't know what those issues are. But I just know that in a structured environment, he just has a hard time handling that. And I think it might be related to why he didn't qualify (at FSU).

"My suggestion is for him to go to community college there in Tallahassee, not play, use that as his redshirt year, and graduate. Then he'd have three years to play three."

Does he have the talent to be a D-1 player?

"Yeah, he does. But I think he needs to get his act together and decide what Willie Downs wants to do. Not what somebody else wants Willie Downs to do.

"I think a lot of is, every time you take a kid who has a chance to go to an FSU or Miami or Florida, and then they step on campus at a community college, I think reality hits them in the face. They think the competition's not going to be stiff. We have a lot of great athletes who are here for the same reason Willie was -- they didn't qualify. Second, they see their friends that they were recruited with on TV. And if you're not real strong mentally, it kind of wears on you a little bit.

"But he is a great football player. I think he can play for anybody. But he's got to go to class at that school and be a college student."

Did he contribute on defense as well as playing receiver?

"More at receiver, but I think he's a better defensive player. More like a strong safety type. He roams the center field pretty good when we played him on defense. He made some plays like you'd expect a Division-1 athlete to make."

Note: After five games at Pearl River, Downs had 24 receptions for 402 yards and three TDs. He also returned kicks and played some safety.

Do you think he can do college level class work?

"This is not a dumb kid. He scored a 19 in math on the ACT. His academic issues were back in high school, in terms of making sure his core GPA coincided with his ACT score. And he didn't have his core classes. Now he's got to graduate from a community college to be eligible for Division-1 football. And I'm sure Jimbo Fisher knows that."

Do you think Willie is a good kid at heart?

"Yeah, I think he's a great kid. He's just got some issues he's got to work out in terms of communicating. But he's a great kid. I've got a ten-year old son who just loved him. It kind of broke his heart when I told him Willie went home.

"I don't resent Willie for making the decision that he made. I wish he's stayed, but I told Coach Fisher that I'd help him any way that I could."

Comments

[QWANE]

WILLIE DOWNS IS THE BEST AND HE IS BACK AND BETTER THAN BEFORE

turday, 11 September 2010
DOWNS TIME: The Hornets took a trip to Ventura College on Saturday night out-scoring the Pirates 40-27. FC Receiver Willie Downs came up big with 3 TDs while his brother Lavon scored on a blocked punt giving Fullerton the win.

With the score tied 27-27 early in the 3rd quarter, the FC special teams unit led by WR Lavon Downs blocked a Ventura punt and scored a quick 6 points from 14 yards out (missed PAT). Brother Willie Downs would score on a 25-yard TD pass from QB Darius Banks to wrap up the game in the Hornet’s favor.

Hornet RB Kelvin York had another strong game rushing for 154 yards on 19 carries. York also scored 2 rushing TDs (14 yards and 16 yards). WR Willie Downs was huge for FC catching 5 passes for 114 yards with 3 TDs. Thomas Clarkson had 5 catches for 47 yards and Lavon Down had 4 catches for 34 yards. QB Darius Banks threw for 211 yards, had 3 TD passes, with no picks (17 completions on 27 attempts).

[Matthew]

He went to Godby not Lincoln.