Gerald Willis looks to finally make splash at No. 8 Miami
He’s a native of New Orleans and was a highly touted high school star, which meant that there were plenty of people around him at that time hoping he would stay relatively close to home and sign with LSU. He wound up going elsewhere, and now after five long — and often troubled — years Willis is about to make the first start of his collegiate career.
Here are his collegiate stats of note: At least three suspensions, three coaching staffs, two schools, two seasons without ever getting on the field, one yearlong leave of absence, one fistfight with a teammate during his lone season at Florida, and zero starts. But the Hurricanes believe that Willis’ checkered past is no longer a cause for concern and they’re counting on him to make the most of his senior year.
So he’ll be in the lineup Sunday, when No. 8 Miami opens against No. 25 LSU in Arlington, Texas.
“I know it’s very easy to be cynical about college football and the impact that it has on these guys that play the sport,” Miami defensive coordinator Manny Diaz said. “Everything’s not as good as it could be. But stories like Gerald Willis are at the core of what this sport’s about and the transformation in that guy from the first day we got here ... he’s a different guy and everybody sees it.”
“G was a good person all along. Everybody just has their different battles that they go through, their different roads to success,” said Miami defensive end Demetrius Jackson, who invited Willis to be one of his roommates this season. “The question was, ‘Was G ready to get right?’ And when G talked to me, he said it was time to get right. I think G’s probably the best defensive tackle in America when he’s focused. And that’s what we’re seeing right now.”
“I needed to grow up,” Willis said.
He speaks now like someone who has done just that.
He played in eight games for Florida in 2014 and nine games for Miami in 2016. That’s the extent of his college career and he knows NFL teams will want to see much more if they’re going to invest in him next year. So there is an urgency for Willis, in that 2018 is almost certainly the make-or-break year for his hopes at big-time football success.
“When I’m on the field, I feel something just clicks,” Willis said. “I need to be physical. I need to be dominant. Everything I’ve gone through has just been building me. And so when I’m on the field, I can’t let that person across from me beat me.”
