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Through UM and NFL sources, CaneSport pieced together what may have led to the seemingly incomprehensible bypassing of one of the nation’s best linemen from this past season.
And it has everything to do with Willis’ past, a groin injury that forced him out of the Senior Bowl and even a missed meeting with an NFL team … among other issues.
In the end, it appears there was no one signature event that caused Willis to fall out of the draft.
Here’s the tale pieced together from sources:
One area NFL team’s examined closely was Willis’ past, and that dates back to his issues at the University of Florida. It was there that Willis got in fights with several players, and it didn’t help his cause that two of them had fathers with NFL ties - Fred Taylor’s son Kelvin, and Jack Del Rio’s son Luke.
If NFL teams did their homework and went to UF sources to find out about Willis’ past, there probably weren’t a lot of good anecdotes coming out of that program.
“I heard things like Florida was badmouthing him and stuff like that, but it’s hearsay,” Gerald Sr. said. “I don’t know if it was true or not.”
Regardless, Willis was dismissed from the Gator program and found a new home at UM, where sources said he quickly failed several drug tests under then-coach Al Golden. Golden, of course, is now an assistant coach with the Detroit Lions.
After Golden left, Willis’ new defensive line coach was Jess Simpson, who is now coaching that position with the Atlanta Falcons.
An NFL source confirmed for CaneSport that the Lions and Falcons were two of the first teams to take Willis off their draft boards. The inference? That Golden and Simpson weren’t willing to gamble on Willis after his lone strong season in the college ranks. Whether other teams got wind of that is a matter of judgment, but that is how the NFL works. It is believed that knowledge contributed to NFL brass having second thoughts.
Willis failed drug tests under Golden and wasn’t a top performer, so there would be no reason to expect the former head coach to vouch for Willis. Simpson is more of an enigma. As Gerald Sr. puts it “him and Jess Simpson had a real great relationship. He always had good things to say about Gerald. They got along pretty good.”
But the bottom line is the Falcons never met with Willis or even picked up the phone to have a conversation, per dad.
And when it came time for the Falcons to pick in the fourth round (135th overall) the team went with 286-pound defensive lineman John Cominsky, who became the first player in 76 years to be drafted from Charleston.
“It’s kind of odd, but the last conversation I had with coach Simpson he spoke highly of Gerald, said he was one of the best players he ever coached,” Gerald Sr. said. “There are some things I may not know.”
Something that is known: Willis didn’t participate in the Senior Bowl, which multiple sources said hurt his stock tremendously - word on the street was that he was undersized for the NFL and wasn’t a guy who would wow you in the weight room with his quickness or strength numbers. Miami coaches had gone to bat for Willis to get him invited to Mobile.
“He was never going to test well,” one source said.
At least this past season, Willis did his talking with his play. But he sat out the bowl game against Wisconsin with what was said to be a finger injury. That may have been a mistake since Wisconsin has a quality offensive line and would have provided Willis with a chance to showcase himself on film.
And the Senior Bowl would have been another opportunity for him to disprove any doubters in front of NFL scouts. Sitting out prevented him from interviewing with NFL teams there, since he was a non-participant.
The reason Willis didn’t play in the Senior Bowl? When he arrived in Tampa to begin training after UM’s season ended, he had a full physical workup on Day 1. A significant groin injury was discovered … and that was just two weeks before the Senior Bowl.
Willis also was unable to go through the NFL Combine due to the injury, although he flew back to Indianapolis two weeks after the combine for a medical re-check of the groin injury. The MRI and testing came up clean at that point.
“He didn’t drop just because of some catastrophic injury,” an NFL source said.
With Willis sitting out a full year prior to this past season for personal reasons, and then missing the end of the season and not going through full NFL workouts there was some question for NFL teams as to his full level of dedication. So here’s another piece: While Willis went for meetings with the Rams and Cowboys, he canceled a meeting with another undisclosed NFL team just two weeks before the draft … and only gave a 30-minute notice that he wasn’t showing up.
That probably didn't sit well. That may have sealed his draft fate. The NFL is a league that doesn’t like question marks with its draft choices. Add it all up, and there were more than a few when it came to Willis.
And it has everything to do with Willis’ past, a groin injury that forced him out of the Senior Bowl and even a missed meeting with an NFL team … among other issues.
In the end, it appears there was no one signature event that caused Willis to fall out of the draft.
Here’s the tale pieced together from sources:
One area NFL team’s examined closely was Willis’ past, and that dates back to his issues at the University of Florida. It was there that Willis got in fights with several players, and it didn’t help his cause that two of them had fathers with NFL ties - Fred Taylor’s son Kelvin, and Jack Del Rio’s son Luke.
If NFL teams did their homework and went to UF sources to find out about Willis’ past, there probably weren’t a lot of good anecdotes coming out of that program.
“I heard things like Florida was badmouthing him and stuff like that, but it’s hearsay,” Gerald Sr. said. “I don’t know if it was true or not.”
Regardless, Willis was dismissed from the Gator program and found a new home at UM, where sources said he quickly failed several drug tests under then-coach Al Golden. Golden, of course, is now an assistant coach with the Detroit Lions.
After Golden left, Willis’ new defensive line coach was Jess Simpson, who is now coaching that position with the Atlanta Falcons.
An NFL source confirmed for CaneSport that the Lions and Falcons were two of the first teams to take Willis off their draft boards. The inference? That Golden and Simpson weren’t willing to gamble on Willis after his lone strong season in the college ranks. Whether other teams got wind of that is a matter of judgment, but that is how the NFL works. It is believed that knowledge contributed to NFL brass having second thoughts.
Willis failed drug tests under Golden and wasn’t a top performer, so there would be no reason to expect the former head coach to vouch for Willis. Simpson is more of an enigma. As Gerald Sr. puts it “him and Jess Simpson had a real great relationship. He always had good things to say about Gerald. They got along pretty good.”
But the bottom line is the Falcons never met with Willis or even picked up the phone to have a conversation, per dad.
And when it came time for the Falcons to pick in the fourth round (135th overall) the team went with 286-pound defensive lineman John Cominsky, who became the first player in 76 years to be drafted from Charleston.
“It’s kind of odd, but the last conversation I had with coach Simpson he spoke highly of Gerald, said he was one of the best players he ever coached,” Gerald Sr. said. “There are some things I may not know.”
Something that is known: Willis didn’t participate in the Senior Bowl, which multiple sources said hurt his stock tremendously - word on the street was that he was undersized for the NFL and wasn’t a guy who would wow you in the weight room with his quickness or strength numbers. Miami coaches had gone to bat for Willis to get him invited to Mobile.
“He was never going to test well,” one source said.
At least this past season, Willis did his talking with his play. But he sat out the bowl game against Wisconsin with what was said to be a finger injury. That may have been a mistake since Wisconsin has a quality offensive line and would have provided Willis with a chance to showcase himself on film.
And the Senior Bowl would have been another opportunity for him to disprove any doubters in front of NFL scouts. Sitting out prevented him from interviewing with NFL teams there, since he was a non-participant.
The reason Willis didn’t play in the Senior Bowl? When he arrived in Tampa to begin training after UM’s season ended, he had a full physical workup on Day 1. A significant groin injury was discovered … and that was just two weeks before the Senior Bowl.
Willis also was unable to go through the NFL Combine due to the injury, although he flew back to Indianapolis two weeks after the combine for a medical re-check of the groin injury. The MRI and testing came up clean at that point.
“He didn’t drop just because of some catastrophic injury,” an NFL source said.
With Willis sitting out a full year prior to this past season for personal reasons, and then missing the end of the season and not going through full NFL workouts there was some question for NFL teams as to his full level of dedication. So here’s another piece: While Willis went for meetings with the Rams and Cowboys, he canceled a meeting with another undisclosed NFL team just two weeks before the draft … and only gave a 30-minute notice that he wasn’t showing up.
That probably didn't sit well. That may have sealed his draft fate. The NFL is a league that doesn’t like question marks with its draft choices. Add it all up, and there were more than a few when it came to Willis.
which is exactly where we want it to be.