Johnny Williams named ACC Rookie of the Week

[watzone]

Congrats to Johnny!

From DSI rerlease -

DURHAM, N.C. -- Duke wide receiver Johnny Williams has been named the ACC Rookie of the Week following an 11-reception, 135-yard performance in the Blue Devils' 24-20 loss to Northwestern this past Saturday night.

Williams, a native of St. Stephens, Ala., caught nine of his game-high 11 passes in the second half with five of his grabs providing first downs for the Duke offense. The 135-yard outing is the second-highest single-game total by a Duke freshman, trailing only Walter Jones' 139-yard total versus The Citadel in 1988. In addition, the 11 receptions are the most by a freshman nationally in 2008.

For the season, Williams leads the Blue Devils in both receptions (13) and receiving yards (154) and ranks second in the ACC in receptions per game (6.5) and tied for fifth in the league in receiving yards per game (77.0).

The league's other weekly award winners including Wake Forest's Riley Skinner (Offensive Back) and Sam Swank (Specialist), Georgia Tech's Darryl Richard (Defensive Lineman), Florida State's Rodney Hudson (Offensive Lineman) and N.C. State's Nate Irving (Defensive Back).

[RepoMan]

Great news, and congratulations to Williams and the team.

Anyone know when we last had a ROW in football?

[CameronBornAndBred]

Anyone know when we last had a ROW in football?

Exactly what I came in to ask. Big fat congratulations!

[Devilsfan]

Speed Kills!!!! How fast does this kid run the 40?

[bigj4194]

Congrats to Johnny! Is this the first since Spurrier?

[Devil in the Blue Dress]

Congrats to Johnny! Is this the first since Spurrier?

Last Rookie of the Week was Ben Bennett, 1980.
Last ACC Player of the Year: Robert Baldwin, 1994
Last ACC Coach of the Year: Fred Goldsmith, 1994 (Only three Duke coaches have been named ACC Coach of the Year: Bill Murray (3 times), Steve Spurrier (2 times) and Fred Goldsmith (1 time).

[RepoMan]

Last Rookie of the Week was Ben Bennett, 1980.


Wow. Quite a drought.

Was Williams a Roof recruit? Or, did he come into the fold after Cutcliffe was hired?

[killerleft]

Wow. Quite a drought.

Was Williams a Roof recruit? Or, did he come into the fold after Cutcliffe was hired?

Wow, indeed! Congrats, to Johnny. Does this mean he's better than every Duke player for 27 years, or that quite a few Devils have been unfairly overlooked?

Is that rookie of the week? Or year?

[OldPhiKap]

Congrats, Johnny!

[Devil in the Blue Dress]

Wow, indeed! Congrats, to Johnny. Does this mean he's better than every Duke player for 27 years, or that quite a few Devils have been unfairly overlooked?

Is that rookie of the week? Or year?

Thanks for catching that point! Ben Bennett was Rookie of the YEAR in 1980.

[killerleft]

Whew! I hate to think we could be that disrespected.:)

[Devil in the Blue Dress]

Whew! I hate to think we could be that disrespected.:)

The information to which I had quickest access included awards based on a year's performance rather than a week's performance.

No matter how we analyze the situation, it's been far too long since Duke has had freshmen or other players being recognized for their performance in football. I look upon this recognition accorded to Johnny Williams as another step in turning the program around. It's exciting each week to see what improvements and changes occur.

[killerleft]

The information to which I had quickest access included awards based on a year's performance rather than a week's performance.

No matter how we analyze the situation, it's been far too long since Duke has had freshmen or other players being recognized for their performance in football. I look upon this recognition accorded to Johnny Williams as another step in turning the program around. It's exciting each week to see what improvements and changes occur.

Agreed! Just looking forward to a game where we can play well and expect to win is wonderful. Go Duke, cut the midshipmen off at the quarter-deck!

[Devil in the Blue Dress]

Agreed! Just looking forward to a game where we can play well and expect to win is wonderful. Go Duke, cut the midshipmen off at the quarter-deck!
Did you notice Saturday that the Duke band played the song that ends with "We're going to beat the .... out of you"? Haven't heard that sort of confidence at a football game in years.

[killerleft]

I missed that. But I sure hope we can get a full house on Saturday to see and feel the difference in this year's team.

[Devil in the Blue Dress]

I missed that. But I sure hope we can get a full house on Saturday to see and feel the difference in this year's team.
The change is apparent in so many ways..... it's better to experience the difference rather than just hear about it. As the credit card ad says...Priceless!

[devildeac]

What makes this even nicer is taking some of the pressure off Eron Riley. Perhaps he'll see less double coverage now.

[jimsumner]

Cut had an interesting reaction to this yesterday. He certainly wasn't dismissive but he pointed out that JW fell down one time when he had a likely TD, dropped a pass, ran a few less than precise routes and stated that maybe Williams would have been national player of the week had he made fewer mistakes.

I suppose one can draw several different conclusions from this but it seems to me that this disinclination to rest on one's laurels will lead to positive results down the road.

[watzone]

Here is my latest blurb on Williams with quotes from Cut and Thad.

http://bluedevilnation.net/

[jv001]

Cut had an interesting reaction to this yesterday. He certainly wasn't dismissive but he pointed out that JW fell down one time when he had a likely TD, dropped a pass, ran a few less than precise routes and stated that maybe Williams would have been national player of the week had he made fewer mistakes.

I suppose one can draw several different conclusions from this but it seems to me that this disinclination to rest on one's laurels will lead to positive results down the road.

Great point. It would be easy for Williams to get the I'm the man attitude after the Northwestern game. Seems like Coach Cut is not going to allow that to happen. All in building a winning program.

[killerleft]

Great point. It would be easy for Williams to get the I'm the man attitude after the Northwestern game. Seems like Coach Cut is not going to allow that to happen. All in building a winning program.

I thought this, too. A satisfied player can't reach his potential. Goes double for the coach.

[Bluedog]

Here is my latest blurb on Williams with quotes from Cut and Thad.

http://bluedevilnation.net/

Nice website redesign watzone! I'm a fan.

[SharkD]

Here is my latest blurb on Williams with quotes from Cut and Thad.

http://bluedevilnation.net/

You might want to re-test that new layout, since neither Firefox nor Safari show more than 10px of content. Either you have an improperly nested div, or it's a css positioning issue. I'd also suggest installing WP-SuperCache, to speed up the site. (I really liked the content, and was disappointed to see it "disappear".)

In either browser, it looks like this:
451

[SharkD]

Still OT (I know)... I spent some time going through the page code -- you're missing the </div> to close the navigation, immediately before <div id="container">. Also, you want to make sure that all your h2 class declarations are enclosed in quotes (i.e., <h2 class="section-header">).

[watzone]

Still OT (I know)... I spent some time going through the page code -- you're missing the </div> to close the navigation, immediately before <div id="container">. Also, you want to make sure that all your h2 class declarations are enclosed in quotes (i.e., <h2 class="section-header">).

Safari and Firefox versions should now work. I hope Williams catches three scores this weekend.

[jimsumner]

"Still OT (I know)... I spent some time going through the page code -- you're missing the </div> to close the navigation, immediately before <div id="container">. Also, you want to make sure that all your h2 class declarations are enclosed in quotes (i.e., <h2 class="section-header">)."

Oh, this is so off base. As a computer expert, it's apparent to me that the thingamabop isn't in harmony with the whatcagig. They are out of phase. That means that when the doohickey tries to line up with the gigawhirl, they can't communicate with the widgetcounter. So, nothing works.

Don't be embarrassed Mark. It's a common beginner's mistake. Invoice in the mail.