Florida Gators

Crowder details infamous recruiting weekend with Willie Williams

Published Jun. 25, 2015 3:47 p.m. ET

foxsports

Former Florida Gator star linebacker Channing Crowder was recently asked on the radio to recount one of his more entertaining stories from his time in college and the NFL. According to 560 WQAM of CBS Miami Radio, one incident stood out to Crowder, the infamous recruiting weekend of Miami linebacker Willie Williams.

For those who may not remember Williams, he was considered one of the top linebacker prospects in the nation in 2004, according to Rivals, and was listed among the nation's elite prospects such as Adrian Peterson and Ted Ginn Jr. while being considered a better prospect than Marshawn Lynch or Calvin Johnson.

Every school in the nation wanted Williams, and they were willing to look past his 10 arrests he had accumulated during his high school career because of his talent on the field. Williams would eventually sign with Miami, only to be dismissed by the Hurricanes and Louisville.

Before signing with the Canes, Williams visited the Gators for an official visit, where Crowder was his host. Mixing the party animal Crowder with the even more volatile Williams proved to be a disaster.

"I was his host. Willie Williams. Crazy, Joe. Willie Williams weekend. They said he was crazy and I’m looking at coach, like coach, what the hell am I? This is terrible… I guess his coach requested me because I was young, I was a freshman All-American, so I had had some young success. So they wanted him to talk to me as a good influence but I told coach I’m not a good influence, I’m a bad influence on people.”

While Crowder expected to have his hands full at dinner, Williams made for a pleasant dinner guest. It was after dinner when the night began to turn.

“Then we get to the party side and the beers get involved and then somebody brings a bottle of Hennessy or something and he turns into a wild animal,” Crowder said. “So he starts taking his shirt off and he’s tipsy. I say you know what — this is my young thought — let’s just get him tore up to where he can’t function and we’re just gonna drink him under the table. The night will be over and he’ll go to sleep or wake up in the morning and we’ll tell him he had a good time.”

Little did Crowder know, he was only fanning the party flames, not putting them out.

“His body was made for that. I don’t know if he was drinking as a kid but we started giving him the Crowder Cocktails — a half of Heineken, a shot of patron, a shot of Hennessy, a shot of vodka to fill up the rest of the Heineken bottle. Then you’ve got to chug it. That’s the entry to go out with us. We gave him two of them. That’s six shots, a full beer — he should be asleep. He cranks up more. We get to the club, he’s walking around, talking to girls I say okay girls are here, he’s involved, he’s okay. Next thing I know — big hoopla, there’s a big fight in the club, he’s on top and I drag him back to the bathroom."

“We get him out of the club, no incidents. We get in the parking lot. Guy is walking across the parking lot yelling at somebody. He just takes off running and cleans him up, knocks him out — BOW. So at this point, this is when the ditching comes in, Joe. I’m on probation. I say ‘hey guys y’all got Willie, I’m gone.’ So I jumped in the car with some friends and left.”

Leaving Williams without supervision was an even worse idea, as he was able to find himself in even more trouble.

“This is the part of the story that really upsets me about Willie,” Crowder said. “They come to his door, knock on his door, hey were you playing with the fire extinguisher? No. He was four doors down from his friend that he fire extinguished and all the dust was in the hallway so they followed his feet back to his room and he had the fire extinguisher in his tub with a trail of dust back to his room and I saw him later that day on Saturday and I’m just looking at him, you can’t be that crazy. Now he was in nice Willie mode: ‘my bad, I got a little out of line.’"

You think? Thankfully Crowder shared this story, hopefully no recruit ever attempts to top it.

(h/t 560 WQAM)