Derrick Willies

[trj]

Seriously, let the kid go like he let his team go.
Let it be in the past, like he let his opportunity to be Hawk be in the past.

He made his choice to walk out on his team in the middle of a season, that tells me enough about the kind of teammate he was.

How anyone can pine for a kid who thought himself bigger than his team is beyond me.

Oh, and the kid he was losing playing time to, which most likely lead to him taking his ball and going home, led the Hawks in receptions last year.

Given his talent level and the system he will be playing in barring injuries he will probably put up big numbers. May even turn into an NFL prospect. In other words, this will not be the last time you see this type of thread.

 

[deanvogs]

The first sentence of your post makes it sound like you're arguing the other side. CJ wanting Willies back means Willies must not have been a bad teammate. CJ and Wllies were in the exact same boat. CJ is just a little stronger willed. That doesn't make Willies a bad kid. And of course CJ is going to try to get him to stay, even if he thinks he's getting screwed.

Nice try, but you are wrong on this. CJ is his friend and he knew he would be making a big mistake if he quit. That is what friends do, they try to help their friends avoid mistakes.

 

[DP5555]

I have to agree with Dean. Just because CJ stuck up for him doesn't mean Willies had a legitimate gripe. It just means CJ was sticking up for a friend and trying to encourage him to stick it out. Of course CJ wanted a guy like Willies to throw the ball to. Why wouldn't he? It wouldn't have done him any good to say "Yeah Willies is making a huge mistake and he's being really selfish". CJ's goal was to convince him to stay on the team. Saying anything other than what he said wouldn't have helped him accomplish that. Turns out it didn't matter, but trying to use CJ's interview as justification for Willies egocentric complaining is simply naive.

It's no secret that guys who don't have a team first mentality often times end up in the dog house with KF. He isn't a complete idiot though. If they are talented he will do his best to keep them around, but at some point enough is enough. You have to earn it. Willies wasn't willing to do that. It doesn't need to be any more complicated than that.

 

[GesterHawk]

To me there is absolutely no difference between leaving your team at the end of the season and leaving your team mid season. Unless of course you're a vital part of the team the season you leave. As a coach, you can't let a player walk all over you. But a teenager making a rash decision, then changing his mind, doesn't classify as walking all over you. In my opinion anyway. I don't think Ferentz wanted any part of his prima dona attitude so I highly doubt there was a real option for Willies to come back. Look at all the good teams tho. They're full of prima donas. Also a player who decides to quit because he thought he was treated unfair (right or wrong) doesn't necessarily mean he was a cancer in the locker room.

Do you seriously think there is no difference?
There is no difference from DW leaving midseason and Turlow deciding after the season to not use his last year of eligibility? Turlow leaving when he did gives the coaches a chance to work with and develop the next man in. Had he left after the Purdue game, he would have left a gapping hole in the defensive line depth chart. You don't see a difference?

Not to mention the fact that he was getting playing time meant he was a vital part of the team that season. You don't get playing time in real game situations if you are a vital part of the team.

 

[PCHawk]

Do you seriously think there is no difference?
There is no difference from DW leaving midseason and Turlow deciding after the season to not use his last year of eligibility? Turlow leaving when he did gives the coaches a chance to work with and develop the next man in. Had he left after the Purdue game, he would have left a gapping hole in the defensive line depth chart. You don't see a difference?

Not to mention the fact that he was getting playing time meant he was a vital part of the team that season. You don't get playing time in real game situations if you are a vital part of the team.

He was supposedly hurt too, which makes the situation even weirder. Who leaves because they aren't getting playing time when they are too hurt to play?

 

[DP5555]

He was supposedly hurt too, which makes the situation even weirder. Who leaves because they aren't getting playing time when they are too hurt to play?

Who knows. It is a weird situation, but when I look at where he ended up it makes me think this was more of a system issue. He didn't like the way he was being asked to fit in the Iowa offense. He didn't like the style. He didn't like how much he was being asked to block. When they did pass it he didn't like it that he wasn't the primary option. Etc., etc., etc.

He's at Texas Tech now. He won't need to block. He'll probably be one of if not the primary target in their offense. They spread it out and throw it all over the place. I'm sure he'll put up big numbers, but I'd be shocked if TT wins more games than Iowa. He'll get his stats. The Hawks will get their wins. Guess it depends what's more important to you.

 

[PCHawk]

He was supposedly hurt too, which makes the situation even weirder. Who leaves because they aren't getting playing time when they are too hurt to play?

Lol for some reason I quoted the wrong person in this post. Pay no attention.

 

[PCHawk]

Nice try, but you are wrong on this. CJ is his friend and he knew he would be making a big mistake if he quit. That is what friends do, they try to help their friends avoid mistakes.

Wrong on what? You argue like Willies was a cancer in the locker room. If he was, friend or not, CJ probably wouldn't have tried to get him to stay. And I agree, CJ knew he would be making a mistake. Willies figured that out too, but it was too late.

 

[PCHawk]

I have to agree with Dean. Just because CJ stuck up for him doesn't mean Willies had a legitimate gripe. It just means CJ was sticking up for a friend and trying to encourage him to stick it out. Of course CJ wanted a guy like Willies to throw the ball to. Why wouldn't he? It wouldn't have done him any good to say "Yeah Willies is making a huge mistake and he's being really selfish". CJ's goal was to convince him to stay on the team. Saying anything other than what he said wouldn't have helped him accomplish that. Turns out it didn't matter, but trying to use CJ's interview as justification for Willies egocentric complaining is simply naive.

It's no secret that guys who don't have a team first mentality often times end up in the dog house with KF. He isn't a complete idiot though. If they are talented he will do his best to keep them around, but at some point enough is enough. You have to earn it. Willies wasn't willing to do that. It doesn't need to be any more complicated than that.

I never said it meant he had a legitimate gripe. I said he would have tried to get him to stay even if he did have a legitimate gripe so it didn't necessarily mean he didn't. CJ sticking up for him didn't mean anything as far as whether or not he was getting screwed. It does prove he wasn't a horrible teammate IMO.

 

[PCHawk]

Do you seriously think there is no difference?
There is no difference from DW leaving midseason and Turlow deciding after the season to not use his last year of eligibility? Turlow leaving when he did gives the coaches a chance to work with and develop the next man in. Had he left after the Purdue game, he would have left a gapping hole in the defensive line depth chart. You don't see a difference?

Not to mention the fact that he was getting playing time meant he was a vital part of the team that season. You don't get playing time in real game situations if you are a vital part of the team.

I don't think there is any difference as long as it doesn't hurt the team during the year in question. Does anyone think our team was worse off after he left? I sure don't. I think our future team was worse off because he left. But our future team was actually less worse off than it would have been had he left at the end of the year. It gave them a jump start in replacing him.

 

[deanvogs]

Wrong on what? You argue like Willies was a cancer in the locker room. If he was, friend or not, CJ probably wouldn't have tried to get him to stay. And I agree, CJ knew he would be making a mistake. Willies figured that out too, but it was too late.

Being a selfish player in and of itself doesn't make one a cancer, maybe he kept it all internal.

 

[PCHawk]

Being a selfish player in and of itself doesn't make one a cancer, maybe he kept it all internal.

Agreed. Taking away his bad decision to quit, it seemed like he was a good player. His juco coach spoke very highly of him. He probably had the best block I saw all year by a wide receiver. His QB, who seems to be a great leader, seemed to like him. He was almost certainly an immature kid, but it doesn't seem like he was a bad teammate.

 

[PCHawk]

Being a selfish player in and of itself doesn't make one a cancer, maybe he kept it all internal.

All players are selfish too. Why does every player root for the team they're on? Because they're on it. If a guy spends his whole career playing for the Bears, he's a Bears fan. Then if he gets traded to the Packers late in his career, he becomes a Packers fan. He didn't switch his allegiance because he instantly fell in love with his new teammates. He switched his allegiance because he's selfish and the only true allegiance he has is to himself.

 

[Hawkfnntn]

Say what you want about the kid, but this is pretty cool.

http://www.foxsports.com/college-fo...derrick-willies-video-box-jump-twitter-032716

Theres no doubt the kid has talent and would have been an absolute weapon if he'd have stayed... But as what usually seems to be the case with Iowa football he becomes a huge "what if" If you think us fans aren't sitting around thinking these things just imagine what the other coaches that know the whole entire story are thinking... My guess is they are either feeling it's way more of a big miss or they are just that much more glad he isn't... It just sucks because it's not very often Iowa gets talent of that level and for him to be from the quad cities and want to be a Hawk and for it to end up that way just blows... Regardless of the particulars the result being what it is sucks.

 

[hawkeyebob62]

OK, why no mention of the "reason" he gave when leaving. Anyone even remember what it was? He was going to go be closer to his father. I don't know if his father moved to Texas or not. But he didn't when DW left the team.

In other words, if he didn't tell the "truth" about why he was leaving...and didn't seem to want to abide by a set of conditions for returning...it means 1) He isn't completely truthful (i.e., trust issue) and 2) He seems to think HE sets the criteria for being on the team (we already have a staff and don't need a "player-coach").

Most importantly, dead horses can be kicked over and over, but no matter how hard or often they are kicked...they're STILL dead!

 

[PCHawk]

OK, why no mention of the "reason" he gave when leaving. Anyone even remember what it was? He was going to go be closer to his father. I don't know if his father moved to Texas or not. But he didn't when DW left the team.

In other words, if he didn't tell the "truth" about why he was leaving...and didn't seem to want to abide by a set of conditions for returning...it means 1) He isn't completely truthful (i.e., trust issue) and 2) He seems to think HE sets the criteria for being on the team (we already have a staff and don't need a "player-coach").

Most importantly, dead horses can be kicked over and over, but no matter how hard or often they are kicked...they're STILL dead!

A kid can be 50/50 on a decision and have one thing happen in their life that sways them one way. That could be the case here. His sick father pushed him to a decision he was already iffy on. Even if it wasn't the main reason, it could have been the deciding factor. Then, once he was clear of his decision he was struggling with, maybe living close to the sick father wasn't as important as he thought while confused. Or maybe the sick father situation changed.

 

[PCHawk]

Or maybe he didn't want to put the situation on blast so he said what every kid says. They want to be closer to home. It doesn't make them a liar or a bad person.

 

[hawkdrummer1]

Regardless of the specifics with regard to DW, stories like this will always have life...as long as KFz prefers risk management to play-makers.

 

[DP5555]

That box jump though... wow. 6'3'' dude that can jump like that? Yikes. As a Hawk fan that's a tough one to swallow. No reason to lie about it. The kid has freak athleticism and size. Hard to find that combination.

 

[Kennyfromminne]

He will probably see more opportunities at Tech. Can't blame a kid for wanting the best for himself, and with his skill and athleticism he will probably do an amazing job.