Mike Williams reached his hand into the cookie jar and had it cut off

When I was no more than 7, I got caught with my hand in the cookie jar.

From my tiptoes, I reached up my pudgy mitts and drew the jar from the cupboard. Just as I sank my teeth into the first bite, my mother came bounding into the kitchen, hearing the glass ping as I clumsily juggled the jar and the chocolate chip cookie.

I still remember the look on her face. Through the eyes of a 7-year-old, it reflected the great crime I’d committed, filled with shock and disappointment.My punishment was no more than a slap on the wrist and a veiled threat about not being allowed at dinner, but after tears and a plea for forgiveness, the lesson was learned.
While the NCAA attempts to bury Mike Williams’ future, I’m wondering whether I should ask my mother to teach them a lesson about compassion and forgiveness.

Williams declared for the draft last February on the coattails of the court’s decision to allow Maurice Clarett to enter the NFL. With an appeal putting their NFL future in jeopardy, Clarett and Williams were skipped over during the draft, but hope remained as they awaited the supplemental draft. When a judge ruled against Clarett and Williams, the two knew their NFL hopes would have to wait.

Williams went back to school, taking summer classes in an attempt to get back on the USC football squad.

Between February and late June, Williams hired an agent, signed a shoe deal and received money for appearing on football cards. For these infractions, his NCAA career will likely be over.

To the logical person, or at least one with retrospective vision, Williams should have stayed away from any agent or endorsement deal until the final verdict in his case came down; however, for a sophomore in college, should that foresight be expected?

Williams, if not the best, was one of the best player in college last year, with 95 catches for 1,314 yards. NFL teams were drooling over him. Most experts had him picked in the top five. While the conservative approach may have been the right one, he was blinded by NFL money and threw caution to the wind.

Just as years ago waiting till after dinner for my cookie may have been the right decision, I was blinded by the chocolate. But what if my mother had decided that a mild scolding wasn’t an appropriate punishment and instead pulled me from school and banned me from second grade?

Williams has limited options now: a year at an IAA school or a stint in the CFL. Taking a full year away from the game would drastically alter his draft position.

The NCAA needs rules to protect the values it upholds — academics, purity of sport and so forth — but to mortgage a 20-year-old’s future, choosing rules over compassion, seems irresponsible.

Williams never intended to taint the NCAA image. He made himself eligible for the draft to protect his future, injury being a constant black cloud hanging over any college player.

Just two years ago, Willis McGahee, projected to be picked in the top three, blew out his knee in horrific fashion on college football’s biggest stage, the national championship. He fell dramatically in the draft and if it weren’t for the Buffalo Bills, he may have fallen farther. Though he’s working his way to a starting spot on the team, his injury cost him a year in a career that typically doesn’t last more than a few.

The NCAA doesn’t pay its players, but expects them to give up their bodies and possibly their futures. When one player decides to stray from the norm, he’s left to vie for himself.

Williams should have acted with less haste and more caution and for that he should be punished, but anything more than a slap on the wrist (possibly a two- or three- game suspension) is excessive.

I understand that the NCAA works diligently to protect its values and when a booster or spoiled player threatens those values, the NCAA is entitled to take action. But Mike Williams should be on the field leading the Trojans next season.

I’m sure Mike Williams will wait till after dinner next time he wants a cookie. It’s just too bad the NCAA has banned him from the dinner table.