KNOXVILLE – Many people close in any capacity to the University of Tennessee football program know the academic story of Gerald Williams.
Well, they know how it started.
They know Williams became a top target for the Volunteers in the fall of 2004, his senior year at Boyd Anderson High School. They know he initially committed to UT over several other big programs – including Florida and Georgia – on Feb. 2, 2005. They know the four-star, South Florida native signed with the Volunteers shortly thereafter, and they know he didn’t qualify academically.
They know Williams tried to qualify on his own the next year and again fell short. They know he then spent 2006 at Fork Union (Va.) Military Academy, collecting 96 tackles and forcing two fumbles for the prep school’s football team. But he again failed to qualify at UT, so he spent the 2007 season on the other side of the country at City College of San Francisco.
Williams collected an astonishing 146 tackles and forced six fumbles for CCSF, which won the California Community College championship before taking home its fifth junior college national championship.