Roosevelt Williams, Jr. (born September 10, 1978) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

cornerback A cornerback (CB) is a member of the defensive backfield or secondary in gridiron football. Cornerbacks cover receivers most of the time, but also blitz and defend against such offensive running plays as sweeps and reverses. They create tur ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

. He was drafted by the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

in the third round of the

2002 NFL Draft The 2002 NFL draft was the 67th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible football players. The draft is known officially as the "NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting" and has been conducted annually sinc ...

, 72nd overall. He received a football scholarship to

Florida State University Florida State University (FSU) is a public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher education in the st ...

. But due to being academically ineligible, he attended

Tuskegee University Tuskegee University (Tuskegee or TU), formerly known as the Tuskegee Institute, is a private, historically black land-grant university in Tuskegee, Alabama. It was founded on Independence Day in 1881 by the state legislature. The campus was d ...

Early years

Roosevelt stayed in the crime-infested housing projects on the East side of Jacksonville, where he and current NFL running back

Leon Washington Leon Dewitt Washington Sr. (born August 29, 1982) is a former American football running back and return specialist. He currently serves as a coach for the New York Jets. He was drafted by the New York Jets in the fourth round of the 2006 NFL Dra ...

were neighbors. Roosevelt decided to attend

Terry Parker High School Terry Parker High School is a public high school in the Duval County Public School district, located in Jacksonville, Florida. The school celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2005. The school has been named a Blue Ribbon School of Excellence.http: ...

(

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville is a city located on the Atlantic coast of northeast Florida, the most populous city proper in the state and is the largest city by area in the contiguous United States as of 2020. It is the seat of Duval County, with which the ...

); which is 15 miles from his neighborhood; Williams felt the transition would keep him focus and out of trouble. At Terry Parker High School he lettered in football, basketball and track.

College career

he was considered one of the top five cornerbacks in the nation for the NFL draft. He was also arguably considered the best collegiate defender in the state of Alabama in 2002. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

at Tuskegee in which he is considered the best cover cornerback to ever wear the crimson and old gold. Williams collegiate success of being drafted from a small division II have paid the way for current and former NFL players

Drayton Florence Drayton Florence, Jr. (born December 19, 1980) is a former American football cornerback who played eleven seasons in the National Football League. He was drafted by the San Diego Chargers in the second round of the 2003 NFL Draft. He played coll ...

Frank Walker (American football) Frank Bernard Walker (born August 6, 1981) is a former American football cornerback in the National Football League for the Green Bay Packers, Baltimore Ravens, Minnesota Vikings and Dallas Cowboys. He was drafted by the New York Giants in the si ...

, Dimitri Patterson and Harry Williams (American football) who were drafted in the years after him. Williams made All-American and first team SIAC all of his four years at a historical black university.

Professional career

Chicago Bears

Williams was selected in the third round of the

. The pick used was obtained by the Bears from the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisi ...

. Due to a nagging ankle injury he suffered in training camp, Williams played 7 games in his rookie season starting in three. Week 13 Chicago missed a big opportunity on the last play of the half. Packers QB

Brett Favre Brett Lorenzo Favre ( ; born October 10, 1969) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 20 seasons, primarily with the Green Bay Packers. Favre had 321 consecutive starts from 1992 to 20 ...

threw a hail mary pass at the end of the half that was intercepted by Bears SS

Damon Moore Damon Moore (born September 15, 1976, in Fostoria, Ohio) is a former American football safety in the National Football League. He was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in the fourth round of the 1999 NFL Draft. He played college football at Oh ...

. Moore fumbled the ball to Packers lineman Mike Wahle, who subsequently fumbled it again to Williams. Packers rookie receiver

Javon Walker Javon Liteff Walker (born October 14, 1978) is a former American football wide receiver. He was drafted by the Green Bay Packers 20th overall of the 2002 NFL Draft. He played college football at Florida State. Walker also played for the Den ...

chased Williams down and tackled him short of the end zone to end the half. Bears CB R. W. McQuarters had a chance to make the block but attempted to position himself for a lateral instead, allowing Walker to make the tackle at the 11-yard line to end the first half. The wild play made headlines in the Chicago daily news,

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

, and the

Pardon the Interruption ''Pardon the Interruption'' (abbreviated ''PTI'') is an American sports talk television show that airs weekdays on various ESPN TV channels. It is hosted by Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon, who discuss, and frequently argue over, the top storie ...

show when sports columnist

Michael Wilbon Michael Wilbon (; born ) is an American commentator for ESPN and former sportswriter and columnist for ''The Washington Post''. He is an analyst for ESPN and has co-hosted ''Pardon the Interruption'' on ESPN since 2001. Early life and education ...

criticized R. W. McQuarters for such a selfish act that caused Williams not to score. Week 14 Williams made his first start against the AFC champions the

New York Jets The New York Jets are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Jets compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The J ...

and was the player of the game that stop the Jets from progressing to the 2002 playoffs.

Denver Broncos

Williams was claimed off waivers from the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

. The Broncos made room for Williams by cutting third-string quarterback

Danny Kanell Daniel Kanell (born November 21, 1973) is a former professional American football quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) and Arena Football League who is currently employed by CBS Sports, along with Fox Sports 1 and SiriusXM. He wa ...

leaving just two quarterbacks on the Broncos roster. Week 3 against the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

starting quarterback

Jake Plummer Jason Steven "Jake" Plummer (born December 19, 1974) is a former professional American football player, a quarterback for ten seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He was selected by the Arizona Cardinals in the second round of the 1997 ...

injured his shoulder during a Chargers sack which resulted in the release of Williams to make room for another quarterback. A couple days after the release, Williams was picked up by the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

Cleveland Browns

Williams played in a total of 12 games for the Browns starting in 3. With the Browns Williams was on a secondary unit that were ranked #3 in pass defense and #10 in total defense. In week 13

faced the

which was considered the game of the week that went in overtime. Williams finished that game with 8 tackles and a couple of break ups.

Coaching career

In 2019, Williams was appointed the head football coach at

ASA College ASA College is a private for-profit college in New York City and Hialeah, Florida. The college has three campuses: Midtown Manhattan and Downtown Brooklyn in New York, and Hialeah in Florida. It offers bachelor's degrees, associate degrees, and ...

Hialeah, Florida Hialeah ( ; ) is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. With a population of 223,109 as of the 2020 census, Hialeah is the sixth-largest city in Florida. It is the second largest city by population in the Miami metropolitan area ...

.Roosevelt Williams Promoted To Head Football Coach
/ref>

References

External links

Hardin–Simmons profile

Seton Hill profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Roosevelt 1978 births Living people American football cornerbacks ASA Miami Silver Storm football coaches Chicago Bears players Clark Atlanta Panthers football coaches Cleveland Browns players Denver Broncos players Hardin–Simmons Cowboys football coaches New York Jets players Savannah State Tigers football players Seton Hill Griffins football coaches Southwest Baptist Bearcats football coaches Tuskegee Golden Tigers football players Widener Pride football coaches Terry Parker High School alumni Coaches of American football from Florida Players of American football from Jacksonville, Florida African-American coaches of American football African-American players of American football 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American sportspeople