Vikings draft looks good
By: Larry Fitzgerald
Minnesota
Spokesman-Recorder
Originally posted 9/15/2004
With Randy Moss long gone to
Oakland, the Minnesota Vikings have proceeded with their
business of trying to move forward and get better. Last
season, the franchise qualified for the playoffs for the
first time in three years with an 8-8 record and shocked
the Packers in the playoffs.
Since then, Head Coach Mike Tice is
being investigated for scalping Super Bowl tickets, and
the team is for sale pending NFL approval; the clock
ticks on the end of Red McCombs’ ownership and the
beginning of the proposed Reggie Fowler era.
The Vikings used their first two
draft picks, the seventh and eighteenth of the first
round, to select Troy Williamson, a speed receiver from
South Carolina, and Erasmus James from Wisconsin, one of
the premier pass rushers in all of college football.
In later rounds, the Vikings added
cornerback Dustin Fox from Ohio State, offensive lineman
Marcus Johnson, and hard-running Ciatrick Fason. All of
the Vikings’ draft choices and veterans will be here
this weekend, April 29 through Sunday, May 1, for
workouts and Mini-Camp.
The Vikings believe they have
drafted the most explosive receiver in the draft in
Williamson. Many experts were surprised that the Vikings
passed on gifted USC receiver Mike Williams. Williamson,
whether he wants to or not, will be compared to Moss
because they play the same position.
Williamson averaged 19.4 yards per
catch last year on 43 receptions in 11 games. He’s a
proven deep threat with outstanding speed, and he’s a
gifted player. Shortly after his selection, I had the
opportunity to talk to Williamson (TW) about joining the
Vikings.
LF: “How does it feel to be a
Viking?”
TW: “It feels real good for the
coaching staff to have faith in me and to pick me. I
feel real good, and I’m glad to be here.”
LF: “How was the process for you
in terms of the workouts, the combine, the testing, the
interviews?”
TW: “Pretty much doing what
you’re asked to do, I really had to get used to.
Waking up early in the morning, coming back late at
night, and doing it six days a week, it was something
that really paid off. Going to perform — that’s
something that I do as a receiver. I don’t mind
performing. It’s just working, and working is
something I don’t really mind doing.”
LF: “Playing at South Carolina,
you did not get as many opportunities as some other
receivers playing for Lou Holtz in his run-first system.
Do you believe that to be true?”
TW: “Of course. The type of coach
that he is, he’s a running-the-football type coach.
And when you’re a receiver in a system like that, you
have to make the best of it.”
LF: “Talk about being drafted
number one by the Vikings and trying to fill the void
vacated by the trading of Randy Moss, one of the
greatest receivers to ever play the game. Do you feel
you will face that comparison?”
TW: “Well, no! I know I’m going
to be me and do what I have to do, and before it’s all
over with everybody’s going to say ‘Troy, Troy,
Troy,’ and then Randy Moss will just be a receiver
who’s somewhere else in Oakland. It’s no big deal to
me. I don’t have to fill anybody’s void but my
own.”
LF: “Your favorite route is...?
TW: “The fade.”
LF: “Why?”
TW: “Because I have the speed to
do what I do to run a fade.”
LF: “Talk about how excited you
are to be playing with quarterback Daunte Culpepper.”
TW: “Of course I can say [that
for] any receiver in this draft he would be one of the
top quarterbacks that they would say they would like to
have throw to them. And I’ve got that opportunity.”
LF: “What do you anticipate this
week with Mini Camp?”
TW: “Well, just pretty much
learning the system, learning what I have to do as a
receiver and just doing it.”
