Southern California sophomore Mike Williams will enter the NFL draft, the first player to take advantage of the court ruling in the Maurice Clarett case.
"Mike made his decision that he wants to go to the NFL," USC coach Pete Carroll said Wednesday. "We're disappointed that we're losing him because he's had a terrific two years for us. . . . But we're anxious to watch him in the NFL."
Williams, a 6-foot-5, 230-pound wide receiver who recently turned 20, indicated after USC beat Michigan in the Rose Bowl that he planned to remain in school. The Trojans were AP's national champions.
Against BYU last September, Williams caught 10 passes for 124 yards and two touchdowns in USC's 35-18 victory in the L.A. Coliseum. His 1-yard TD catch opened the scoring for the Trojans as they took a 21-0 first-quarter lead. His 18-yard scoring grab with 4:11 left in the game helped USC hold off a Cougar comeback that had reached 21-18.
BYU and USC are scheduled to meet again Sept. 4 in Provo's Edwards Stadium.
Clarett, who was suspended last season after starring at Ohio State as a freshman, went to court to challenge an NFL rule preventing players less than three years out of high school from entering the draft.
Williams, who finished sixth in the Heisman Trophy balloting, had 87 catches for 1,226 yards and 16 touchdowns last season.
He is expected to go in the top 10 in April's draft.
"He'll be a high pick. There's no question about it," said Gil Brandt, the NFL's chief scouting consultant.
The Trojans, who finished the season 12-1, still should be loaded next season because the 2003 team featured so many underclassmen. Quarterback Matt Leinart will be a junior, and most of the deep corps of running backs will be sophomores.
USC will lack experience at wide receiver without Williams. But Steve Smith showed potential as a freshman last season, and the Trojans signed two highly regarded high school prospects earlier this month.
"Our team is well-prepared to handle Mike's leaving," Carroll said. "Last year we lost the Heisman Trophy winner (Carson Palmer) and one of the best defensive players in the country (Troy Polamalu) and still won."
Williams' size and agility were evident in his many circus catches.
The most spectacular was a reaching, one-handed grab in the end zone for a 9-yard touchdown in the Trojans' 52-28 victory over Oregon State in the regular-season finale.
CSU LOOKING AT REVISING SCHEDULE: Colorado State would like to postpone this fall's game at Miami (Ohio) to ease what may be the most challenging football schedule in school history.
The Rams are slated to open the season against in-state rival Colorado before playing at national champion Southern California. After that comes the home opener against Minnesota, followed by the road game against Miami (Ohio). Except for Colorado, all those teams finished in the Top 25.
Athletic director Mark Driscoll said he would like to postpone the Miami game for a couple of years and replace it with a home game.
"There is no doubt that those first three games are very difficult games," Driscoll said Tuesday. "We wanted to look at a way to bring more balance to the schedule, and Miami has been receptive to talking about that."
Last month, Driscoll worked out a deal with Southern Cal for a home-and-home series starting this fall at the Los Angeles Coliseum and concluding with a game in Denver in 2008. To make that deal happen, CSU had to drop Fresno State from next season's schedule.
Driscoll said he has talked with both Division I-A and I-AA teams about coming to Hughes Stadium to fill CSU's non-Mountain West Conference schedule. Last year, a crowd of 28,611 at the 30,000-seat stadium watched the Rams beat I-AA Weber State, 31-7.
Next season, CSU will play four conference home games (Brigham Young, Wyoming, New Mexico and UNLV) and three on the road (Air Force, San Diego State and Utah).
As for the 2005 season, a rather significant hole in the schedule may have worked itself out. With TCU joining the conference, each league team will play eight conference games and three non-conference games.
CU NAMES ATHLETIC LIAISON: The University of Colorado appointed a former college president Wednesday to help the school determine whether its embattled athletic department has a culture that encourages mistreatment of women.
The school's football program is at the center of a scandal that includes allegations of rape and accusations that athletic recruits were lured to the Boulder school with sex and alcohol.
John DiBiaggio is expected to begin work as the university's athletics liaison next week and will report directly to school president Betsy Hoffman and chancellor Richard Byyny. They said he will have access to virtually everything on campus.
DiBiaggio, a nationally recognized expert on college sports reform, is a former president of Tufts, Michigan State and Connecticut.