NCAA denies Williams' reinstatement request

LOS ANGELES -- All-American Mike Williams was denied his request to play for the University of Southern California by the NCAA Thursday, leaving the star receiver unable to rejoin the top-ranked Trojans after being shut out of the NFL draft by the courts.\n"I'm glad it's over. Now the team can move forward and I can move forward," Williams said in a telephone interview. "I'm disappointed. I did everything asked of me. I don't know yet what I'm going to do. I'll just relax for the weekend and watch the game and root for my team."\nThe ruling came down shortly before the Trojans boarded an airplane for Baltimore. They open their season Saturday night against Virginia Tech at FedEx Field in Landover, Md.\nUSC coach Pete Carroll was angry with the ruling and its timing.\n"It's very cold and insensitive for them to deny him this opportunity," he said. "As a football team, we've been prepared for this for a while. I'm not surprised by it, but I'm disappointed for Mike and his family. You'll have to go and ask the NCAA for answers, how they can turn someone down who is academically eligible."\nThe school had applied to the NCAA for a progress-toward-degree waiver and reinstatement of Williams' eligibility.\nUSC officials were unsure if there were any appeals still available for Williams, but he said he didn't plan to pursue them anyway.\n"I'm kind of done with it right now," he said.\nWilliams caught 95 passes for 1,314 yards and a school-record 16 touchdowns last season to help the Trojans (12-1) win the national championship.\nThe 20-year-old Williams, a sure-handed 6-foot-5, 230-pounder, finished eighth in the Heisman Trophy balloting as a sophomore last year.\nAfter a court ruled that Ohio State's Maurice Clarett was eligible to play in the NFL, Williams left USC in the spring, hired an agent and said he was turning pro. That made him ineligible to play for the Trojans.\nHe was projected as a high draft pick, but on May 24, an appeals court overturned the earlier ruling and upheld the NFL's right to bar players who had been out of high school for less than three years.\nWilliams has been out of high school less than three years, as has Clarett, who was suspended last season after starring at Ohio State as a freshman.\nAfter the appeals court ruling, Williams severed ties with his agent and began the process of applying to the NCAA for reinstatement.\nHe returned to USC and took summer classes, seeking to have his academic eligibility also restored.