In the end, what many believe was a stunning surprise yesterday really wasn't surprising at all, not with Derrick Williams having already begun to practice his Joe Paterno impersonation on high school teammates earlier this month.
Although Penn State is several years removed from its successful past, and it might not boast the recent success of fellow suitors Florida, Texas, Oklahoma and Tennessee, the Eleanor Roosevelt High School football star and his family decided that the 78-year-old coach was best suited to oversee Williams's future.
"What me and my dad did, we tried to just think about who's been loyal and who's been trustworthy, and we already knew what school was that," Williams said following a nationally televised announcement.
When Florida fired Ron Zook four weeks after the family had been assured by the school that he was secure in his job it cleared the way for Paterno to successfully finish a determined three-year courtship. At 15, Williams was the star of a summer football camp at Penn State when his sprint time caught Paterno's eye -- "the big guy wants to talk to you," Williams was told.
After collecting more than 50 Division I scholarship offers and being ranked by some as the top recruit in the country, Williams ended the suspense by announcing that he would play for a school he twice mistakenly called "the university of Penn State." Word order aside, Williams will graduate high school in time to enroll at Penn State University for the spring semester, and will likely play wide receiver for the Nittany Lions.
Students expressed amazement when word of Williams's selection circulated. Penn State recently completed its fourth losing season in five years, is led by a coach who has faced criticism and retirement rumors in recent years, and is not known for the kind of wide-open offensive attack the Williams family prefers.
Williams said he knew there would be questions, that he even thought of the potential critics while he was on camera yesterday before deciding that "if these people are really in my corner, they're going to support me no matter what."
His choice will bring him back to the university where he began to construct his national reputation, running the 40-yard dash in 4.4 seconds during a camp the summer before his ninth-grade year.
Shortly after his private audience with Williams, Paterno and Penn State became Williams's most persistent suitor. Paterno made a rare personal visit to the Greenbelt school last spring, prefacing the visit with a three-page handwritten note in which he explained "ordinarily I don't recruit in the spring but this year -- but this year -- the first day we are allowed to be on the road I'm going to be in Eleanor Roosevelt High School."
On the day of Paterno's visit, Williams told Roosevelt Coach Rick Houchens that he thought he could be the Nittany Lions' national star, their version of Florida's Chris Leak or Oklahoma's Jason White, a theme he repeated several times yesterday.
Still, as Florida, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas and virtually every other nationally-ranked team entered the picture over the past year, the foundering Nittany Lions saw their courtship nearly end.
"Quite frankly, Penn State is off our list," father Dwight Williams said in late September, attempting to debunk the Internet speculation he had been reading about the Nittany Lions.
Through the early fall, the team's offense had struggled -- "I mean, they looked awful," Dwight Williams said after one game. "They look like they're back in the '60s" -- and the questions about Paterno's future and the team's play calling caused the family to continue to dismiss Penn State.
The key players in Williams's recruiting quest had long described a variety of criteria that would be used to make a decision, and emotion and loyalty were not on the list.
Houchens talked about finding a school that could take advantage of Williams's "multi-faceted capabilities" and enhance his professional opportunities; parents Dwight and Brinda Williams used a wide-ranging list that included professional development, coaching stability, opportunities for national exposure, minority graduation rates and academic support.
"It would be such a great thing if Derrick goes to the pros, but we're realistic about it," Dwight Williams said. "There's a small percentage of kids who go to the pros, such a small percentage. So we want to make sure he gets something out of this deal, and that's what it is, a deal. You send your son to play sports for this school, help them bring in revenue, and in exchange he gets his degree, they put him in an environment to be successful. It's a tradeoff."
Derrick Williams initially joked that while his parents worried about the details, "I look at it like a kid; like, 'Man, they've got some nice uniforms.' " But in truth, his description of his overriding concern was succinct and consistent throughout the past four months.
"Just the feeling when you get to a place," he said. "A gut feeling, where you could feel comfortable for the rest of your career."
And Derrick still felt a ferocious loyalty to Paterno, the first coach to make him an oral scholarship offer. So after a Roosevelt game on a Saturday afternoon in late October, the Williams family left for a road trip to State College, arriving in central Pennsylvania just before midnight. The highlight of most official visits is the big home game, but on this day the Nittany Lions were falling flat at Ohio State, their fourth consecutive game scoring less than 14 points.
The next day, the family met with Penn State President Graham Spanier for an hour at his home; they met with about 20 Penn State players who raved about the school; they ate a home-cooked lunch at Paterno's house with the coach and wife Sue, who corrected the coach when he called Dwight Williams "Dwayne"; they were given handmade posters with red hearts surrounding the words "Love You Lions" and dozens of student testimonials touting Penn State's virtues.
"I would say that Penn State finds its definition in no place more than its football team and this shows throughout its culture," one student named Cornelius wrote. "Plus football players are celebrities on campus."
During their exit interview, Dwight Williams told Paterno how impressed the family had been with the university, how the players had nothing but praise for Paterno, how they said they wanted to work harder to make their coach happy. Williams said the legendary coach had tears in his eyes when he was finished.
The Williams family came back to Maryland with breathless tales of Paterno's humility and generosity, and by then the tide had started to turn in Penn State's favor.
"This is a decision we're going to make, and it's not just about football," Dwight Williams said. "We feel like there's a strong commitment there, not only for athletes and their athletic ability, but there's a commitment for people to be successful in life. People can laugh or do whatever they want, but this is our decision."
Brinda Williams said she got sick to her stomach after looking down from the top of Beaver Stadium, but she was nevertheless entranced by the visit.
"It was awesome, it was gorgeous, they put circles around Florida," she said, mentioning the school where the family had taken their first official visit. "It just seemed like the people up there were so genuine, you know what I mean?"
Family members came to believe that if Derrick helped revive the Nittany Lions, he could become a legend in Happy Valley, and the recruit began telling people that Penn State's coaches felt he was the kind of player who could turn their program around.
Williams had been famous for his impersonations of the Roosevelt coaching staff; now, he debuted his Paterno impression for teammates, shouting out "C'mon, guys!" in a nasally squeak.
In late November, Derrick and some friends drove on an unannounced unofficial visit to see Penn State's home finale against Michigan State. The Nittany Lions' 37-13 victory gave them a 4-7 record this season. But Derrick -- whose high school sweetheart is enrolled 40 miles away at Penn State's Altoona campus -- was impressed by the environment and the six-figure crowd that assembled to watch a losing team.
When Derrick Williams ran into Dunbar High All-Met James McDonald and Dunbar Coach Craig Jeffries at a recent photo shoot, the coach asked Derrick for his thoughts on the school.
"And bam! That's when his pants fell down, his eyes lit up and he started talking about Penn State," Jeffries said. "He assured James he would like it, that it was a program on the rise -- he really was selling the program."
McDonald soon committed to Penn State, adding to the team's bounty of high-profile recruits, including cornerback Justin King from Pittsburgh, the highest rated defensive back in the country according to some analysts and a friend of Derrick's from the summer camp circuit.
Williams received handwritten notes from Penn State coaches virtually every day, many written by Larry Johnson Sr., a former high school coach at McDonough in Charles County who has known the family since he recruited Domonique Williams eight years ago.
Dwight Williams began creating something of a shrine to Derrick in the family's basement, initially including four Penn State posters. When his parents discussed the final decision-making process last week, they noted that public perception would do nothing to dissuade their son.
"The thing about Derrick, more than anything, he likes a challenge," Dwight Williams said. "He likes when people say he can't do something."
After his announcement, a smiling Williams said he was glad the process was over; these past few weeks, he said, he felt like he couldn't be a kid any more. He was glad there would be no more sleepless nights, glad the phone calls would slacken. He talked about trustworthiness and loyalty; he talked about Penn State's family atmosphere; and he talked about how he finally ended his search.
"I went with my heart," he said, "and that was where my heart was at."