BY BOB HERZOG
If Hempstead coach Antoine Moore asked Terrell Williams to pack up the equipment for this week’s trip to upstate Hancock, it would have been appropriate. After all, Williams does everything else for the Tigers, the No. 2-seeded team this season in Nassau Conference I.
The senior running back/linebacker finished second to Alex Rivas of East Meadow in last season’s Thorp Award voting and has a good chance to become Hempstead’s first winner of the award for Nassau’s top player since Lamont Hughes in 1988. He led the Tigers in rushing with more than 1,000 yards (averaging more than 10 yards per carry), receiving (averaging more than 25 yards per catch), punt returns, kickoff returns, total yards (more than 1,800), touchdowns (18) and even punting. Ten of his touchdowns were on plays of more than 60 yards.
“I tried to get him to break my school record last year,” Moore said of the 19 touchdowns the coach scored for his alma mater in 1987. “It’s a record I’m absolutely looking forward to Terrell breaking this year.”
Williams was busy at Tuesday’s afternoon session, returning punts, punting and leading the defense from his outside linebacker’s spot. He ran a few sweeps for the offense, too. “He’s a phenomenal athlete who dominated at his level last year. You need to do that to be a D-I prospect,” said Moore, who played at Rutgers. “He does more for his team than I ever did.”
Some Division I colleges have noticed, with Connecticut and Duke paying the most attention on the recruiting front. Those two schools have also showed interest in Hempstead’s two-way end Jahi Fields, a fierce speed rusher with good hands at tight end.
The Tigers return their entire offense backfield, including quarterback William Carmona. And they get a boost with Roosevelt transfer James McCleric, a talented tailback.
Moore hopes the team will bond this week at its four-day, three-night getaway, the first time the Hempstead football team has gone away for summer camp. “The kids are very gung-ho about it. Other teams in our conference, like East Meadow and Baldwin, have done it. It’s a chance to focus exclusively on football. It’s a very regimented program. And there will be no excuses for not being at practice.”