Canes Warning Exclusive: Jarren Williams’ attorney explains transfer

In an email correspondence, Jarren Williams’ attorney Tom Mars laid out to Canes Warning what Williams’ decision to transfer from the Miami football program was.

Jarren Williams had a tumultuous two years as a part of the Miami football program. Williams redshirted as a freshman in 2018. Former head coach Mark Richt refused to give Williams a chance in more than one game. The Georgia native could have played in parts of four games and maintained his redshirt.

Redshirt freshman N’Kosi Perry and redshirt senior Malik Rosier were exceptionally inconsistent during the 2018 season that caused the Miami offense to be one of the most ineffective in college football. Miami was 113th in passing offense in 2018, 115th in passer rating and 118th in completion percentage.

The 51.1 completion percentage from primarily Perry and Rosier is particularly troubling. Jarren Williams led the Miami football team in passing in 2019 and his 61.1 completion percentage was a huge improvement for the Hurricanes over the previous season. Perry completed 53.3 percent of his pass attempts in 2019.

Williams was not without his own faults off and on the field throughout his two-year tenure in the Miami football program. He was suspended for the Hurricanes game at Virginia Tech in 2018, news broke on the eve of the Pinstripe Bowl in December 2018 that Williams was going to transfer and there were off-field incidents in 2019.

"“Jarren was in class Thursday afternoon when I got an email from a sports writer which indicated someone was aware of Jarren’s decision and was talking about it with others.For that reason, I sent an email to AD Blake James, informed him of Jarren’s decision, and said I was doing so just to be sure Coach Diaz wasn’t blindsided.”"

It had been reported by several media outlets including Canes Warning that news of Williams’ transfer broke without him being able to speak with his head coach. In defense of Williams and his attorney Tom Mars who sent the above statement to Canes Warning, Diaz didn’t find out about Williams’ transfer through social media.

Williams reportedly walked out of practice the week leading up to the Hurricanes game at Pittsburgh this past season following a disagreement with former offensive coordinator and QB coach Dan Enos, was alleged to have been too focused on partying among other pursuits and supposedly broke curfew the night before FIU.

In an exclusive statement from Mars to Canes Warning, the reason for the transfer following an up and down season on and off the field are explained. In addition to Jarren Williams’ off-field transgressions, he also threw three interceptions in losses to Virginia Tech and FIU.

"“I never publicly disclose the reasons behind a student-athlete’s decision to transfer. The student privacy requirements of federal law don’t allow the NCAA or its member institutions to publicly comment on the reasons behind a student-athlete’s transfer, and there’s no reason that they should.The fact that a college student is a high-profile student-athlete doesn’t entitle everyone who has a Twitter account or press credentials to know every little detail about that student’s college experience. From my perspective, it’s none of their business.Because college football fans are prone to fill this vacuum of information on social media with nothing but speculation, we’ve entered an era where high-profile student-athletes are often unfairly judged and criticized based on misperceptions about why they transferred.What’s more, this uninformed criticism leads to unfair comparisons about whether one student-athlete versus another should have received a waiver. It’s a horrible situation.Every rationale for making transferring student-athletes sit out a year has now been thoroughly discredited – leaving only a few head coaches making millions of dollars to whine about roster management.Considering the harm the current waiver rules are doing to student-athletes, the Legislative Council ought to address this issue without delay and adopt a new rule allowing every student-athlete a one-time transfer without penalty.By doing so, the Council will realign the transfer waiver rules with the NCAA’s commitment to do what’s in the best interests of student-athletes.”"

Williams also had some great moments on the field for Miami in 2019. He played well early in the season before suffering a shoulder injury that hindered him against Virginia Tech. While fans cursed his injuries, Williams tried to play through it before being relieved by Perry.

The Georgia native led the Hurricanes to exhilarating victories over Pittsburgh, Florida State and Louisville in the middle of the season. Williams came off the bench in the fourth quarter to lead a last-minute game-winning TD drive over the Panthers. Williams reportedly did not start because of the dispute with Enos.

Williams threw two long TD passes to help defeat the Seminoles and set Miami and ACC records with six TD passes against Louisville. The question going forward is will Williams get a waiver for 2020. If Williams is required to sit out the 2020 season elsewhere it could be argued he should have stayed in Coral Gables.

Williams would have still had a chance to be the starting QB for the Miami football team in 2021 and ’22. There is no way for him to know that without entering his name into the transfer portal. Manny Diaz did what he had to for the Miami football team and Williams chose to move on.

Manny Diaz and the Miami football program added former Houston QB D’Eriq King as a graduate transfer for 2020. King brings more maturity, leadership and versatility to the Hurricanes. Williams could have learned from King and had two more seasons to be the starter in Coral Gables. Williams chose to pursue a different path.