Domanick Williams (; October 1, 1980), known during the majority of his playing career as Domanick Davis, is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who was a

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

for three seasons with the

Houston Texans The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston. The Texans compete in the National Football League as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team plays its home games at N ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). He played

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for four seasons with the LSU Tigers.

Career

Davis played college football for the LSU Tigers. In his four-year career there, he rushed for 2056 yards and 20 touchdowns, including four touchdowns in the

2002 Sugar Bowl The 2002 Sugar Bowl, a 2001–02 Bowl Championship Series, BCS game, was played on January 1, 2002. This 68th edition to the Sugar Bowl featured the 2001 Illinois Fighting Illini football team, Illinois Fighting Illini, and the 2001 LSU Tigers ...

. Davis was drafted by Houston in the fourth round of the

2003 NFL draft The 2003 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League (NFL) teams selected amateur college football players. The draft is known officially as the "NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting" and has been conducted annually since 1936 NF ...

. He was named the 2003

Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Year Various entities present an NFL Rookie of the Year award each season to the top rookies in the National Football League (NFL). The NFL considers the (rookie) of the year awards by the Associated Press (AP) to be its official honor. Since 2011, th ...

, an award created in 2002, in which fans vote online from a pool of five candidates to determine the winner. He rushed for 1,000+ yards in his first two seasons in the NFL (

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

and

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

) while scoring 22 touchdowns. As a result, he received a contract extension before the start of the 2005 season. Prior to the extension, Davis was scheduled to make $385,000 in 2005. The extension called for a payout of $22 million over the life of the deal, with $8 million in guaranteed money. In

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

, Davis rushed for 976 yards in the first 11 games before suffering a knee injury and being placed on injured reserve. He did not play during the 2006 season, and was released by the Texans on March 22, 2007.

NFL career statistics

Personal life

He changed his surname from Davis to Williams in late 2006.

''(on changing his name from Domanick Davis) “And it will be number 31, Domanick Williams. I just had to make a change. I wasn’t really a Davis the whole time, but I have kids of my own and I needed to do what was right.”''

''(more on the name change) “I just changed Davis to Williams. I wasn’t really a (Davis). It was my older brother’s Dad’s last name and whatever happened I ended up with Davis. So now that I have kids of my own, a little boy and a little girl, ‘Spike’ (Domanick, Jr.) and Lina, I have to change my name to what it really is, and it’s Williams.”''

Source:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Domanick 1980 births Living people Players of American football from Lafayette, Louisiana American football running backs LSU Tigers football players Houston Texans players 21st-century American sportsmen 21st-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen