June 2, 2011
The Sheldon Huskies graduate seniors Darius Nelson and Ramon Eaton to UTEP and Pepperdine respectively. Losing two Division I prospects would lead most spectators to believe the Huskies will be in severe rebuilding mode next season. However, that is actually far from the truth.
The Huskies return six promising sophomores headlined by 2013 NCP No. 10 ranked D'Erryl Williams II. The lefty combination guard has been a varsity starter since his freshman year at Sheldon. He helped the Huskies to a 24-8 record and was All-League for the second straight year.
Sheldon won the Sac-Joaquin Section title for the second consecutive year but were edged out in the NorCal Regional semifinals by eventual state title representative De La Salle 47-45.
Sheldon Coach Joey Rollings has this perspective on his varsity star. "D'Erryl is an amazing individual. Very strong for his age. He attacks the basket well, and has a nice pull up jumper. For a point guard, he rebounds very well. Smart individual who catches on to plays very quickly and is a very good on and off ball defender. He hates to lose and keeps his composure all the time."
During the current summer season, Williams II is playing with his Play Hard Play Smart 17U (PHPS) club team for the second consecutive summer. He plans on working on his off hand and developing a more explosive move for his first step and his shot.
The exposure from playing on an upperclassman laden PHPS 17U team last year put Williams II on the recruiting map. In the recent City Championship Tourney at CCSF, his PHPS team was able to make the finals and lose by two to an older Team 94 team.
This 6-foot-3 and 180 pound guard has been in contact with Cal, Notre Dame, Oregon, Oregon State, Stanford, UC Santa Barbara, USC, Washington, and Washington State. And has an offer from San Francisco.
Coach Rollings says, "D'Erryl works hard on keeping his grades to a 4.00. He trains like an animal in the off season and at the same time he is like every other 16 year old. He likes to have fun and will clown around. I think his maturity level is amazing and once he realizes that he has a great three point shot and develops his right hand a little more he will do very well at the next level. I just think that he has a high standard in both academics and athletics and he doesn't settle for being second in anything or being mediocre. He will thrive to succeed at whatever he does. He is also a very polite and a respectful young man, and he is a pleasure to coach. I am looking forward to the next two years coaching him and his friends."
Before playing for the elite PHPS squad, Williams II played for his grade school club team, Beyond Basketball that included Sheldon teammate Dakarai Allen and former Franklin guard Ikenna Iroegbu. Beyond Basketball was a club team started by Williams II's father, D'Erryl Williams I. Williams I was an athletic wing who played at Santa Clara University when Dick Davey was an assistant coach.
Williams I had gone through the rigors of preparing and training for college level basketball, which he was able to pass on to his son. However, Williams II was slowed by an adolescent leg condition known as Osgood-Schlatter last summer. "D," what his teammates call him, persevered through the pain and was still able to have a solid summer.
As a result, it should come as no surprise that DII is already better than his father DI at this stage of his basketball development. And it should also come as no surprise that DII is more than ready for the DI college basketball environment in two years. Watch for Williams II to lead his Huskies in Sacramento for another title run.
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