Willie Parker
For the offensive lineman of the same name see Willie Parker (offensive lineman).
 Willie Parker in action during the 2006 season. | |
| Pittsburgh Steelers | |
|---|---|
| Career information | |
| College: | North Carolina |
| Undrafted: | 2004 |
| Career history | |
| |
| Career highlights and awards | |
| Stats at Pro Football Reference | |
Willie Everette Parker (born November 11, 1980)[1] is an American football running back for the Pittsburgh Steelers. His exceptional speed has gained him the nickname "Fast Willie".
Early years
Willie Parker was born in Clinton, North Carolina, attended Clinton High School, and was a letterman in football. He was a two-time All-Conference and a two-time All-Region honoree. As a junior, he rushed for 1,329 yards and 20 touchdowns and helped lead his team to the state 2A title. As a senior, he rushed for 1,801 yards and 18 touchdowns (while averaging 12.3 yards per carry) and was also named the County Player of the Year.
College career
He attended the University of North Carolina. In his first year he had some success with 355 yards on 84 carries, but was only used sparingly in his last three years due to decisions made by former head Coach John Bunting to restrict Parker's playing time until he "bulked up" to fit within Bunting's attempt at establishing a power running game.[2] In addition, Parker's father has stated that he thought the murder of Parker's best friend from home during Parker's sophomore year made it difficult for him to adapt to the new system at North Carolina.[3]
NFL career
Pittsburgh Steelers
2004
Parker was an undrafted free agent with the Steelers in 2004. While at UNC, Parker displayed great speed but little vision, resulting in inconsistent play which led to him being benched in favor of Ronnie McGill during his senior year. Parker was timed several times in the 40 yard dash coming from college. The fastest time was a 4.23. At Parker's Pro-Day, he was timed in the range of a 4.2.
He spent the 2004 NFL season as a backup player behind Jerome Bettis, Duce Staley and Verron Haynes. During the 2004 season he had his most impressive game in week 17 at Buffalo. Duce Staley started the game and played most of the first quarter; Parker took the rest of the game. He ran for 102 yards in the remaining 3 quarters, including a very long sprint that set up a game controlling drive. The Steelers, playing mostly reserves (third-stringer Brian St. Pierre played part of the game at QB) had already sealed the top seed in the AFC that year, but for the Bills, a win could have meant the playoffs. After Parker's performance in this game, head coach Bill Cowher gave Parker extensive playing time during the 2005 preseason.
2005
In his second year, Parker earned the starting job after both Bettis (hamstring) and Staley (knees) missed the first part of the season with injuries. By default, Parker had to play the first game against the Tennessee Titans. He impressed Bill Cowher (as well as Titans coach Jeff Fisher) by gaining 161 rushing yards on 22 attempts (7.3 average). With a 45 yard toss play, and a 48 yard screen play, he was getting major attention from everyone on the field. After following up this performance with another 100+ yard game against the Houston Texans, Cowher said "He's here to stay." "Fast Willie" started 15 of 16 games that season (he was injured in week 9 against the Green Bay Packers and missed the week 10 contest against the Cleveland Browns), finishing with 255 carries for 1,202 yards (4.7 average, a career long 80 yard touchdown run in week 16 against the Browns) and 4 touchdowns. He also finished the season with 218 yards receiving and one touchdown. Willie Parker was the first Steeler back since Bettis in 2001 to top 1,000 yards in a season. Also, he is the second undrafted running back to rush for over 1,000 in the history of the NFL.
Super Bowl XL
On the second play of the third quarter of Super Bowl XL, "Fast" Willie Parker scored a 75-yard touchdown, the longest rushing play in Super Bowl history, to give the Steelers a 14-3 lead over the Seattle Seahawks. The previous long was 74 yards by Marcus Allen in Super Bowl XVIII against the Washington Redskins.
Alan Faneca, the All-Pro guard who pulled and made the block that sprung Parker for the touchdown, got an MVP vote as a result of the play. Parker finished the game with 93 yards on 10 carries and an average of 9.3 yards a carry, the third-best average in Super Bowl history (minimum 10 carries).
2006 and 2007
In 2006, Parker signed a major contract with the Steelers, a four-year $13.6 million dollar deal that would solidify his future role on the team. Bill Cowher was quoted as saying that Parker would be a workhorse and receive the goal-line carries in his role as the starter, making him the bona fide #1 running-back in Pittsburgh. On November 12th, 2006, in a home game against the New Orleans Saints, Willie rushed for 213 yards on 22 carries, 5 yards short of the greatest single-game rushing total in Steeler history. His two long gains of 72 and 76 yards set up Willie touchdowns that capped off the Pittsburgh victory, 38-31. His 76-yard sprint late in the 4th quarter was the longest rush in Heinz Field history.
On December 7th against the Cleveland Browns, Willie Parker broke the all-time Steelers rushing record for a single game, gaining 223 yards on 32 carries before being taken out of the game in the third quarter. The record was previously held by Frenchy Fuqua. Parker also became the only Steelers running back to have two 200+ yard games in the same year.
'Fast Willie' played in (and started) all 16 regular season games. He compiled 1,494 yards on 337 carries (4.4 average) with 13 rushing touchdowns. He also had 12 runs of 20 or more yards. Parker also caught 31 passes for 222 yards (7.2 average) and 3 touchdowns. In addition, his 16 combined scores broke the previous Steelers single-season touchdown mark of 15 set by Louis Lipps in 1987.
Parker served as a backup to LaDainian Tomlinson and Larry Johnson in his first Pro Bowl, where he would finish the game with 40 yards on 2 carries. In the 2007-2008 season, Parker is (as of 11/28/07) the leading rusher in the AFC through 11 weeks with 1,006 rushing yards, averaging 91 yards per game.[4]
Trivia
- Parker has stated that he learned his speed from racing his pet pitbull growing up.
- Parker is not the first Steelers running back to become a star on the team after being a backup in college. Hall of Famer Franco Harris, the team's all-time leading rusher and Super Bowl IX MVP, served as a backup to Lydell Mitchell when he played at Penn State. Supposedly, similar to what Parker went through at North Carolina, Joe Paterno preferred Mitchell's style over Harris.
References
- ^ "Willie Parker #39". The Official Site of the Pittsburgh Steelers. Retrieved 2007-09-10.
- ^ [1]
- ^ [2]
- ^ http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/statistics?stat=rush&season=2&year=2007