Even with the revelation that he will never play competitive basketball again, Devon Williams kept a smile on his face Thursday afternoon.
Williams, a forward on the New Mexico men’s basketball team, addressed the media for the first time Thursday after hearing a recommendation that he stop playing basketball due to congenital spinal stenosis. He remained positive about his situation, repeatedly saying he was blessed throughout the press conference.
“I'm feeling better,” Williams said. “I'm starting to heal. It's not really hurting as much as the initial impact. I've been recovering.”
The condition came to light after Williams fell to the floor in Sunday’s game at New Mexico State’s Pan American Center in Las Cruces. Williams said he went for a rebound one moment and fell to the floor the next.
Williams didn’t feel any pain, he said, but rather he felt numb and could not move for 10 to 12 minutes. He remained overnight at a Las Cruces hospital.
Williams said he has had episodes like this before, but not to that severity. The previous incidents – all basketball related – would last for 10 to 15 seconds, he said, and he thought it was a tweak or a minor sprain. He never really brought it up before, he said.
The recommendation to stop playing came Wednesday before the Lobos’ home game against Loyola-Chicago, and the players were informed beforehand. Williams said he hoped he would be able to play again but braced himself for the suggestion that he shouldn’t.
“It was really hard,” he said. “I was thinking about it a lot. I realized that I'm still blessed to be able to still walk because there was a chance I would have been paralyzed. I could have been quadriplegic or a paraplegic. I was blessed.”
Williams will remain a key part of the Lobos' team this year by assisting the coaching staff, UNM head coach Craig Neal said. In fact, Neal has already had Williams in a coaches meeting. He will attend those meetings and be a fixture in practice so long as they do not conflict with William’s academic pursuits, Neal said.
That means Williams will need to speak out more, something Neal already pointed out to his new “coach.” Neal said he asked Williams questions regarding the team, practice times or how they’re’ going to feel. Williams just looked at him, Neal said.
“I was like 'You've got to talk now. You're a coach,” Neal said. “‘You're going to help be a coach now. You've got to learn what we do.'”
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Even with Williams on the sidelines, Neal expects it to make his team stronger. Wednesday’s 24-point victory over Loyola-Chicago shows the way the team dealt with the emotion of the moment, he said. It demonstrated how his players came together for one of their own, he said.
Another example of the team's resilience and support came when Cullen Neal, Craig Neal’s son, came into his dad’s office to ask if the players could write William’s number on the shoes. Craig Neal responded that it’s their team and they could honor their teammate however they deemed fit.
“We've got class kids. That's what we recruit,” he said. “We recruit great character kids. We recruit guys that care about one another. Now it's not always going to happen; you're going to have brotherly spats. But all in all they get along and I wasn't surprised for anything.”
Williams will continue his education at UNM. He will graduate this coming spring with a communications degree, majoring in organizational communication with a sociology minor. He also has aspirations for graduate school somewhere in the medical field, though he said he is weighing his options.
His athletic scholarship will remain intact, Neal said, through next year. That remains the case because Williams would have played had the recommendation not happened. For a second year of graduate school, Neal said he would do what he could to ensure Williams’ education is covered financially.
Finishing his education is the top priority, Williams said.
“I have to make sure I take advantage of this time that I'm off the court to stay on top of my studies, maybe even excel and get higher GPAs,” he said. “Do whatever I can.”
Besides, Neal won't allow him to fail.
When Williams was asked about this at the conference Neal said to him, “Just tell them you don't have a choice”.
“Yeah, I don't have a choice,” Williams responded.
For Neal, ensuring Williams’ completes an education is coming through on a promise he made to his parents.
“I told his mom and dad when I recruited him, I said he was going to graduate from college,” Neal said. “But now he's going to be able to get two degrees. That's something that we've got to look forward to. But he doesn't have a choice academically.”
J.R. Oppenheim is the managing editor for the Daily Lobo. Contact him at managingeditor@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @JROppenheim.
