Rebel Turning Into Pride of Bruceton (P. Willis)

[RebelYelp]

Willis makes best of setbacks in his family

When Patrick Willis returns home to Bruceton, Tenn., he makes a point to go see his father, Ernest Willis.

The two might shoot a little basketball, grab something to eat, or just sit around and talk. Ernest will ask how things are going at Ole Miss. And inevitably, he will say the words Patrick has longed to hear his whole life.

''I'm proud of you son," Ernest tells him. "Keep it up.''

That may seem like a normal statement for a father to tell a son. Especially a son who, off the football field, is entering his junior year on track to graduate in December of 2006. Especially a son who is becoming a rising star on the field and has been named to most preseason All-Southeastern Conference teams as a second- or third-team linebacker.

But it's only been recently that Ernest has been able to express the kind of love Patrick has been seeking.

Willis's mother, Loretta Anderson, has never been prominent in his life. He and his three siblings would go years without seeing her. The last time Willis saw her was at one of his basketball games during his senior year at Bruceton Central High.

''I haven't heard from her since then,'' Willis said. ''I'm not hard to find."

That left Ernest to raise Patrick, his younger brothers Orey and Detris, and sister Ernica. For the most part, Ernest, later with the help of a girlfriend, did a good job. But somewhere along the way, drugs and alcohol began taking over his life.

By the time Patrick was 16, the Department of Children's Services intervened. Chris Finley, who coached Patrick and Orey in basketball at Bruceton, was told by a member of the community that the children were about to be removed from their home. Finley was asked if he and his wife, Julie, a white couple who had been married just two years, would be willing to take in the African-American children.

''I don't think it was (an easy decision),'' Chris Finley said. ''We both talked with our parents and some other people in the community. We were so young. Some people with DCS were concerned we may not have understood the full ramifications of what we were doing. We just talked about it and decided we wanted to do the best we could do, even though we may not know everything about parenting, or everything we were getting into. We decided that these kids deserved a chance to succeed.

''Orey was the only one, when they took the kids out of their father's house, that was home. I think Patrick was at his baseball game. Orey took it a little bit harder seeing the emotions that his dad had to go through right then and there. Eventually, they realized we weren't trying to take them away from their father. We were trying to give Ernest a chance to straighten up, not have to worry about taking care of the kids so he could take care of himself.''

Bruceton is a small community of about 1,500 people and two traffic lights located about an hour northeast of Jackson. It's a close-knit town, which is why everyone took interest in the well-being of the children.

After passing all of the qualifications required by the state, the Finleys kept all four children that summer before DCS found another couple to take in Ernica and Detris. Meanwhile, the Finleys were adjusting to having two teenage sons, and Patrick and Orey were dealing with being without their father.

To help make the transition smoother, Chris and Julie encouraged interaction between the boys and Ernest.

''We didn't want to be known as the ones who took the kids away,'' Finley said. ''We actually had the opportunity when we first got the kids to sit down and talk with (Ernest). I think he understood, hopefully, we were going to be housing the kids until things worked out. There was never any real bad feelings on that side. Everything's really been positive. If they ever wanted to go out and see their father, or talk to their father, they were always welcome to do that.''

A budding star

As a high school senior, Willis thrived on the football field. A two-time all-state performer, he was named Class 1A Mr. Football after rushing for 2,167 yards and 30 touchdowns and recording 163 tackles, including 36 for loss, and 12 sacks.

Willis was a lifelong Tennessee Vols fan. But when it came time to be recruited, the biggest schools to come calling were Ole Miss and the University of Memphis. Willis blames that on what he calls a Class 1A (Tennessee's smallest classification) bias by most big universities.

''I'm the type of person that truly believes if you can play the game of football, then you can play at any level,'' Willis said. ''That's all I wanted to do, to get the opportunity. Ole Miss blessed me with that opportunity, and I thank God that I am there.''

Willis played in all 13 games as a true freshman in 2003 as a backup linebacker and special-teams player. Last year, he appeared in 10 of 11 games as a second-string linebacker. Willis led the Rebels with 11 tackles for loss and had 70 total tackles and five sacks.

He was nervous in last year's season-opener against Memphis, but managed to get eight tackles. In the Rebels' next game against Alabama, Willis had just five tackles while getting a rude awakening to SEC play.

''Those boys, they actually murdered me out there,'' Willis said. ''Every time I came off the field, I was like, 'Man, they're on me.' Every time I turned around, they just hit me. After that game, I said, ' I see what it's about.'

''As we started playing more in the SEC, I started feeling like they can't touch me unless I let them, or unless I get tired. I just started feeling good out there. I guess the Alabama game woke me up and let me see what it's all about.''

That game he missed, vs. Wyoming, is the one that bothered Willis the most. He was forced to sit out a game when it was discovered a friend of the family, who happened to be an Ole Miss supporter, took Willis to dinner while Ole Miss was in Dallas for the 2004 Cotton Bowl.

''The biggest thing that made me mad is I really didn't have to go through the stuff that I did because of the situation with my guardians,'' Willis said. ''They told me if I ever need anything to just call them, and I didn't.''

Willis is extra careful about such situations now. Last month, he had someone from a local Oxford store ask him to come and sign copies of a video game that was about to be released. He was offered a free copy of the game for his services. Not sure if it was something he could do, Willis remembered something new Ole Miss coach Ed Orgeron told him.

''Coach O told us, if you've got to think about it, don't do it,'' Willis said.

Man in the middle

Willis heads into this season as the focal point of Ole Miss's new 4-3 defensive alignment. During the spring, he excelled at his new position.

Playing middle linebacker allows him to to use his quickness and athleticism to roam the entire field. He was named the most improved defensive player during the spring.

''He's a great hitter,'' Orgeron said. ''He knows what we're about at Ole Miss. He's quick. He's knowledgeable. He's studying film all the time, and he's a hard hitter. I think he's going to have a future.''

Unfortunately, one of Willis's biggest hits of the spring was one he wishes he could take back. Quarterback Robert Lane was rolling out and heading toward the end zone when Willis laid him out. The resulting shoulder injury knocked Lane out for the rest of the spring.

After much ribbing by his teammates, Willis tried to explain.

''I said, 'Ya'll have to understand,''' Willis said. ''This guy, as a freshman, he came in and (former) coach (David) Cutcliffe was big on don't hit the quarterback. So (Lane) ran the ball and he hit me so hard that it knocked my chin strap loose, and it kind of dazed me a little bit. I said, 'Man, we can't even touch the guy. He can just run over us like that.'

''That's always stayed with me since our freshman year. So we were out there and I saw him, and I thought he saw me, but he said he was looking to the guy on the outside. He was going full speed and I was thinking, 'I can't let him run me over. That's going to look real bad.'''

Although Orgeron allows his quarterbacks to get hit in the spring, Willis has a plan the next time that situation arises.

''I promise I'm going to step out of the way and let him score,'' he said.

Still a family

After going to summer school each year, Willis is on pace to graduate with a degree in Criminal Justice in December of 2006. He made the Chancellor's honor roll in the fall of 2003 and 2004.

He tries to be a positive role model for Orey, 19, Ernica, who will be 18 on Aug. 10, Detris, 16, and his 7-year-old stepsister, Ashley.

''I have to show them that we all have choices in life,'' Willis said. ''I know they look up to me, but what they don't realize is I look to them just as much. When I hear about them doing good in the classroom, when I go home and they say your sister is doing really well in school, or my brother is doing good in school, that makes me smile. I feed off of them as much as they feed off of me.''

Willis said the success he and his siblings have had has a lot to do with the Finleys.

''It's been a blessing to be with them,'' he said. ''They've helped me out tremendously. When school gets hard, I know I can call them and they're like, 'Hang in there. You're going to see the light.' They support me in all I do.''

But Finley isn't ready to take all the credit.

''Whenever somebody asks me about it, there may have been some drug issues (with Ernest), but if you look at the two older kids, Patrick and Orey, they're such humble gentlemen,'' Finley said. ''Somewhere along the line, their father did something right, to have two kids turn out to be so respected by the community, so humble in their athletic abilities, that somewhere along the line, Ernest did a good job.''

Mention his dad, and Willis still gets a glow in his eyes. Now 20, he enjoys those visits with his father, who is always looking to stuff Patrick with food.

''It seems like now, we have a better relationship,'' Willis said. ''Now I can talk to my dad, or me and him and my uncles, and we'll have a grown-up talk. He'll tell me some of his stories, or I'll tell some of my college stories.''

Somewhere in that conversation, Ernest tells Patrick how proud he is of him. To Willis, that's the best feeling in the world.

''That's all I ever wanted to do was just make him proud,'' he says with a smile.


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[rebelduckaholic]

That is definately a good story in college athletics.