Domanick Williams

Domanick Williams (born Domanick Davis October 1, 1980 in Lafayette, Louisiana) is a retired American football halfback. He played three years for the Houston Texans of the National Football League before being released. He was drafted by Houston in the 4th round of the 2003 NFL Draft out of Louisiana State University. He was named the 2003 Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Year, an award created in 2002, in which fans vote online from a pool of 5 candidates to determine the winner.

Williams rushed for 1,000+ yards in his first 2 seasons in the NFL (2003 and 2004) 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 he rushed for 976 yards in the first 11 games before suffering a knee injury and being placed on injured reserve.

He changed his name from Davis to Williams. On March 22, 2007 the Texans released Williams.

''(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 Liana, I have to change my name to what it really is, and it’s Williams.”''