Domanick Williams (born Domanick Davis October 1, 1980 in Lafayette, Louisiana) is an American football running back. 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.
Before the 2006-2007 season, Domanick was placed on injured reserve due to a lingering knee injury from the previous season, benching him for the whole season. It is believed by some fans that due to the gravity of Williams' knee injury he may never play another down of professional football.
Williams is the Texans' all-time rushing leader. Williams was considered a star for much of his career. He rushed for 1,000+ yards in his first 2 seasons in the NFL (2003 and 2004). In 2005 he ran for 976 yards. Domanick did not play in the 2006 season due to a knee injury.
On March 22, 2007 the Texans released Williams.http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=2809870
(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.”
(on 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.”
