PIERCED PERSPECTIVE

SAN DIEGO —  The scrutiny has been understandable.

You take a generation of stopwatch-toting football types educated in the ‘50s, and they want to know how that diamond stud is planted in Ricky Williams’ nose and if their organization will be liable for it should some opposing linebacker knock the snot out of him.

And, anyway, just how does that thing stay in there?

So they gather from all parts of the country to watch Ricky Williams, the University of Texas running back seemingly with the perpetual bad hair day, his dreadlocks respectfully pulled back in a pigtail, and, by George Halas, if he’s going to play for any of these guys, he’ll have to cut ‘em.

They all know this is the curious upstart who hired Master P to be his agent, and is he that Prince guy who keeps changing his name, or what? They know Master P is no Leigh Steinberg, that’s for sure, and that’s another red flag, like the 20 pounds Williams put on after the season.

The diamond earring in the left ear, of course, is almost required gear now in NFL locker rooms, and it’s understood by everyone that when he gets his signing bonus, he’ll be able to decorate the right side too.

But about this ring thing. This tongue thing. Stuck right through the middle of the tongue. You surround Ricky Williams with more than 100 NFL codgers, and if he’s got that tongue thing in there, they’re all leaving asking the authorities for his rap sheet.

The thing is, though, you don’t have to stick your tongue out at Mike Ditka--he knows a tough guy when he sees one.

Ditka knows a football player. Sure, he’s never met a quarterback, but tough, gritty, explosive football players, that’s his forte. And Ditka wants this guy Williams, while the rest of the NFL isn’t so convinced.

They’d like to see him run around orange cones like a mouse trapped in a maze. They’d like him to do the broad jump, run 40-yard dashes, as if any NFL team is going to let Carl Lewis set himself in the blocks, wait until he’s ready to go and then take off unimpeded. They’d like to see something more out of Ricky Williams.

This is no generation gap--this is simply idiotic. Ricky Williams has already run for more yards than anyone in college, flashed the speed to race past intimidated defenders and shown the first-class moves to don the jersey of long-ago football great Doak Walker for a game after Walker’s skiing accident and subsequent death.

Can everyone else in the NFL be wrong and Ditka right? That’s scarier than any tongue ring, rapper agent or funky hairdo.

“We’re willing to trade the whole orchard for one apple tree,” Ditka said the other day on TV, “because this is a pretty good apple tree.”

Ditka and the New Orleans Saints have made it known they will trade almost anything, including bread pudding for a year at the Commander’s Palace, for the opportunity to employ Williams in their backfield. And if you employed the quarterbacks the Saints now have, you’d want to hand the ball off as quickly as they would.

But there’s more to it than that. Ditka sees Williams as the best player in Saturday’s NFL draft, while everyone else has gone draft stupid.

How tough is it to figure out this: Ricky Williams is the best player available this year by far. That’s by a mile, by every which way you want to measure it, and that’s without mentioning the impact Terrell Davis had on the Denver Broncos, Jamal Anderson on the Atlanta Falcons, Curtis Martin on the New York Jets, and so on last season.

“We think he can have an immediate impact on our whole team and our season,” said New Orleans General Manager Bill Kuharich, like Ditka, needing to see no more from Ricky Williams. “I think this one guy has the ability to make everyone on our team better.”

And so the Saints have offered their entire draft for the opportunity to move from the 12th position in Round 1 forward to pick Williams. They also have offered choices from next year’s draft and almost anybody off their current roster.

Unfortunately, it’s probably going to take more than Billy Joe Tolliver to court the Cleveland Browns’ favor, although the Browns, the newest team on the block, look lost.

They have had the No. 1 pick since last year when they were awarded an expansion team, and they still don’t know whom they are going to take. They liked Kentucky quarterback Tim Couch, but then they took notice of Oregon quarterback Akili Smith. The locals made mention of Jim Brown, a running back extraordinaire who dominated for the Browns, and so they thought that was an interesting piece of information and took a gander at Williams.

Back to Couch. And then Smith. They brought in Williams for a chat after going across the country to work him out. Back to Couch.

“It will go right into Saturday morning until minutes before the draft opens,” said Chris Palmer, coach of the Browns.

Here’s a historical footnote to include in Cleveland Brown lore as they begin again in the NFL: They could have had Ricky Williams.

But they will probably go for the passer. What do you think of that, Ryan Leaf?

This can be a crazy league. Williams auditions weekly throughout his college career, is the NCAA all-time rushing leader with 6,279 yards upon his departure, gains 20 pounds on the banquet circuit, hires a strange agent and his value plummets.

“Coach Ditka said he likes to run the ball,” Williams said after chatting with the Saint coach recently. “He’s not going to throw the ball around and turn it over. He’s just going to run the ball. They’ll get mad at him, and it will be boring. But he will win.”

The Browns, Philadelphia Eagles and Cincinnati Bengals, experienced losers, might all pass on Williams, and now how crazy is this league?

“If I’m Cleveland, I take the running back,” said Hall of Fame running back Eric Dickerson, who ran for 1,808 yards in his rookie season with the Rams. “A quarterback is going to have a hard time adjusting at the outset. As a running back, you can make an immediate impact, run it 25 or 30 times. If you have a rookie quarterback throwing it 25 or 30 times, you have five interceptions.

“They talk about his dreadlocks, his tattoos--that has nothing to do with when you play on Sundays. They talked about my goggles when I came out and said I had eye problems. All kinds of things come up during the draft. Everybody wants the perfect guy. I know Ricky, and besides being a great football player, he’s a great guy.”

If Williams drops to No. 4 in the draft, he makes Indianapolis a quinella winner. The Colts can get one of the game’s next great running backs a year after enlisting Peyton Manning as their starting quarterback. And they can add more firepower by acquiring additional draft picks by trading away a sullen Marshall Faulk.

“I don’t have any clue what’s going to happen,” Williams said. “I think if I’m still there, the Colts are going to take me unless somebody comes up with a huge offer.”

Back to Ditka and the Saints, who have already called. . . .

“You got to sit back and analyze it all,” said Eagle Coach Andy Reid, who appears more interested in Syracuse quarterback Donovan McNabb. “We want to take everything in, make sure we do this with a clear head.”

They ought to have their clear, empty heads examined. Why pass on productivity for potential? There’s talk in some quarters now that University of Miami running back Edgerrin James might even be a better prospect than Williams.

“James is the best running back in the country,” Green Bay Packer scout Alonzo Highsmith told a New Orleans newspaper recently, and is that this Y2K problem everyone has been talking about?

What’s to analyze here? The hair? The pierced tongue? The tattoos on both arms?

“Kids just want to be different,” said Williams, and that’s not exactly a news flash. “The crowd that I am addressing, the younger crowd, it’s cool to them. I’m kinda representing Generation X. The older crowd, well, I’m sure they have their own opinions about them.

“I just try to play with a passion that Walter Payton played with and the determination he showed. It doesn’t get any better than that.”

No it doesn’t.

NFL: Michael Ovitz Turns Attention to Brining Team--His Own--to Coliseum. A1

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Striking the NFL Pose

Where Heisman Trophy winners were selected in the NFL draft since 1960:

1960--Billy Cannon, rb, first round, L.A. Rams

1961--Joe Bellino, rb, 17th round, Washington

1962--Ernie Davis, rb, first round, Washington

1963--Terry Baker, rb, first round, L.A. Rams

1964--Roger Staubach, qb, 10th round, Dallas

1965--John Huarte, qb, sixth round, Philadelphia

1966--Mike Garrett, rb, second round, L.A. Rams

1967--Steve Spurrier, qb, first round, third overall, San Francisco

1968--Gary Beban, qb, second round, 30th overall, L.A. Rams

1969--O.J. Simpson, rb, first round, first overall, Buffalo

1970--Steve Owens, rb, first round, 19th overall, Detroit

1971--Jim Plunkett, qb, first round, first overall, Boston

1972--Pat Sullivan, qb, second round, 40th overall, Atlanta

1973--Johnny Rodgers, wr, first round, 25th overall, San Diego

1974--John Cappelletti, rb, first round, 11th overall, L.A. Rams

1975--Archie Griffin not eligible for NFL draft

1976--Archie Griffin, rb, first round, 24th overall, Cincinnati

1977--Tony Dorsett, rb, first round, second overall, Dallas

1978--Earl Campbell, rb, first round, first overall, Houston

1979--Billy Sims, rb, not eligible for NFL draft

1980--Charles White, rb, first round, 27th overall, Cleveland

1981--George Rogers, rb, first round, first overall, New Orleans

1982--Marcus Allen, rb, first round, 10th overall, Oakland

1983--Herschel Walker, rb, went to USFL, eventually chosen in fifth round by Dallas in 1985

1984--Mike Rozier, rb, chosen in first round (second overall) of

1984 supplemental draft of players who had signed with USFL

1985--Doug Flutie, qb, 11th round, 285th overall, LA Rams

1986--Bo Jackson, rb, played baseball, chosen in seventh round (183rd overall) of 1987 draft

1987--Vinny Testaverde, qb, first round, first overall, Tampa Bay

1988--Tim Brown, wr, first round, sixth overall, L.A. Raiders

1989--Barry Sanders, rb, first round, third overall, Detroit

1990--Andre Ware, qb, first round, seventh overall, Detroit

1991--Ty Detmer, qb, not eligible for draft (chosen in 9th round, 230th overall by Green Bay in 1992)

1992--Desmond Howard, wr, first round, fourth overall, Washington

1993--Gino Torreta, qb, seventh round, 192nd overall, Minnesota

1994--Charlie Ward, qb, played in the NBA

1995--Rashaan Salaam, rb, first round, 21st overall, Chicago

1996--Eddie George, rb, first round, 14th overall, Houston

1997--Danny Wuerffel, qb, fourth round, 99th overall, New Orleans

1998--Charles Woodson, db, first round, fourth overall, Oakland

Note: Overall selection isn’t available before 1967

--RESEARCH BY HOUSTON MITCHELL