Welcome, Husker Nation, to the Carriker Chronicles. It's Fast Friday, and as you know each and every Friday I keep it quick and easy. Today is going to be a little bit different; I'm going to talk about some Husker news that's a little bit sombering. I'm just going to go ahead and read you an article I read I found on the front page of HuskerMax.

"Wide receiver coach Keith Williams has been sentenced to thirty days in jail, three years probation, and fined $1,000 after pleading no contest to his third DUI. He is expected to report to jail as of right now, March 3rd."

Spring ball starts March 4th.

"A judge said he could apply for house arrest. Prosecutors have requested that he go to jail since he never did time for previous convictions. His driver's license has also been revoked for five years, he can apply for ignition interlock after forty-five days. Coach Williams was in his Chevrolet Camaro when he rear-ended an Uber driver's vehicle about 1:50 a.m. August 14th. His blood-alcohol level was .15, nearly double the legal limit."

The first thing that I thought of when I read this was safety. I harkened back to when I tried to get my driver's license. My dad didn't let me get my driver's license when I was sixteen. He always looked at a car as a mode of transportation and a possible weapon. It was a privilege, not a right, in his mind. He always said if it's misused, you can do damage to yourself, people in the car with you, and people around you. I had to wait until I was seventeen before I could ever drive.

I have a family member, who about twenty-five years ago, lost one of his legs and his father to a drunk driver. Had that guy not made the decision to get behind the wheel that night, he would still have both his legs and his father to this day. Now on a personal level, I don't know if Coach Williams has a drinking problem perse, three DUIs gives you that perception, but I don't know that he does or does not. If he does, on a personal level, as a human being, I just hope he gets some help for that. Because as a human being, you can't be putting yourself in those situations and endangering other people as well. You just need to get this taken care of; I hope he gets whatever is going on taken care of because this isn't a personal attack on the coach. This isn't a character assassination, there's just some bad choices being made. It's like what you learned when you were a little kid, actions have consequences. I just hope he gets some help on a personal level for those.

Now on a football level, he has an obligation and responsibility to represent the Husker football program in the best way possible. I'm thinking about recruits, I'm thinking about parents of recruits, I'm pretty sure opposing teams and opposing coaches are going to use this in recruiting going forward against us. I think about current players and coaches of current players on the team. Guys playing for him, guys on the team under him as well. Do they need to be concerned about something like this? I wonder about a guy like Coach Urban Meyer. If there weren't 3,984 NCAA rules, because I'm sure he can't do this because of one of them, if he could, you don't think he'd pick up the phone and call Tyjon Lindsey and say, "hey, you decommitted from us to go play for a guy with an issue like this?"

I'm not trying to be too harsh, once again, it's just the reality of the matter. I've had fans hit me up, asking me, should he be fired? First of all, that's not my job to say whether he should or shouldn't be fired, that's up to the head coach, Coach Riley. It doesn't look like that's going to happen anyway, but he has an obligation to represent Nebraska football in the best way possible and to be an example. You're trying to tell young men to be safe on the weekends, especially on a Saturday night after a big game, after a big victory. He needs to be that example so these young men can go out and be safe themselves. Basically, my concerns are safety for himself, other people in the car, and anyone around him that he might end up hitting.

Number two, on a personal level and as a human being, whether it's issues with alcohol, there's just bad choices being made one way or the other. Let me reiterate again, I don't know if he has those issues, but there are just bad decisions being made and I hope he gets help on that level. Number three, the football program. You owe it to the fans, everyone in Husker nation, to represent this program in the best light possible going forward.

Now today was a bit sobering. Typically Fridays are fast, light-hearted, fun. It is the weekend, so that's something to get excited about, get excited about that. Go out, have fun, have a great weekend, be safe, take care of yourselves out there. I am personally excited about this new email notification system that we set up earlier this week. So basically what it is, we've already had way more people sign up for this than I thought we would at this point so that's got me excited. Basically what it is, on the webpage where you clicked to watch this show, right below where you clicked to watch this show, there's a link. Click that link, take five seconds to enter your email address. You'll be notified with an email, including a link directly to the show, trying to make it as simple as we can. Absolutely free, three times a week, every time there's a new Carriker Chronicles.

Have a safe weekend, be fun and until Monday Husker Nation, GO BIG RED and always remember to THROW THE BONES!