Domanick Williams is a retired American football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 halfback

Halfback (American football)

A halfback, sometimes referred to as a tailback, is an offensive position in American football, which lines up in the backfield and generally is responsible for carrying the ball on run plays. Historically, from the 1870s through the 1950s, the halfback position was both an offensive and defensive...

. He played three years for the Houston Texans

Houston Texans

The Houston Texans are a professional American football team based in Houston, Texas. The team is currently a member of the Southern Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

 of the National Football League

National Football League

The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

 before being released. He was drafted by Houston in the 4th round of the 2003 NFL Draft

2003 NFL Draft

The 2003 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. The draft is known officially as the "NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting" and has been conducted annually since 1936. The draft was held April 26–27, 2003 at the Theatre at...

 out of Louisiana State University

LSU Tigers football

The LSU Tigers football team, also known as the Fighting Tigers or Bayou Bengals, represents Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, United States in NCAA Division I FBS college football. Current head coach Les Miles has led the team since 2005. Since 1999 when Nick Saban took over as...

. He was named the 2003 Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Year

Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Year

The Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Year award was created in 2002, sponsored by Pepsi. This is an award voted online by the fans, and it is completely separate from the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year and NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year awards voted on by the Associated Press...

, an award created in 2002, in which fans vote online from a pool of 5 candidates to determine the winner.

Williams is the Texans' all-time rushing leader. He rushed for 1,000+ yards in his first 2 seasons in the NFL (2003

2003 NFL season

-Milestones:The following teams and players set all-time NFL records during the season:-Team:-Individual:-Awards:-External Links:**-References:*NFL Record and Fact Book *...

 and 2004

2004 NFL season

The 2004 NFL season was the 85th regular season of the National Football League.With the New England Patriots as the defending league champions, regular season play was held from September 9, 2004 to January 2, 2005...

) 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

2005 NFL season

The 2005 NFL season was the 86th regular season of the National Football League.With the New England Patriots as the defending league champions, regular season play was held from September 8, 2005 to January 1, 2006...

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.”