WILLIAMS PLANS OWN SUIT AGAINST NFL AS LAST RESORT, RECEIVER OPTIMISTIC ABOUT RETURN TO USC.

Byline: Billy Witz and Scott Wolf  Staff Writers

Former USC receiver Mike Williams, hoping to piggyback into the NFL on Maurice Clarett's antitrust lawsuit, will file a suit of his own, his agent said Monday after Clarett's case was overturned by an appellate court.

But in a contradiction to Williams' pending lawsuit, USC coach Pete Carroll said Williams would attempt to get reinstated by the NCAA in order to play for the Trojans next season.

After a stay was issued last month in Clarett's lower-court victory, Williams filed a suit in New York seeking an injunction before the NFL Draft. But his attorneys withdrew the suit until Clarett's case was heard by the full appellate-court panel.

Mike Azzarelli, Williams' agent, said this suit - which he said would be filed this week in their hometown of Tampa, Fla. - would differ from the previous one, but he declined to elaborate.

``It will be heard fairly quickly,'' Azzarelli said. ``We'll ask for an emergency injunction. There will be different grounds. It will separate us a little more from Clarett. (Williams') circumstances were totally different from Clarett's anyway.''

Carroll sounded as if Williams' NFL options were over.

``We've been preparing for this outcome for a while. Mike was aware of this possibility,'' Carroll said. ``He'll now look to get reinstated into college by the NCAA. The process is under way, but it will take awhile.

``We're counting on the NCAA to understand the uniqueness of this situation and give Mike the opportunity to come back to school.''

Williams' previous legal argument was that he left USC and made himself available for the draft only after the NFL said it would welcome underclassmen following Clarett's initial court victory in February. The NFL maintains it made it clear its plans to appeal the Clarett verdict.

Azzarelli said Williams would attempt to return to USC as a last resort if all his other avenues to the NFL are closed.

``We have not looked at that at all,'' he said. ``There'd be no reason to address that until July or August.''

That was the opposite of what Carroll said, however, another reflection of the confusing nature of Williams' case since he announced he would turn pro.

In an interview Monday taped before the court decision, Williams told KMPC-AM 1540 radio that there was a ``95 percent'' chance he would return to USC if he is not allowed to play in the NFL.

But Williams also said he didn't want to file a high-profile lawsuit, another apparent contradiction to Azzarelli's comments.

``On one hand we don't want to bully the NFL, we don't want to be the aggressor toward them,'' Williams said. ``I've always told my agent that I don't want to take the negative route towards this, I don't want to be the guy in the papers because I'm being aggressive toward the league. Basically, I don't want to take the Clarett route because that was never my intention in the first place.

``We're just going to do everything in a cordial manner and try to take care of business so when the ruling comes out we can just go from there.''

Getting Williams reinstated by the NCAA could be a complicated process. Among the issues the NCAA would investigate are the amount of money Williams has accepted from Azzarelli and endorsement deals he signed when it was anticipated he would be eligible for the draft.

Williams' shaky academic status before he dropped out of USC is another unresolved issue that could hinder his reinstatement.

``(Getting reinstated) would be a challenge and an uphill battle,'' said Bill Saum, the NCAA's director of agent, gambling and amateurism activities. ``The opportunity for success is something I wouldn't want to contemplate. It's so unique.''

And it might not be a quick process.

``Time is not a factor,'' Saum said.

Billy Witz, [phone]

billy.witz(at)dailynews.com

Scott Wolf, [phone]

scott.wolf(at)dailynews.com