Willie Everett Parker Jr. (born November 11, 1980) is an American former professional football player who was a running back for six seasons for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL). After playing college football for the North Carolina Tar Heels, he was signed by the Steelers as an undrafted free agent in 2004.
Contents
Early life
Willie Parker was born in Clinton, North Carolina, attended Clinton High School, and was a letterman in football and track. He was a two-time All-Conference and a two-time All-Region honoree. As a junior, he rushed for 1,329 yards and 20 touchdowns and helped lead his team to the state AA title. As a senior, he rushed for 1,801 yards and 18 touchdowns (while averaging 12.3 yards per carry) and was also named the County Player of the Year. One of Parker's cousins is Leonard Henry, former Miami Dolphins running back. In track & field, Parker competed as a sprinter and was a state qualifier in the 100-meter dash (11.1 s) and 4 × 100 m (44.64 s).
College career
He attended the University of North Carolina. In his first year, he had some success with 355 yards on 84 carries, but was only used sparingly in his last three years due to decisions made by former head coach John Bunting to restrict Parker's playing time until he "bulked up" to fit within Bunting's attempt at establishing a power running game. In addition, Parker's father has stated that he thought the murder of Parker's best friend from home during Parker's sophomore year made it difficult for him to adapt to the new system at North Carolina.
Parker started the first three games of his sophomore season and played in nine games. He was able to finish the season second on the team in rushing with 400 yards but only having 83 carries and had three touchdowns. Willies best game was the Peach Bowl against Auburn where he racked up 131 rushing yards on 19 carries and scored one touchdown. His touchdown run in the first quarter gave Carolina a 7–0 lead. Willie also caught three passes for 24 yards. Parker began the year as UNC's starting tailback, but was replaced in the starting lineup against Florida State. He did not play against Florida State, NC State or Georgia Tech, but was a crucial part of the offense towards the end of the season. Had a 102-yard showing at Maryland in the second game of the season. Scored on UNC's first play from scrimmage against the Terps on a 77-yard run. Parker had 66 yards on 10 carries and one touchdown vs. Duke, and as outstanding against SMU, with 82 yards on 13 carries (6.3 yards per attempt) and a 2-yard touchdown run. In the last two regular-season games against Duke and SMU, he totaled 148 yards on 23 carries and two touchdowns.
Parker played in 11 games and started only two his junior year. Parker was able to start the season-opener against Miami (Ohio) and at Virginia. He was able to finish the season second on the team with 70 carries for 236 yards and one touchdown. Willie was also able to haul in 12 passes for 104 yards. His most productive day of the season was in Carolina's win at Syracuse with 79 yards rushing on 13 carries, averaging 6.1 yards per attempt. He had a 50-yard touchdown run to end the first quarter as the Tar Heels took a 10–0 lead vs. SU. Willie led the Tar Heels with 43 yards rushing on 13 attempts against NC State, and had one reception for five yards. Willie had a season-high 15 carries for only 36 yards and five receptions for 43 yards at Virginia. Willie's usage began to slip away against Florida State when he only mounted six rushes for 26 yards. Again against Maryland, his usage began to diminish when he only toted the ball four times for five yards. Willie gained 12 yards on four carries in the loss to Wake Forest. He also gained 12 yards on five carries against Arizona State. In a loss to the Longhorns, Willie was only able to gain 15 yards on two carriers.
Professional career
Pittsburgh Steelers
Parker was an undrafted free agent with the Steelers in 2004. While at UNC, Parker displayed great speed, but little vision, resulting in inconsistent play which led to him being benched in favor of Ronnie McGill during his senior year. Parker's experience as a backup in college drew comparison to Hall of Famer Franco Harris, the Steelers all-time leading rusher and Super Bowl IX MVP, who served as a backup to Lydell Mitchell when he played at Penn State, as supposedly, head coach Joe Paterno preferred Mitchell's style over Harris'.
He spent the 2004 NFL season as a backup player behind Jerome Bettis, Duce Staley and Verron Haynes. During the 2004 season, he had his most impressive game in week 17 at Buffalo. Duce Staley started the game and played most of the first quarter, while Parker took over for the rest of the game. He ran for 102 yards in the remaining 3 quarters, including a very long sprint of 58 yards that was part of a game-controlling drive. The Steelers, playing mostly reserves (third-stringer Brian St. Pierre played part of the game at QB) had already sealed the top seed in the AFC that year, but for the Bills, a win could have meant the playoffs. After Parker's performance in this game, head coach Bill Cowher gave Parker extensive playing time during the 2005 preseason.
In his second year, Parker earned the starting job after both Bettis (hamstring) and Staley (knees) missed the first part of the season with injuries. By default, Parker had to play the first game against the Tennessee Titans. He impressed Bill Cowher, as well as Titans coach Jeff Fisher, by gaining 161 rushing yards on 22 attempts (7.3 average). After following this performance with another 100+ yard game against the Houston Texans, Cowher gave Parker the starting position. "Fast Willie" started 15 of 16 games that season (being injured week 9 against the Green Bay Packers and missed the week 10 contest against the Cleveland Browns), finishing with 255 carries for 1,202 yards (4.7 average, a career long 80-yard touchdown run in week 16 against the Browns) and 4 touchdowns. He also finished the season with 218 yards receiving and one touchdown. Parker was the first Steeler back since Bettis in 2001 to top 1,000 yards in a season. Also, he is the second undrafted running back to rush for over 1,200 in the history of the NFL.(Along with Priest Holmes)
In the third quarter of Super Bowl XL, Parker scored a 75-yard touchdown, the longest rushing play in Super Bowl history, to give the Steelers a 14–3 lead over the Seattle Seahawks. The previous longest was 74 yards by Marcus Allen in Super Bowl XVIII against the Washington Redskins.
Washington Redskins
On April 2, 2010, Parker signed with the Washington Redskins, adding a third running back to Washington's committee of Clinton Portis and Larry Johnson. He was released during final cuts on September 4, 2010.
Virginia Destroyers
On April 26, 2011, the Virginia Destroyers of the United Football League claimed Parker off waivers. He announced that he would be signing with the team on August 2, 2011. However, Parker ultimately never played with the team.
Retirement
On August 3, 2012, Parker officially retired.
Career statistics
NFL
Regular season stats
Postseason stats
Coaching career
Parker became an assistant coach for the West Virginia Wesleyan College football team in July 2012.
Beginning in 2015, Parker became running backs coach at Heritage High School in Wake Forest, North Carolina. Former NFL player Dewayne Washington is the head coach and Torry Holt serves as assistant head coach and wide receivers coach.
Personal life
As of 2026, Parker's cousin Jaylen Warren plays running back for the Steelers.