10-06-2022, 10:18 PM
Four dimensional analysis on Williams:
Services: 247 composite #931 (#83 Edge), On3 consensus #794 (#75 LB), 247 #91 Edge, On3 #105 LB, Rivals #40 OLB (5.7 grade, same grade as Ese Dubre, Tristan Sinclair, Aeneas DiCosmo, Jordan Perez, Kevin Palma, Fred Craig, Johnathan Frink.....I'm purposefully comparing his grade to ILB or potentially ILB types as that's his apparent Stanford position, but note that the services evaluate him as an OLB), ESPN #68 OLB
Offers: Stanford, Boston College, Cal, Arizona State, Colorado, Colorado State, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisville, Marshall, Memphis, Michigan, Nebraska, North Texas, Oklahoma State, Oregon State, SMU, South Florida, Tulane, Utah, Utah State, Washington
Production: So far as a senior against really good competition (we'll see where strength of schedule ends up but right now it's top 16 percent of Shaw recruits) through only five games, Williams has 10.6 tackles per game (fourth on the team), 10 tackles for loss (first) 4.5 sacks (first), 3 passes defended (fourth), 2 forced fumbles (first), 2 fumble recoveries (first), and a blocked field goal (one of two on the team); on offense he has 2 catches for 22 yards and a touchdown. As a junior against above-average competition, he had 9.9 tackles per game (third), 24.5 tackles for loss (first), 11 sacks (first, next closest was 4), 6 passes defended (tied for fourth), 2 forced fumbles (tied for first), 2 fumble recoveries (tied for first), and 2 blocked punts and a blocked field goal (the only blocks on the team); on offense he added 4 catches for 109 yards and 2 touchdowns. The coolest thing is that he had 1.5 tackles for loss in 11 of 13 games. That's nice. As a sophomore, he had 4.8 tackles per game (12th) and half a tackle for loss (tied for 14th) against really good competition (FYI, he was teammates with our Austin Uke that year); he also had one 25 yard catch. As a freshman he got his feet wet with 2 tackles and half a sack. He also plays midfield in lacrosse.
Highlights: Williams' highlights show him as an edge player, sometimes DE and sometimes OLB but not much of how we presumably envision him. The freshman (non-varsity) highlights are a mix of edge and wide receiver. The sophomore highlights show him setting the edge, a couple plays in coverage, some kick coverage, and some more receiving. As you can tell from the stats, junior year is really when he started wreaking havoc rushing the passer, getting tackles for loss on run plays, and getting a paw on balls either rushing the passer or dropping into coverage (though those were more in transition than running downfield with receivers). My general rule is to only go in depth on film analysis if the commit faces future major college football players and there's really none of Williams against that kind of competition as a junior. In the John Paul II game, current UCF OL Caden Kitler was playing center and Williams was on the edge and they didn't square off. Similarly, as a senior I didn't see him against UTSA OL commit Isaac Sohn in the Aledo game, or any highlights of interest against Aledo's several prospects. Against LBJ Austin there were a few open field tackles of Vanderbilt RB commit Sedrick Alexander. He really has played one game against a bunch of future major college football players and that was three weeks ago against South Oak Cliff, home of Jimmy Wyrick. That was Williams' only game this year and only the second in the last two years without a tackle for loss. He still mustered a good number of highlights but it does bear mentioning he wasn't wreaking havoc like against less stout competition (which is what we usually see...players always do better against worse competition). The highlights for TCU OL commits Brione Ramsey-Brooks and Narado Stoker seemed fairly inconclusive for evaluating Williams.
If we lost out on Tom Williams' son we should shut down the program, but that was never going to happen. Tre Williams' interviews make pretty clear this was preordained from the cradle. But this isn't just a legacy son of our former captain/defensive coordinator, it's a solid prospect. He's a legitimate Power Five guy by recruiting service estimation and a quite credible one by offers and production. For us that's a really notable recruiting win if we do expect him to play linebacker. We've recruited the edge well but we've hardly recruited what we call "inside linebacker." In our current defense that's a position that often has three guys on the field and pretty much always has at least two. For that to be a dumpster fire - which, let's be honest, it is - is a big problem. Williams is a nice improvement to that pipeline. His mid teens of Power Five offers is certainly much more than the low single digits Rose and Hudson brought and even more than Dubre. And with Dubre not asserting himself yet it's not clear what we have in him. Williams will have every opportunity for major playing time. My concern is the disconnect between Williams' body (which suggests we'd slot him where our need is at ILB) and where he's actually played to date. His tape is on the edge and he's been quoted (in the context of being recruited by Oklahoma State and Michigan, which know much more about defensive football than us) as preferring edge and being able to rush the quarterback. Inside linebacker is a particular skillset that I have no idea if Williams has. And whether he's good at it or not, we have more work to do as our pipeline there is just too pathetic. One caveat: we don't actually know what head coach/defensive coordinator/base defense Stanford will have when Williams matriculates.
Services: 247 composite #931 (#83 Edge), On3 consensus #794 (#75 LB), 247 #91 Edge, On3 #105 LB, Rivals #40 OLB (5.7 grade, same grade as Ese Dubre, Tristan Sinclair, Aeneas DiCosmo, Jordan Perez, Kevin Palma, Fred Craig, Johnathan Frink.....I'm purposefully comparing his grade to ILB or potentially ILB types as that's his apparent Stanford position, but note that the services evaluate him as an OLB), ESPN #68 OLB
Offers: Stanford, Boston College, Cal, Arizona State, Colorado, Colorado State, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisville, Marshall, Memphis, Michigan, Nebraska, North Texas, Oklahoma State, Oregon State, SMU, South Florida, Tulane, Utah, Utah State, Washington
Production: So far as a senior against really good competition (we'll see where strength of schedule ends up but right now it's top 16 percent of Shaw recruits) through only five games, Williams has 10.6 tackles per game (fourth on the team), 10 tackles for loss (first) 4.5 sacks (first), 3 passes defended (fourth), 2 forced fumbles (first), 2 fumble recoveries (first), and a blocked field goal (one of two on the team); on offense he has 2 catches for 22 yards and a touchdown. As a junior against above-average competition, he had 9.9 tackles per game (third), 24.5 tackles for loss (first), 11 sacks (first, next closest was 4), 6 passes defended (tied for fourth), 2 forced fumbles (tied for first), 2 fumble recoveries (tied for first), and 2 blocked punts and a blocked field goal (the only blocks on the team); on offense he added 4 catches for 109 yards and 2 touchdowns. The coolest thing is that he had 1.5 tackles for loss in 11 of 13 games. That's nice. As a sophomore, he had 4.8 tackles per game (12th) and half a tackle for loss (tied for 14th) against really good competition (FYI, he was teammates with our Austin Uke that year); he also had one 25 yard catch. As a freshman he got his feet wet with 2 tackles and half a sack. He also plays midfield in lacrosse.
Highlights: Williams' highlights show him as an edge player, sometimes DE and sometimes OLB but not much of how we presumably envision him. The freshman (non-varsity) highlights are a mix of edge and wide receiver. The sophomore highlights show him setting the edge, a couple plays in coverage, some kick coverage, and some more receiving. As you can tell from the stats, junior year is really when he started wreaking havoc rushing the passer, getting tackles for loss on run plays, and getting a paw on balls either rushing the passer or dropping into coverage (though those were more in transition than running downfield with receivers). My general rule is to only go in depth on film analysis if the commit faces future major college football players and there's really none of Williams against that kind of competition as a junior. In the John Paul II game, current UCF OL Caden Kitler was playing center and Williams was on the edge and they didn't square off. Similarly, as a senior I didn't see him against UTSA OL commit Isaac Sohn in the Aledo game, or any highlights of interest against Aledo's several prospects. Against LBJ Austin there were a few open field tackles of Vanderbilt RB commit Sedrick Alexander. He really has played one game against a bunch of future major college football players and that was three weeks ago against South Oak Cliff, home of Jimmy Wyrick. That was Williams' only game this year and only the second in the last two years without a tackle for loss. He still mustered a good number of highlights but it does bear mentioning he wasn't wreaking havoc like against less stout competition (which is what we usually see...players always do better against worse competition). The highlights for TCU OL commits Brione Ramsey-Brooks and Narado Stoker seemed fairly inconclusive for evaluating Williams.
If we lost out on Tom Williams' son we should shut down the program, but that was never going to happen. Tre Williams' interviews make pretty clear this was preordained from the cradle. But this isn't just a legacy son of our former captain/defensive coordinator, it's a solid prospect. He's a legitimate Power Five guy by recruiting service estimation and a quite credible one by offers and production. For us that's a really notable recruiting win if we do expect him to play linebacker. We've recruited the edge well but we've hardly recruited what we call "inside linebacker." In our current defense that's a position that often has three guys on the field and pretty much always has at least two. For that to be a dumpster fire - which, let's be honest, it is - is a big problem. Williams is a nice improvement to that pipeline. His mid teens of Power Five offers is certainly much more than the low single digits Rose and Hudson brought and even more than Dubre. And with Dubre not asserting himself yet it's not clear what we have in him. Williams will have every opportunity for major playing time. My concern is the disconnect between Williams' body (which suggests we'd slot him where our need is at ILB) and where he's actually played to date. His tape is on the edge and he's been quoted (in the context of being recruited by Oklahoma State and Michigan, which know much more about defensive football than us) as preferring edge and being able to rush the quarterback. Inside linebacker is a particular skillset that I have no idea if Williams has. And whether he's good at it or not, we have more work to do as our pipeline there is just too pathetic. One caveat: we don't actually know what head coach/defensive coordinator/base defense Stanford will have when Williams matriculates.
