Two weeks ago, Joel Williams announced his decommitment from the Florida Gators just three weeks after committing to them. Now, the talented four-star athlete has announced his top four teams, and Tennessee is one of them.
Williams plays for Madison Prep Academy in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. On Monday, Sam Spiegelman of Rivals tweeted out a photo of Williams holding four different hats, stating that Williams has unveiled his top four schools in his recruitment. The four hats belong to LSU, Tennessee, Alabama, and Florida.
Four star CB Joel Williams unveils his top four schools pic.twitter.com/3qC5vIUn5q
— Sam Spiegelman (@samspiegs) June 24, 2019
Shortly after that tweet, Williams tweeted out a graphic he got from Tennessee wishing him good luck at the Adidas Five-Star Challenge coming up. Williams hasn’t tweeted out a graphic from either of the other three schools in his top four as of the posting of this article.
??? pic.twitter.com/XOtMlcasvR
— Joel Williams? (@sayyjoee) June 24, 2019
According to the 247Sports Composite rankings, Williams is the No. 304 overall player, No. 17 athlete, and No. 11 player in the state of Louisiana. The 6-foot-1, 180-pound athlete committed to Florida on May 19th, just two days after taking an unofficial visit to their campus. On June 10th, he announced his decommitment from the Gators and re-opened his recruitment.
Williams traveled to Tennessee twice in a two month span earlier this year, coming to campus for the first time in early March and returning on April 24th as well. It’s believed he’ll be making a trip to Knoxville shortly after the current recruiting dead period ends in late July as well.
Alabama is Williams’ most recent offer. He camped at Alabama on June 2nd and received an offer from the Tide the same day. He decommitted from Florida a week later. He’s also already taken an official visit to Houston back on June 14th, and he camped at LSU on June 20th and visited Alabama again the next day.
On film, Williams’ versatility stands out. His big frame separates him from many other players both on offense and defense, and he uses his size and speed to dominate. Williams has very good instincts on defense and plays physically there. He won’t let receivers push him around, and he contests passes with ease. On offense and special teams, he uses his good vision and athleticism to create big plays. It’s likely he’ll play at either safety or cornerback in college, wherever he ends up.
Williams does it all for Madison Prep, but he’s being recruited more as a defensive back rather than receiver by most schools. As a junior, he caught 10 touchdown passes on offense and recorded 35 tackles and 13 pass break-ups on defense.
Tennessee currently has 10 players committed to them in their 2020 recruiting class, and three of them are from projected defensive backs. Four-star safety Antonio Johnson, four-star JUCO cornerback Art Green, and three-star cornerback Lovie Jenkins all project to be in the secondary for the Vols.
Our Take:
Williams’ recruitment is one that probably won’t end any time soon even if he does commit to another school in the coming weeks. Alabama looks to be the favorite right now, but the Tide already have 21 players committed to them. Unless Williams commits to them soon, they may not have room for him. Even if he does, there’s always the chance that he gets pushed out at some point. Alabama did offer him when he camped with them, though, so it’s obvious that the Tide’s coaches like him.
Don’t count out LSU by any means, either. In-state products that the Tigers truly want are hard to pull away. Even with all that, though, the Vols are very much in the thick of things with Williams. There was a lot of momentum with UT and Williams shortly before his visit to Florida that ended with a commitment, and Tennessee has remained in contact with him throughout the whole process.
