2022 Mater Dei (CA) 4-star WR CJ Williams took one of the more unique paths to an offer from the Miami Hurricanes when he landed a UM bid last night.
Williams had been speaking with fellow 2022 4-star prospect AJ Duffy from Rancho Verde (CA), a QB who himself landed a UM offer from the staff earlier this month, and the pair discussed Miami as a potential school the two could team up at. From there, Duffy was able to put the Mater Dei star in touch with WR coach Rob Likens.
“We had a good conversation – [Likens] told me he liked the type of person I was just based off our phone call, he said I sounded very articulate and seemed like a hard-working dude,” Williams said. “Off of that information and my film, he was able to offer me a scholarship. It’s a really good feeling being that it’s a premier program, a program with a lot of rich history, so those two elements, plus it’s not a bad place to land at after football. So, great school and very big offer for me.”
Williams actually met Likens last year when Likens was at ASU and Williams went on a visit to see the Sun Devils play Oregon. Although, they hadn’t been in contact since Likens came to Miami, that’s expected to change now that it’s clear there’s interest coming from both parties.
“Being that he was all the way on the other side of the country and I’m here in California, he didn’t really think that I’d have interest in the school,” Williams said of Likens. “But the fact that AJ Duffy reached out and told him I have interest, they were interested in me as a player and a person as well, which is very big.
“We spoke about the situation at ASU and how he landed at Miami, that’s a really big come up for him. He just wanted to make sure what kind of person I was and that I genuinely had interest in the University of Miami before he offered me.”
Likens also gave Williams a general overview of the new spread offense that OC Rhett Lashlee brought to Miami this offseason and what the team was working on in the spring before the shutdowns.
“[Likens] said they got four full spring practices in and that’s a lot more than other colleges got, so they got to see the spread offense in action, they got to see some film on it,” Williams said. “He said the big thing is that they were able to get a lot of plays off in a short amount of time – they were running plays in seven seconds.
“That’s really big because not only is it going to help the offense if they’re better conditioned than the defense and leaves the defense unprepared for certain situations, but that it makes it easier to find a key matchup they want to exploit. That makes it better for them in that aspect, but also the conditioning aspect, not to mention it means more balls for wide receivers, more stats.”
Now with the UM offer in hand, Williams says he is already making moves to plan a Canes visit with Duffy and his 7-on-7 coach, Matt Villasenor, who has prior connections with Likens and UM Director of Recruiting David “Pop” Cooney.
“Right after I got off the phone with them, coach Matt said, ‘Me, you, AJ and AJ’s dad, we’re going down to Florida once this coronavirus stuff is over and definitely taking a visit to Miami’,” Williams said. “He said that I’d love it, that it’s a great campus and great people. My dad’s done a little bit of business in the Miami area and he’s seen the campus. Based off what he told me, he told me some pretty good things, so I’m excited to see it for sure.”
The connection between Duffy and Williams goes back to their freshman years of high school, when the pair played on the same 7-on-7 team and built a strong rapport as QB and WR. As of now, the duo would like to play at the same school, but Williams stopped short of calling that a certainty.
“I know AJ is a smart dude, very good quarterback - I respect him a lot, he respects me a lot as a receiver,” Williams said. “So just that relationship in general is enough for him to want to go to college with me and build this relationship further. It’s a not a set in stone plan, we have to do what’s best for us individually. But if we ended up at the same school, I guarantee neither of us would be mad.”
Just before the coronavirus shutdowns, Williams was able to see both Oregon and Oregon State on visits, but ended up having to cancel a string of other spring visits he had set up that included trips to Texas, Texas A&M, Cal, Stanford, Notre Dame, Michigan, Michigan State, and Ohio State.
“Hopefully, I will be able to take those visits still and now add on the University of Miami visit, and get a general idea of where I could see myself in the future,” Williams said. “Hopefully, I’ll be able to commit prior to my senior season so I’d have my senior year to focus on football, academics, and worrying about being a high school teenager. Since I want to enroll early, that will give me a better idea of what classes I need to take and stuff like that.”
While Williams does expect to narrow down his list before a decision, don’t expect a public top schools announcement – it will remain between him and his family. Is distance from home going to be a factor for Williams?
“As long as I can call my parents everyday and tell them I love them, it’s not a problem for me,” Williams said. “In life, you’re going to have to deal with circumstances, and I think I’m mature enough to go live on a campus far from home. I just want to be able to call my mom every day and tell her how much I care and tell her I miss her.”
As for other factors that will play a role in Williams’ decision, he feels a family atmosphere with strong values will ultimately guide him to his destination.
“The one thing I’ll really look at is how they treat me, my family, my little brother,” Williams said. “That family aspect of a school - I want to know that they genuinely want me there.
“I want to know that they have my best interests in mind as a young man, that they want to make me a better person, not only a better football player. That they don’t want me to just get drafted and play NFL football, but they want me to be set after football in terms of a degree and living on my own, showing people the respect they show me. Those little things that make a great person a great person, I just want them to hold those morals close to their heart.”
Williams just finished his sophomore season at Mater Dei and recorded 50 catches for 684 yards and 4 TD's for the loaded Monarchs' offense in 2019.
“I cannot complain about my sophomore season,” Williams said. “I had a great sophomore campaign in a better league than most people would play. Not to mention I had a great quarterback in Bryce Young – wherever the ball needed to be, he put it there. We had multiple receivers that could play division one football one day. I had a great season in my eyes, in my parent’s eyes, and my coaches’ eyes.”
Following that strong sophomore year and offers from blue blood programs across the nation, Williams was recently named the #31 overall prospect in the country and the 4th best receiver for the 2022 class by 247Sports this month. For Williams, that’s just extra motivation.
“The way I feel, you can always use those rankings as a bar. There’s always going to be someone in front of you, and if not, there’s always someone coming for you, so it’s always giving you a reason to work harder,” Williams said. “It’s always good to get honors, to be recognized as a great football player because we work every day for this, so those little things mean a lot. So what I really value about the rankings is that they give me people to chase after and lets me know who’s coming for me, so that’s big.”
The amount of work it takes to get to that level can be taken for granted or brushed aside by some, but Williams says he’s learned to fall in love with the process of what it takes to be great.
“Growing up, I wasn’t one of the better athletes, so my thing is, in the weight room, on the practice field, I’m going to outwork you prior to when we’re matched up head-to-head. That’s what I rely on,” Williams said. “I’m in the gym longer, I’m lifting more weights than you, I’m more conditioned than you. So those things prior to the field, that’s something I really dominate at.
“Intellectually on the field, I feel like I have a high football IQ. I know different things that the defense is doing – I grew up playing free safety and I still study the position because I know it will help me at wide receiver. If a DB is playing inside, I know what kind of release I want to take, how many steps upfield I want to take. It’s those little things that make great receivers – getting in and out of breaks, using your arms, catching the ball with your eyes. I feel like I’m one of those receivers that really values the little things and hopefully that will see a tremendous pickup next year, and it really makes me defiant over the other receivers in my class.”
What will the 4-star prospect be working on over the offseason to inch his way closer to the nation's #1 receiver mantle?
“I definitely want to improve over the years. It’s not always about stats, but I want to improve on the little things in terms of winning 1-on-1 battles, blocking, yards after catch. I feel like if I get those little things improved, my game will take a tremendous leap for sure.”
Williams had been speaking with fellow 2022 4-star prospect AJ Duffy from Rancho Verde (CA), a QB who himself landed a UM offer from the staff earlier this month, and the pair discussed Miami as a potential school the two could team up at. From there, Duffy was able to put the Mater Dei star in touch with WR coach Rob Likens.
“We had a good conversation – [Likens] told me he liked the type of person I was just based off our phone call, he said I sounded very articulate and seemed like a hard-working dude,” Williams said. “Off of that information and my film, he was able to offer me a scholarship. It’s a really good feeling being that it’s a premier program, a program with a lot of rich history, so those two elements, plus it’s not a bad place to land at after football. So, great school and very big offer for me.”
Williams actually met Likens last year when Likens was at ASU and Williams went on a visit to see the Sun Devils play Oregon. Although, they hadn’t been in contact since Likens came to Miami, that’s expected to change now that it’s clear there’s interest coming from both parties.
“Being that he was all the way on the other side of the country and I’m here in California, he didn’t really think that I’d have interest in the school,” Williams said of Likens. “But the fact that AJ Duffy reached out and told him I have interest, they were interested in me as a player and a person as well, which is very big.
“We spoke about the situation at ASU and how he landed at Miami, that’s a really big come up for him. He just wanted to make sure what kind of person I was and that I genuinely had interest in the University of Miami before he offered me.”
Likens also gave Williams a general overview of the new spread offense that OC Rhett Lashlee brought to Miami this offseason and what the team was working on in the spring before the shutdowns.
“[Likens] said they got four full spring practices in and that’s a lot more than other colleges got, so they got to see the spread offense in action, they got to see some film on it,” Williams said. “He said the big thing is that they were able to get a lot of plays off in a short amount of time – they were running plays in seven seconds.
“That’s really big because not only is it going to help the offense if they’re better conditioned than the defense and leaves the defense unprepared for certain situations, but that it makes it easier to find a key matchup they want to exploit. That makes it better for them in that aspect, but also the conditioning aspect, not to mention it means more balls for wide receivers, more stats.”
Now with the UM offer in hand, Williams says he is already making moves to plan a Canes visit with Duffy and his 7-on-7 coach, Matt Villasenor, who has prior connections with Likens and UM Director of Recruiting David “Pop” Cooney.
“Right after I got off the phone with them, coach Matt said, ‘Me, you, AJ and AJ’s dad, we’re going down to Florida once this coronavirus stuff is over and definitely taking a visit to Miami’,” Williams said. “He said that I’d love it, that it’s a great campus and great people. My dad’s done a little bit of business in the Miami area and he’s seen the campus. Based off what he told me, he told me some pretty good things, so I’m excited to see it for sure.”
The connection between Duffy and Williams goes back to their freshman years of high school, when the pair played on the same 7-on-7 team and built a strong rapport as QB and WR. As of now, the duo would like to play at the same school, but Williams stopped short of calling that a certainty.
“I know AJ is a smart dude, very good quarterback - I respect him a lot, he respects me a lot as a receiver,” Williams said. “So just that relationship in general is enough for him to want to go to college with me and build this relationship further. It’s a not a set in stone plan, we have to do what’s best for us individually. But if we ended up at the same school, I guarantee neither of us would be mad.”
Just before the coronavirus shutdowns, Williams was able to see both Oregon and Oregon State on visits, but ended up having to cancel a string of other spring visits he had set up that included trips to Texas, Texas A&M, Cal, Stanford, Notre Dame, Michigan, Michigan State, and Ohio State.
“Hopefully, I will be able to take those visits still and now add on the University of Miami visit, and get a general idea of where I could see myself in the future,” Williams said. “Hopefully, I’ll be able to commit prior to my senior season so I’d have my senior year to focus on football, academics, and worrying about being a high school teenager. Since I want to enroll early, that will give me a better idea of what classes I need to take and stuff like that.”
While Williams does expect to narrow down his list before a decision, don’t expect a public top schools announcement – it will remain between him and his family. Is distance from home going to be a factor for Williams?
“As long as I can call my parents everyday and tell them I love them, it’s not a problem for me,” Williams said. “In life, you’re going to have to deal with circumstances, and I think I’m mature enough to go live on a campus far from home. I just want to be able to call my mom every day and tell her how much I care and tell her I miss her.”
As for other factors that will play a role in Williams’ decision, he feels a family atmosphere with strong values will ultimately guide him to his destination.
“The one thing I’ll really look at is how they treat me, my family, my little brother,” Williams said. “That family aspect of a school - I want to know that they genuinely want me there.
“I want to know that they have my best interests in mind as a young man, that they want to make me a better person, not only a better football player. That they don’t want me to just get drafted and play NFL football, but they want me to be set after football in terms of a degree and living on my own, showing people the respect they show me. Those little things that make a great person a great person, I just want them to hold those morals close to their heart.”
Williams just finished his sophomore season at Mater Dei and recorded 50 catches for 684 yards and 4 TD's for the loaded Monarchs' offense in 2019.
“I cannot complain about my sophomore season,” Williams said. “I had a great sophomore campaign in a better league than most people would play. Not to mention I had a great quarterback in Bryce Young – wherever the ball needed to be, he put it there. We had multiple receivers that could play division one football one day. I had a great season in my eyes, in my parent’s eyes, and my coaches’ eyes.”
Following that strong sophomore year and offers from blue blood programs across the nation, Williams was recently named the #31 overall prospect in the country and the 4th best receiver for the 2022 class by 247Sports this month. For Williams, that’s just extra motivation.
“The way I feel, you can always use those rankings as a bar. There’s always going to be someone in front of you, and if not, there’s always someone coming for you, so it’s always giving you a reason to work harder,” Williams said. “It’s always good to get honors, to be recognized as a great football player because we work every day for this, so those little things mean a lot. So what I really value about the rankings is that they give me people to chase after and lets me know who’s coming for me, so that’s big.”
The amount of work it takes to get to that level can be taken for granted or brushed aside by some, but Williams says he’s learned to fall in love with the process of what it takes to be great.
“Growing up, I wasn’t one of the better athletes, so my thing is, in the weight room, on the practice field, I’m going to outwork you prior to when we’re matched up head-to-head. That’s what I rely on,” Williams said. “I’m in the gym longer, I’m lifting more weights than you, I’m more conditioned than you. So those things prior to the field, that’s something I really dominate at.
“Intellectually on the field, I feel like I have a high football IQ. I know different things that the defense is doing – I grew up playing free safety and I still study the position because I know it will help me at wide receiver. If a DB is playing inside, I know what kind of release I want to take, how many steps upfield I want to take. It’s those little things that make great receivers – getting in and out of breaks, using your arms, catching the ball with your eyes. I feel like I’m one of those receivers that really values the little things and hopefully that will see a tremendous pickup next year, and it really makes me defiant over the other receivers in my class.”
What will the 4-star prospect be working on over the offseason to inch his way closer to the nation's #1 receiver mantle?
“I definitely want to improve over the years. It’s not always about stats, but I want to improve on the little things in terms of winning 1-on-1 battles, blocking, yards after catch. I feel like if I get those little things improved, my game will take a tremendous leap for sure.”
