'22 CA WR C.J. Williams (Southern Cal Verbal)

[Luckylucci]

Four-Star C.J. Williams looks ready to play early for the Irish (247sports.com)

Premium from Biggins. He calls Williams maybe the most college ready receiver in the country. I'd say he's up there.

 

[Dale]

SIAP but someone said on 247 he’s older than Colzie? That’s kind of nuts and would speak to likelihood he can come in early and also that Colzie still has a lot of potential

 

[BeauBenken]

Happy birthday to the kid. Turns 19 today.

 

[ohara831]

Young man is going to be a difference maker!

 

[fightingirish26]

This sounds....less than good. OV planned for USC.

https://www.on3.com/news/four-star-...williams-hearing-a-lot-from-notre-dame-rival/

 

[rtrn2glory]

We need to get out there next week recruiting

 

[Dale]

He’s already been to USC during the season. Wouldn’t view this as anything bigger, if they had announced a hire might be different

 

[fightingirish26]

He’s already been to USC during the season. Wouldn’t view this as anything bigger, if they had announced a hire might be different

Not sure how much I should share, but it's not just the OV news that is concerning. Talks about wanting to see ND pick up another QB in addition to some transfers. Says he feels pretty good about the commitment. Also says USC would be a great place to land, and basically that the only holdup with them is not knowing if they will hire a coach who can build a program. So basically we need them to fuck up the hire. Not a great spot to be.

 

[IrishLax]

I think it’s a coin flip that he signs with ND. I think if USC hires someone like Franklin it’s going to be an uphill battle to keep him in the fold. There has been too much weird stuff in his statements and buzz surrounding his recruitment since October… off the record, people continue to obliquely suggest he’s lukewarm on ND. On the record, he does stuff like retweet articles about him flipping to USC.

I never lose sleep over Cali skill players and won’t here. I think he’s likely an NFL caliber player but if you’ve got one foot out the door on this team odds are lower than normal that you’ll succeed here.

With that being said, considering our sparse depth chart at WR and the possibility that we will only sign one player I will lose sleep over the position group if it plays out that way.

 

[IrishLax]

Not sure how much I should share, but it's not just the OV news that is concerning. Talks about wanting to see ND pick up another QB in addition to some transfers. Says he feels pretty good about the commitment. Also says USC would be a great place to land, and basically that the only holdup with them is not knowing if they will hire a coach who can build a program. So basically we need them to fuck up the hire. Not a great spot to be.

You can relay any direct quotes that you want and I’d be interested to see what he said. The rumor since October is that people are negging him about the QB situation at ND and the ability to get him the ball // get him to the NFL. It’s weird that he mentions wanting to see another QB and/or transfers and I wonder how some guys will take that.

 

[FWIrish4]

I mean we’re on the verge of depth chart disaster if none of Lenzy/Austin/Davis return and only Merriwether sticks… And just like that, our incredibly positive feeling of a high upside future offense hinges on 4 scholarship WRs for 2022.

 

[SBirishlawyer]

Does not sound good. Can not imagine that endears him to other members of the class. The majority of California athletes are not what they used to be. The type of character, team work, self sacrifice, and constant grind that it takes to make it in top level football are character traits openly disparaged in much of the PAC12 foot print. West coast football is much more likely to look like New England high school ball than it is to climb back to the top to on a whole compete with the south east and lower midwest.

 

[fightingirish26]

You can relay any direct quotes that you want and I’d be interested to see what he said. The rumor since October is that people are negging him about the QB situation at ND and the ability to get him the ball // get him to the NFL. It’s weird that he mentions wanting to see another QB and/or transfers and I wonder how some guys will take that.

Alright, direct quotes for clarity:

“For me, obviously, the opportunity to stay home and play at a high level and go to a great academic school is one that a lot of people wouldn’t be able to pass up. To play football less than 30-40 miles from where my parents are is, you know, ideal. … I think that would be, you know, a great spot to land at the end of the day.”

“I’ll be completely honest with you. (The biggest thing for me) is a culture shift from what USC was prior to what it is now,” Williams said. “Hopefully, I see something similar to you know, a Notre Dame or an Alabama. Those schools that have very, very high culture and high discipline teams. I’d like to see that at USC and obviously, they’ll have a new head coach by that time. And I want to see if it’s a relationship that I enjoy what I enjoy having or, you know, I can see happen in the future.”

On ND commitment:

“I’m pretty steadfast on that,” he added. “And I’m pretty happy. The situation there is looking good. Hopefully, we can maybe get a quarterback committed, some transfers, and you know, make it solidified. … I’m pretty locked in there. You know, being that I’m a few months since I stepped foot on campus, I am pretty locked in.”

 

[SBirishlawyer]

Gonna be impossible to continue rationalizing Del’s recruiting acumen of two out of the current three do not sign

 

[SBirishlawyer]

Alright, direct quotes for clarity:

“For me, obviously, the opportunity to stay home and play at a high level and go to a great academic school is one that a lot of people wouldn’t be able to pass up. To play football less than 30-40 miles from where my parents are is, you know, ideal. … I think that would be, you know, a great spot to land at the end of the day.”

“I’ll be completely honest with you. (The biggest thing for me) is a culture shift from what USC was prior to what it is now,” Williams said. “Hopefully, I see something similar to you know, a Notre Dame or an Alabama. Those schools that have very, very high culture and high discipline teams. I’d like to see that at USC and obviously, they’ll have a new head coach by that time. And I want to see if it’s a relationship that I enjoy what I enjoy having or, you know, I can see happen in the future.”

On ND commitment:

“I’m pretty steadfast on that,” he added. “And I’m pretty happy. The situation there is looking good. Hopefully, we can maybe get a quarterback committed, some transfers, and you know, make it solidified. … I’m pretty locked in there. You know, being that I’m a few months since I stepped foot on campus, I am pretty locked in.”

May end up a great player here. But unless he pulls ten drowning babies from the st joe river he has zero opportunity to be a notre dame man to me no matter how much touchdowns he catches

 

[IrishLax]

I mean we’re on the verge of depth chart disaster if none of Lenzy/Austin/Davis return and only Merriwether sticks… And just like that, our incredibly positive feeling of a high upside future offense hinges on 4 scholarship WRs for 2022.

Yup, we will have to go aggressively recruit 1-2 transfers if Austin does not return and you have whiffs in this class. If he does, Austin/Colzie/Styles is fine for your headliners and then you figure out what depth you need behind them.

 

[ab2cmiller]

We are making it very easy to plant those seeds of doubt. Opposing coaches pointing out that with Buchner under center ND will be run heavy… blah blah … look how little Buchner passes the ball.

 

[IrishLax]

Alright, direct quotes for clarity:

“For me, obviously, the opportunity to stay home and play at a high level and go to a great academic school is one that a lot of people wouldn’t be able to pass up. To play football less than 30-40 miles from where my parents are is, you know, ideal. … I think that would be, you know, a great spot to land at the end of the day.”

“I’ll be completely honest with you. (The biggest thing for me) is a culture shift from what USC was prior to what it is now,” Williams said. “Hopefully, I see something similar to you know, a Notre Dame or an Alabama. Those schools that have very, very high culture and high discipline teams. I’d like to see that at USC and obviously, they’ll have a new head coach by that time. And I want to see if it’s a relationship that I enjoy what I enjoy having or, you know, I can see happen in the future.”

On ND commitment:

“I’m pretty steadfast on that,” he added. “And I’m pretty happy. The situation there is looking good. Hopefully, we can maybe get a quarterback committed, some transfers, and you know, make it solidified. … I’m pretty locked in there. You know, being that I’m a few months since I stepped foot on campus, I am pretty locked in.”

Yeah I mean unless it’s a Justin Hopkins situation where the reporter is literally pulling those quotes out of him and it reads different than what it is… that’s just terrible. “Get a QB committed” … I mean, what is going on if he has no relationship with Angeli? Or Buchner? What transfers is he looking for and at what positions?

The only alternative explanation is that Rees told him those things … looking at additional QBs, looking at transfers … and he’s regurgitating that. But holy balls those quotes are worse than I thought they could be.

 

[IrishLax]

Gonna be impossible to continue rationalizing Del’s recruiting acumen of two out of the current three do not sign

To be honest, I think part of the problem is that Del may be done at ND after this year and might be phoning it in from a recruiting standpoint. I don’t have any firm info to back this up, just sorta a hunch based on some other circumstantial stuff.

 

[SBirishlawyer]

We are making it very easy to plant those seeds of doubt. Opposing coaches pointing out that with Buchner under center ND will be run heavy… blah blah … look how little Buchner passes the ball.

Maybe but its not like our coaches aren’t paid millionaires to recruit and rebut bullshit. We are likely to go 11-1 in a rebuilding year with a long tenured winning coach. If you can be out recruiting propagandad by a coachless rudderless ship like USC that stinks. That program has been down a long time and much of sticking with Helton is because better options are not beating down the door

 

[SBirishlawyer]

To be honest, I think part of the problem is that Del may be done at ND after this year and might be phoning it in from a recruiting standpoint. I don’t have any firm info to back this up, just sorta a hunch based on some other circumstantial stuff.

And let me admit my bias. It goes back to his I only take a max three recruits at the position stance he has taken and stated repeatedly all while taking flyers on converted quarterbacks with depth chart holes looming. I also think his coaching is competent at best but honestly pretty unimpressive. Coaches job is at least 50% recruiting. He has not won enough recruits, he has done an even worse job keeping them on the roster, and the ones he has kept are mixed results.

 

[Irishnuke]

Alright, direct quotes for clarity:

“For me, obviously, the opportunity to stay home and play at a high level and go to a great academic school is one that a lot of people wouldn’t be able to pass up. To play football less than 30-40 miles from where my parents are is, you know, ideal. … I think that would be, you know, a great spot to land at the end of the day.”

“I’ll be completely honest with you. (The biggest thing for me) is a culture shift from what USC was prior to what it is now,” Williams said. “Hopefully, I see something similar to you know, a Notre Dame or an Alabama. Those schools that have very, very high culture and high discipline teams. I’d like to see that at USC and obviously, they’ll have a new head coach by that time. And I want to see if it’s a relationship that I enjoy what I enjoy having or, you know, I can see happen in the future.”

On ND commitment:

“I’m pretty steadfast on that,” he added. “And I’m pretty happy. The situation there is looking good. Hopefully, we can maybe get a quarterback committed, some transfers, and you know, make it solidified. … I’m pretty locked in there. You know, being that I’m a few months since I stepped foot on campus, I am pretty locked in.”

Damn. Even if he does sign and make it to campus, Angeli, Buchner, and others aren't going to forget this quote. That's pretty low. I hope somehow it's out of context like he meant a specific QB we're targeting, otherwise holy shit.

 

[FWIrish4]

Yeah I mean unless it’s a Justin Hopkins situation where the reporter is literally pulling those quotes out of him and it reads different than what it is… that’s just terrible. “Get a QB committed” … I mean, what is going on if he has no relationship with Angeli? Or Buchner? What transfers is he looking for and at what positions?

The only alternative explanation is that Rees told him those things … looking at additional QBs, looking at transfers … and he’s regurgitating that. But holy balls those quotes are worse than I thought they could be.

If it’s not either of those and we are being successfully neg recruited by the shit show that is USC then wtf is going on and when do we start punching back.

Pretty easy to point out that 1) they currently barely fill a quarter of their stadium 2) their QB position is nothing to call home about as it’s turned into a revolving door recently with injuries, transfers, flip flopping starters 3) they get pushed around by any team that has an ounce of physicality and 4) since 2011 they’ve won only 65% of their games while playing in probably the weakest P5 conference.

 

[Dale]

I read it as Williams kinda word vomited the convos Rees is having with him. Keep in mind Domani just decommitted and Devin Brown is expected by all to not sign with SC so this isn’t a situation where USC is picking up steam with the hope of a the new hire. I guess I could be naive and trust Williams won’t take a visit and shake hands with a new HC and have faith USC suddenly has Bama/ND culture like he mentioned. Certainly never ideal but business decision might have to win out over childhood interest

 

[NDPhilly]

Who would have thought that a star from Mater Dei would be a prima donna.

Reading that interview makes me think it’s unlikely be signs here unless something drastically changes. Jaxson Dart + Devin Brown + USC WR history is an easy sell for a SoCal WR.

 

[SBirishlawyer]

I read it as Williams kinda word vomited the convos Rees is having with him. Keep in mind Domani just decommitted and Devin Brown is expected by all to not sign with SC so this isn’t a situation where USC is picking up steam with the hope of a the new hire. I guess I could be naive and trust Williams won’t take a visit and shake hands with a new HC and have faith USC suddenly has Bama/ND culture like he mentioned. Certainly never ideal but business decision might have to win out over childhood interest

Then if I he can’t do better than using that diarrhea to be the dressing of his word salad then lord help him trying to get through the real classes he has to take here.

 

[SBirishlawyer]

More Canadians less people’s republic of California softies.

 

[Dale]

Damn y’all turn on a dime quick lol

 

[BeauBenken]

Don't overreact. Let's see this play out.

 

[pumpdog20]

Don't overreact, but those quotes are bad.