COLUMBUS, Ga. — Mykel Williams is the No. 51 overall prospect in the country, and after seeing him live again recently, that is too low. The 6-foot-5, 258 pound junior at Hardaway High is an athletic defensive end with size, feet, flexibility, strength, speed and upside.
September 1 rolled around last week, opening up direct communication between 2022 recruits and college coaches.
As soon as the clock struck midnight, Auburn, Clemson, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Ohio State, Penn State, Tennessee, USC and many others were on Williams. He was getting edits, text messages, direct messages on Twitter — any way coaches could get their school in front of him, they were doing it.
"It is exciting to see who all is hitting me up," said Williams. "Leading up to September 1, the schools that have been on me hard are LSU, Georgia, Ohio State, Penn State, Clemson, Tennessee, Notre Dame, USC, Arizona State and a few others.
"I have talked on the phone a lot with those schools, I have done FaceTime with some, I have done Zoom calls with many of them, so there has been a lot of communication.
"There was a lot happening September 1, and the schools have been hitting me up every day since, so it has been a lot."
It is still early for Williams, and due to the pandemic, he was unable to take the visits he had hoped to take over the spring and summer, but due to that time on the phone or through Zoom, he has connected with numerous coaches.
"I have really clicked with a lot of the coaches. Some of the head coaches are coach Smart at Georgia, coach Orgeron at LSU and coach Pruitt at Tennessee.
"I have gotten to know and like a lot of assistant coaches too. I really like coach Johnson at Ohio State, coach Scott at Georgia, coach Hall at Clemson, coach Johnson at LSU and coach So'oto at USC. There are others, but those are some I have really clicked with so far."
That connection will play a role all the way through Williams' recruitment too. A lot of schools are similar in the way they recruit him or talk to him, but certain ones stand out for different reasons.
"Some coaches are similar and some have their own style," said Williams. "The most common thing is coaches checking on me, checking on my family and that they want me to be part of their program.
"There are some that get a little more personal and not make it about ball or their schools all the time. We talk more about life, what it going on outside of football and it is just something different. That means a lot to me.
"All of my decisions in recruiting will be about relationships and a school that I could see myself being happy at, so how I get to know these coaches and how we communicate is so important to me."
Williams is eyeing his first cut, and that is something he will focus on this fall. He has over 40 offers, he is a national prospect, and a player who could be in the five-star discussion later this year, so he has a lot to think about.
When asked about where he stands in his recruitment, he laid it out in football terms.
"It is about halftime for me in recruiting. I am about at the halfway point, maybe about to start the third quarter.
"I am working to get it down to 10 schools in the next few months. I am probably going to be at that point by January 1, then move forward from there.
"I will continue to build relationships, I will watch teams play this fall, I will learn all I can about the programs and then get my list down to 10. That is my next goal."
