WR Hykeem Williams Impressed by Miami Hurricanes' New Staff
Miami's coaching change this past offseason brought an entirely different outlook on the Hurricanes for many top UM recruiting targets.
One notable prospect who has noticed this change is highly-touted 2023 wide receiver Hykeem Williams, who is ranked as the No. 22 player nationally and third-best wideout in his recruiting cycle (On3 Sports consensus).
"[The Hurricanes] just do everything differently. The schools is so different now," Williams told All Hurricanes at Broward County's high school media day. "The whole new staff is damn near Hall of Famers. From Miami, they all did something to impact another school or another team, and they probably got more staff than players.
"They got a lot of people over there that'll help you out and get you to where you need to be. I think they're going in the right direction."
Miami has been relentless in its pursuit of the Ft. Lauderdale (Fla.) Stranahan High School product, with head coach Mario Cristobal contacting Williams on a daily basis. The main recruiter of the receiver at UM, however, has been offensive coordinator and wide receivers coach Josh Gattis.
"He knows football," Williams said of Gattis."Coach Gattis compared his offense to mine, the similar offense that I run ... everywhere I've played, he's shown me film of what he's ran."
Aside from the Hurricanes, Williams has also been pursued heavily by in-state rival Florida State, Penn State, Alabama, Texas A&M, Pittsburgh and Georgia. All but Penn State made his public top six, announced back in June.
He has already made two of his five official visits, to Pittsburgh and Georgia, over the summer months. Penn State and Alabama are the two main schools vying to land the South Florida native on upcoming official visits, according to Williams.
The Seminoles, like Miami, have been relentless in their recruitment of Williams, who spoke highly about head coach Mike Norvell.
"[He's] intense, very intense," Williams said regarding Norvell. "He speaks so highly of his team ... He's going to get everything out of it."
As for gameday visits, Williams plans on attending the Miami vs. Texas A&M game on Sep. 18 in College Station, Texas, and the Florida vs. Florida State game on Nov. 26 in Tallahassee, Fla.
Williams has not yet decided on a commitment date, but he is looking to make a decision sometime during the 2022 season, around September or October.
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Luke Chaney is a contributing writer for Sports Illustrated-FanNation's AllHurricanes.com, covering recruiting and Miami Athletics. You can also find Luke on WVUM 90.5 FM as a play-by-play broadcaster. He is also the Sports Editor for The Miami Hurricane. Follow Luke on Twitter @luke_chaney4.