Is Oregon Trending for Linebacker Justin Williams Ahead of a Spring Game Visit?
It's a big week for Oregon Football. The 2023 NFL Draft kicked off on Thursday, the spring game is on Saturday, and the Ducks are hosting their best group of recruits in program history.
Five-stars litter the updated recruiting visitor list, but some names draw more attention than others. That's because they're viewed as priority targets, guys that Oregon believes they have a legitimate chance to land.
One such recruit is 2024 Conroe (Tex.) Oak Ridge linebacker Justin Williams, who will return to Eugene for the first time since January, and the Ducks could be looking to seal the deal.
Ahead of this weekend's visit, Williams was predicted to Oregon by national recruiting analyst Sam Spiegelman of On3 Sports. Oregon is also the 247Sports Crystal Ball leader for the five-star linebacker, with Director of Recruiting Steve Wiltfong logging his pick for the Ducks back in October.
Defensive Coordinator Tosh Lupoi has been one of Williams' main recruiters on Oregon's staff and his football mindset is part of what makes the Ducks stick out.
"I just like how competitive they are," Williams told Ducks Digest in an interview breaking down his top schools. "They're really motivational and they always want you to strive to be better. What you're doing now is not as good as you can be. I like that philosophy."
The 6-foot-2, 205-pound backer released a top six of Oregon, Auburn, Texas, TCU, USC and Texas A&M in early January. However, more programs like Alabama and Georgia have hopped in the mix in the time since.
Torres' Take
My feel was that Williams was on the verge of committing to Oregon in the fall but chose to pump the breaks and slow things down in his recruitment.
I highly doubt that the Ducks slowed down at all in their pursuit. This return trip to Eugene couldn't come at a better time and I'll be they want him to be the face of their linebacker recruiting in the 2024 class since they don't have one in the fold yet.
A commitment from Williams would be the perfect way to ignite a big recruiting run and the Ducks just got things ramped back up again in his home state by landing Melissa (Tex.) tight end Jackson Ford on Wednesday.
I'm not predicting a commitment this weekend--but I also wouldn't be surprised. This staff is absolutely blitzing the Lone Star State and if you're talking linebackers, it doesn't get much better than Williams, a former safety that's developed into the full package.
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