SIAA Live Evaluation: No. 1 Slot WR Mario Williams vs. Bloomingdale Valrico (Fla.)

SI All-American went on the road to get a closer at the nation's top Slot WR prospect

No. 23 in the SI99 rankings, Mario Williams is the top Slot WR prospect in the country and made us feel even more strongly about that notion, as SI All-American was in attendance to see Williams in a game featuring his Plant City (Fla.) team taking on Bloomingdale Valrico (Fla.).

From our pre-game observations, Williams stands 5-foot-10 and looks to be in the 180-pound range this season, a near 15-pound increase from his junior campaign. While his size doesn't sound imposing, we were actually impressed due to Williams possessing a tightly-wound and sturdy frame to carry his new weight properly. The SI99 member showed good chisel and definition in his shoulders and torso, while also exhibiting strong and tight calves.

In an anticipated matchup, Bloomingdale featured SI All-American Candidates WR Agiye Hall and DB Philip Riley. Hall is committed to Alabama, while Riley recently flipped from Notre Dame to rival USC. With Williams being an elite receiver prospect and Riley working in the opposing secondary, this was a duel we came into the game looking most forwarding to seeing up close.

Riley, somewhat unfortunately for us, was kept on one side of the field and was not asked to travel with Williams. However, there were a pair of interesting reps where the two did face-off against one another.

On a key play, Williams lined up on the perimeter and Riley walked over initially to present himself as a press-player. Still in the pre-snap phase, Riley quickly jumped to show bail-technique in a squat alignment. At the snap, Williams attacked Riley with solid urgency off-the line and stemmed tightly to him towards outside the numbers. This helped him move Riley away from his true stem while holding the apex safety, whom Riley zoned Williams off to. 

With a quick pressure-step, Williams reached his main stem and got vertical in his secondary release for his intended seam-route and the ball was in the air. This is where Williams impressed us several times during the night: his ability to adjust to throws to line up catch points. The Oklahoma commit adjusted with a plant of his right foot and moved with agility to the throw down field before coming down with the ball in the endzone for a touchdown. 

Another interesting rep between the pair occurred when Williams recognized Riley in bail-technique position yet again. Collecting information during his release, Williams lifted the future Trojan with his stem on the perimeter before motoring down on hook route. Showing adjust ability again, the low throw saw the Sooner pledge decrease his pad level and scoop-catch for a completion.

Williams also beat Bloomingdale for a touchdown on a post route, in which the Bulls appeared to try a box-technique to slow him down with multiple defenders. Williams exhibited proper eye-tracking and some assertiveness in crowds, resulting him plucking the ball in traffic for a score.

Oklahoma fans should also be excited due to the run traits Williams possesses, which was shown both when he lined up as a Wildcat-QB and when executed quick-game concepts as a receiver.

Overall, we came away from this game feeling more strongly about our ranking of Williams as our top Slot WR prospect. He should blossom into a cornerstone offensive asset for head coach Lincoln Riley in Norman.

For the full isolation camera video on Williams click here.

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