Polk County Prep Prospect Product Tyler Williams Went from Hoops to Pigskin

The trend of basketball players moving their talents to the gridiron continues with Tyler Williams of Lakeland High School, and he’s earning numerous scholarship offers.

Stephen Leonard | Nov 5, 2021

ORLANDO - Another player that was garnering the attention of FBS schools would be Lakeland High School wide receiver Tyler Williams. However, he’s changed sports, schools, and positions, all of which helped aid his recruitment.

Williams transferred to Lakeland at the start of the 2021 football season, at that time he was seen mostly as a basketball player.

After coming to play for the Dreadnaughts, his basketball traits would continue to stay with him. Williams is a big-bodied wide receiver, standing at 6’5”, 180 pounds with good speed and agility. It’s hard to say what would have happened with his recruitment if he would have stayed at quarterback.

WOW. Lakeland 2023 3 ⭐️ WR Tyler Williams now has 12 offers. Since Monday he has been offered by Notre Dame, Syracuse, VA Tech, and now Michigan. Congrats Tyler you are a blue chipper. https://t.co/RPSpBKMOXp
— PolkWay (@polk_way) November 4, 2021

Despite his size, Williams can make defenders miss in space, and it’s why he’s a return man for the Lakeland Football team, and he’s also a player that can take a tunnel screen and go the distance as he weaves his way through traffic. He’s not always been a wide receiver, however.

During his time at Winter Haven High School, Williams played quarterback but was not the most accurate passer during his sophomore season. After completing only half of his passes and throwing for more interceptions than touchdowns, it helped him with his move to receiver.

Since that time, the class of 2023 athlete came into the spotlight with his lengthy frame wowing scouts all summer long and into the season. Williams already recorded 11 total touchdowns, and he’s probably going to add more come playoff time.

Williams has already impressed many college coaches, earning offers from the likes of Iowa State, Michigan, Notre Dame, Florida State, Nebraska, Pittsburgh, Georgia Tech, and Syracuse among others.

One school that surprisingly hasn’t offered is UCF, the university is just an hour away from Lakeland and the school’s already seen two Lakeland players commit since the arrival of head coach Gus Malzahn. With defensive lineman Keahnist Thompson and offensive tackle Miguel Maldonado already in the fold, it should only be a matter of time before Williams receives an offer from the Knights.

As noted prior, Williams is just a 2023 prospect. His offer list shall grow, and perhaps the Knights will be one of those scholarship offers.

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