San Diego State commit Jaden Williams continues to dominate in senior season at Mission Viejo

Williams has 6.5 sacks in his first two games of the 2024 season

Jaden Williams of Mission Viejo celebrates after a sack against Long Beach Poly / Heston Quan

Mission Viejo finished off the 2023 season with a bang, winning eight straight games to capture the Southern Section Division 2 title and the CIF State D1-AA title two weeks later. Leading the charge defensively was edge rusher Jaden Williams.

The leader in both tackles and sacks as a junior, Williams is one of several key returners on this year’s Mission Viejo team. The Diablos sit at 2-0, ranked No. 3 in this week’s SBLive Southern Section Top 25.

• Southern Section Top 25 football rankings

• Southern Section Top 25 scoreboard, notable stats

After finishing last season among the state’s leaders with 18.5 sacks, Williams has started even faster in his final high school season. He tallied 3.5 sacks in an opening week win in Hawaii and followed it up with 11 tackles and three more sacks in Saturday’s dominant 35-7 win over Santa Margarita.

Even with the success personally and as a team in 2023, Williams went back to work in the offseason determined to add to his skillset.

I would say just working on pretty much all of it,” Williams said following Saturday’s victory. “Even just like the smallest little things like the get off, the hands, and a big part of it is just studying who you're going against.”

Even when Williams was unable to get to the quarterback on Saturday, his pressure helped lead to four interceptions, including two that were returned for touchdowns.

“Whether or not they want to pass or run, it's all just studying,” Williams said. “And you’ve got to play the game within the game when you pass rush.”

San Diego State was the first school to offer Williams a scholarship, prior to his junior season. When the new staff led by head coach Sean Lewis took over in November, they reached back out to Williams and made him a priority. Following official visits to Boise State and San Diego State in the summer, Williams announced his commitment to the Aztecs in late June.

“I fell in love with the campus,” Williams said. “It’s both my parents alma mater.”

“Coach Aurich is the first one who reached out to me and I love the way he breaks down the game and how he coaches and I got to see it firsthand.”

Williams and the Diablos will have several more chances to impress in the non-league portion of their schedule, playing games against top teams from Nevada and Arizona before a showdown with Long Beach Poly at SOFI Stadium in October.

Then they’ll point their attention on working to reclaim the South Coast League title after finishing second to San Clemente in 2023.

“I would just say watch out because we want it,” Williams added. “We want it again. We want state. We want the big one though.”

-- Bodie De Silva | bodie@scorebooklive.com | @sbliveca

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