Williams, premier OLB in ’25, devotes to Texas

Eli Lederman, ESPN Personnel WriterAug 24, 2024, 08:11 PM ET

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Eli Lederman covers college football and recruiting for ESPN.com. He joined ESPN in 2024 after covering the University of Oklahoma for Sellout Crowd and the Tulsa World.Jonah Williams, the top outside linebacker in the 2025 class, devoted to Texas on Saturday night in a major late-summer recruiting triumph for Steve Sarkisian and the Longhorns.Williams, a first-class recruit and the No. 8

prospect in the ESPN 300, is Texas ‘highest-ranked promise in the present cycle. Among the nation’s leading uncommitted 2025 prospects before Saturday, Williams picked the Longhorns over finalists Texas A&M, USC, LSU and Oregon following visits to all those schools after June 1. The 6-foot-5, 205-pound linebacker from Galveston, Texas, will open his senior season at Ball High School on Thursday as the reigning Texas District 9-5A D-I Defensive Gamer of the Year.A talented pitcher and outfielder, Williams is likewise expected to play baseball at Texas.

” It’s 50-50, baseball and football, “he told ESPN.”The opportunities [

at Texas] with life after football were part of my choice. The coaching personnel actually made me feel comfy about my decision.”Editor’s Picks 2 Related Williams ‘pledge marks a peak for Texas in a summer on the recruiting trail that had actually previously been defined by misses on some of the state’s leading prospects as top wide receiver Dakorien Moore( Oregon ), first-class offensive deal with Michael Fasusi(Oklahoma)and No. 5 outdoors linebacker Riley Pettijohn(Ohio State)landed outside of the Longhorn State.The tide started to shift Aug. 7 when four-star in-state pass receiver Kaliq Lockett (No. 23 in the ESPN 300)committed to the Longhorns. With Williams’ pledge, Texas has commitments from 2 of the leading 10 prospects in the state and another piece of August recruiting momentum.Williams signs up with 9 other ESPN 300 dedicates bound for Texas in 2025, a group that includes fellow top-100 promises in Lockett, defensive end Lance Jackson( No. 65) and outdoors linebacker Elijah Barnes (No. 94). Four-star offensive take on Nicolai Brooks(No. 129)likewise committed to Texas on Friday.According to ESPN rankings, Williams is the Longhorns’highest-rated devote since quarterback Arch Manning in the 2023 class and their highest-rated linebacker pledge considering that the program landed Jordan Hicks as the fourth-ranked possibility in 2010. Before Williams’dedication, Texas’2025 class sat at No. 17 in ESPN’s most current group rankings for the cycle.Williams enters his final high school season as one of the top protectors in the state, returning to Ball High after logging 58 deals with and 4 interceptions (three pick-sixes) as a junior last fall. If he signs with the Longhorns later on this year, Williams will end up being the most recent desired protector to sign up with a Texas defense that leapt from 95th in

points per game allowed in 2021(31.3 PPG)to 15th in the category last fall under fourth-year defensive organizer Pete Kwiatkowski on the program’s way to its very first College Football Playoff appearance.Considered the leading linebacker in the 2025 class, Williams has the versatility to play across the defense. He is expected to begin his career with Texas at safety.”I feel great that I’m going to see the field early,”Williams said.” I’m going to work to see the field early due to the fact that the security room isn’t truly deep.”Williams began June as one of seven uncommitted employees among ESPN’s top-10 prospects in 2025.

The Longhorns offered Williams in February 2023 and hired him greatly through the spring, however his focus stayed somewhere else going into the summer season before his senior year.

Williams scheduled official sees to USC, LSU, Texas A&M, Ohio State and Oregon, with the Tigers, Aggies and Ducks each considered front-runners at various points in a winding recruitment. Williams told ESPN that no program pressed harder in the final week of his recruitment than USC.While Williams browsed his slate of main visits, Texas showed up the heat in a recruitment led by securities coach Blake Gideon and Kwiatkowski. Williams received constant interaction from the Longhorns’ personnel over that span, including calls with Sarkisian. He later scheduled an unofficial journey to Texas late last month, and Williams and his family left their final of their recruiting process impressed by Sarkisian and his program.Williams also had multiple discussions with Texas baseball coach Jim Schlossnagle, who landed with the Longhorns on June 25 after leading Texas A&M to the Male’s College World Series finals this spring,”They constantly recruited me– I simply wasn’t really feeling them,”Williams stated of Texas.”But then they made a strong campaign throughout that time, and I developed a better relationship with the coaching staff.”Williams now stands as the headliner in a top-heavy defensive class headed to Texas in 2025, set to sign up with the Longhorns along with Jackson, Barnes and top-300 protective end Smith Orogbo. Texas might hit huge once again in the cycle with four-star pass receiver Jaime Ffrench, No. 17 in the ESPN 300, anticipated to reveal his commitment Friday.Williams’

promise leaves just two staying uncommitted prospects amongst ESPN’s top-10 employees in the 2025 class. Top protective takes on Elijah Griffin( No. 5 in the ESPN 300 )and Justus Terry(No. 7 )are each anticipated to take their recruitments into the fall.