Rivals100 WR CJ Williams Commits To Notre Dame Football
Notre Dame has pulled off a massive recruiting win in the 2022 class.
Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei standout CJ Williams, who Rivals ranks as the No. 3 wide receiver and No. 29 overall player in the country, has announced his pledge to the Fighting Irish. He picked Notre Dame over finalists Alabama, Stanford, Texas and USC.
“Just to be able to say that I’m going to play football for the University of Notre Dame — that’s crazy,” Williams told BlueandGold.com before announcing his pledge. “That leaves me star struck every time I think about it. The opportunity ahead of me is remarkable. I’m ready to play in the blue and gold.
“Notre Dame was the clear choice for me at the end of the day. It was somewhere I felt comfortable when I visited and on the phone building a relationship with the coaching staff.”
Williams took June official visits to Notre Dame, Stanford and Texas, and pundits have opined that the former two schools were ultimately the top choices. Notre Dame got Williams’ last visit of the summer, and it ultimately put the Irish over the top.
“I didn’t commit when I was on my official visit,” Williams explained. “It was very important to me to go home and revaluate all of the places I had been. When I came home and reflected with my parents, Notre Dame was the spot for me.”
There were three factors that were very important in Williams’ decision-making process. As the four-star recruit continued to learn more about Notre Dame, it donned on him that the Fighting Irish fit those categories perfectly.
“Obviously, football. I’m a big football guy; that’s what I do,” Williams said regarding his first factor. “That’s a lot of what I spend my time doing. [Next up] is education; that’s something I spend a lot of time doing also. I like learning different things and being a student. That’s really important to me.
“And the third thing is the culture — who I’m surrounded by and who they are as people. I want people who are like-minded and hold high standards to who they are.”
Notre Dame’s culture is what separated itself the most from the other contenders for Williams.
“The schools I was looking at in my top five were high academic schools,” he explained. “... They’re also very good football programs and have great staffs, but the culture at Notre Dame was different.
“It really stood out to me and made Notre Dame, Notre Dame. You have great people who are there to win a national championship, but it’s not just about that to the coaches — it’s about developing the young men and getting them through college to prepare them for life.”
Early on in the process, Notre Dame was not a major contender for Williams. Irish wide receivers coach Del Alexander offered the 6-2, 190-pounder on Feb. 5, 2020, and the Notre Dame staff had an uphill battle. Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, Stanford and USC were considered the programs to beat at that time.
“Notre Dame was a top-10 school I was looking at, but it wasn’t top five. ... I realized how much the concept of culture, good people and becoming a complete young man means to me,” Williams added. “That helped Notre Dame pick up in my recruitment, make them my top school and the school I inevitably wanted to go to.”
Williams made the call to the Notre Dame staff a few weeks ago to inform them of his decision to commit to the Irish. He first contacted offensive coordinator Tommy Rees, then spoke with Alexander, and the next day, Williams got on the horn with head coach Brian Kelly.
“Coach Rees was one of the guys who picked up my recruitment really heavy as time went on,” Williams added. “Notre Dame wasn’t a school I was really high on [at first]. They were still contacting me and keeping communication; Coach Rees would text me and I wouldn’t text him back every so often. But I was focused on my spring season. I wasn’t responding to his every text. When I met him face to face, I knew that he was a guy I wanted to be around.
“Coach Rees was very, very happy. He was actually on vacation when I called. I interrupted his trip, but I’m pretty sure he was happy that he got the good news. He said, ‘When can we get Coach Kelly on the phone?’
“Coach Alexander was driving and had to pull over the car ... I committed right then and there to him. Coach Kelly was just as happy ... he showed me just as much excitement as the other two and was very welcoming. After I said I was committed, he really welcomed me into his family.”
Williams is Notre Dame’s third wide receiver commitment in the 2022 cycle, joining Ponchatoula (La.) High’s Amorion Walker and Vancouver (Wash.) Union’s Tobias Merriweather. Williams and Merriweather became good friends in the past several months and even played for the same seven-on-seven team for a couple of tournaments.
“Being around Tobias made me a better football player overall, and he’s a great guy,” Williams said. “His father is a very good guy; our dads text back and forth a lot.”
Williams held 50 scholarship offers, including Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Ohio State, Oregon, Stanford, Texas and USC.
MaxPreps listed Williams on its 2021 California All-State second-team offense and 2019 Sophomore All-American second-team offense.
During a five-game spring junior season in 2021, Williams caught 16 passes for 239 yards and five touchdowns. Two of those scores came in Mater Dei’s 34-17 triumph against archrival St. John Bosco.
Through three seasons (22 games), Williams has caught 73 passes for 997 yards and nine touchdowns. He was named to the All-Trinity League first-team offense as a sophomore and junior.
During Williams’ Notre Dame official visit, he sat down with Rees and they discussed where he fits in best in the Irish offense. They discussed playing Williams primarily in the slot, but really all over the field.
“The slot receiver is very, very valuable to them and something they want to emphasize more,” Williams said. “I could also play to the outside — left, right, to the single receiver side or out to the trips side — anything they’d be willing for me to do. I’ll play special teams.
“When used right in the offense, you can really value the slot. [Coach Rees] sees me as a volume catch guy who move the sticks for them.”
Williams is committed to playing in the All-American Bowl in San Antonio in January 2022.
He was also named a captain on the 2021 Mater Dei football team.
“CJ is a fierce competitor,” Mater Dei head coach Bruce Rollinson said. “He’s a strong, physical receiver who is blessed with outstanding speed and is even more impressive in yards after the catch.”
Quotable
On Notre Dame quarterback commit Steve Angeli …
“Great, great guy. I like Steve. I’m not going to lie, he’s one of the pushiest recruiters out there. He was very consistent. During the season when I wouldn’t respond, he would text me again. It ended up working out, and now I’ll get to play with him at the next level.
“I’ve watched his tape, and I can see that he has elite arm talent. That’s very, very important to me — a guy that can get you the ball is what you want. He’s one of the smartest out there. I know Coach Rees loves smart football players; that’s why he’s recruiting us. I bet you me and Steve can sit and talk football; he knows football. He has a great football mind. I’m looking forward to playing with him at the next level.”
More on Tobias Merriweather …
“I love Tobias; that’s my guy. He’s a great dude. I got to see a lot of his game and how we differentiate and also how we’re similar. Our biggest similarity is that we have that ‘dog’ mentality. He played left outside, and I played right outside [during a seven-on-seven tournament].
“Tobias would catch a touchdown, and I would look over there and think, ‘Now I have to catch a touchdown.’ That competitive nature made us better.”
More on Notre Dame trailing behind early in Williams’ recruitment …
“When I was going through the initial part of the recruiting process, I was real big on schools like USC and Stanford. I remember when Notre Dame offered and thinking it was awesome.
“I was a sophomore when Coach Alexander offered; I wouldn’t say that Notre Dame was a school I was wowed by, but that changed as my recruitment went on. They really picked things up with myself and my family.”
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