The Irish finally landed an offensive skill player in the 2019 class when jitterbug back Kyren Williams committed to Notre Dame at his high school today. Michigan hard over the last couple of months; but the 5’10”, 200-pound Missourian has had the Irish in front ever since he was offered and didn’t waver. In fact he was slated to take an official visit to Michigan this weekend but cancelled it after his official to Notre Dame last weekend; as you might imagine, everyone pretty much saw the writing on the wall at that point.
Speaking of the Skunkbears… Kyren Williams is the 11th 2019 commit for Notre Dame who had a Michigan offer, joining Quinn Carroll, John Olmstead, Zeke Correll, Andrew Kristofic, NaNa Osafo-Mensah, Howard Cross, Jacob Lacey, Osita Ekwonu, Litchfield Ajavon, and Kyle Hamilton. I’m not sure where they each fall on Michigan’s board but Michigan definitely wanted all of them. How many Michigan commits have Notre Dame offers, you ask? Three: SDE Chris Hinton, QB Cade McNamara, and OG Nolan Rumler. They’re all good players, but I’d still say that’s a pretty resounding TKO for Notre Dame.
Recruiting Service Rankings
247 Composite — 3 star (0.8851 rating), #404 overall, #23 RB, #9 in MO
247 Sports — 3 star (89 rating), #343 overall, #19 RB, #8 in MO
Rivals — 3 star (5.7 rating), NR overall, #34 RB, #11 in MO
ESPN — 4 star (80 rating), NR overall, #28 RB, #8 in MO
Cohort
In addition to Notre Dame and Michigan, Kyren Williams holds offers from Iowa, Kansas State, Michigan State, Missouri, Nebraska, North Carolina, Northwestern, Stanford, and Wisconsin, among others.
Highlights
I’ve seen a lot of casual comparisons to Theo Riddick; while projecting him to Riddick’s career is just a tad premature, I can see it. Williams has exceptional change of direction, plus receiving ability, good balance, and surprising toughness. I don’t think his straight line speed is going to scare anyone, although he shows some flashes that hint he could improve there (see the 1:18 mark for an example). He was about 190 pounds in-season last year and reportedly has added ten “good” pounds; he could probably stand to add another ten to be an every-down guy.
I included the second video, from the Rivals Chicago camp, because it highlights the postseason camp circuit, where he started to garner some more attention. He looked decent in the cat and mouse drills, maybe a little too stutter-steppy but those drills are so far away from live game situations that I don’t pay much attention to them. What’s really notable is that in one-on-one receiving drills he was virtually uncoverable on all route depths; the one guy who did stay on him only did because he interfered badly, and Williams caught both balls anyway.
Impact
By the time Kyren Williams gets to campus, Dexter Williams will have exhausted his eligibility. However, Tony Jones, Jafar Armstrong, Jahmir Smith, and C’Bo Flemister will remain, and all will have multiple years of eligibility left. That makes it very hard to say with any confidence that Williams will get serious run in his first couple of years. I do think he has the potential to be a regular front-line contributor by his junior season, though, most likely as a very effective complement to a power back.
Welcome to the Irish family, Kyren!
Gross helmet.
I was just going to say “Now he can take off that ugly, ugly helmet.”
The top pic? Mine is grayed out says, “Offensive Material” 😛
I only watched the first 5 minutes of highlights because I am at work. But this may be the best highlight film we have had from a RB that I can remember (I think it is better than Bryant’s or Dexter’s).
Out of 5 minutes here is every play that he did NOT score a TD
2 defensive plays (he also had 2 pick 6’s)
1 30 yd leaping reception.
I know nothing about evaluating recruits. He doesn’t look like a burner (shiftier than fast). He probably plays against worse competition than Bryant/Williams. And he probably warrants his rating looking at the whole package. But just from the highlight tape, I am officially on this kid’s bandwagon. Can he re-classify and play this season? Who knows, maybe we would manage a successful screen.
His ball skills are really impressive – I may have even sold him short with “plus receiving ability.” That 30 yard leaping reception made me sit up too, he just owned the ball in the air. He also absolutely laid the lumber on a few guys as a DB, so you know toughness isn’t a question.
I think he’s what Bill Parcells calls a “parking lot guy.” Julian Love, Drue Tranquill, Q and Glinch, all parking lot guys. I’ll take those guys all day.
I’ve now seen it multiple times so this is apparently a flaw…HOLD THE BALL RIGHT! He keeps extending it out right before he makes a cut. A) thats a key to the defender when you’re making your move and B) that thing is gonna get stripped early and often if he doesnt fix it.
I had to open my mouth… In the interests of full disclosure, I should mention that Michigan just had a big visit weekend and picked up three commits with ND offers – DT Mazi Smith, TE Erick All, and RB Zach Charbonnet. Smith has been a foregone conclusion for months; when Hunter Spears committed, the Irish staff and Smith cooled on each other. But Notre Dame was actively pursuing Charbonnet and All, so those are fair to count as losses.
In any case, the ledger now stands at ND 11, UM 6 in this cycle. Not quite as resounding as 37-0 but I’ll still take it.
Ah darn, missed on a 3 star tight end. Not sure we’ll survive this loss 🙁