Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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50 PRESEASON 2021 BLUE & GOLD ILLUSTRATED BY MIKE SINGER Notre Dame offered Santa Ana (Calif.) Mater Dei wide receiver CJ Williams in February 2020, and at that time he didn't have the Fighting Irish at the top of his list. 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 told Blue & Gold Illustrated. "That helped Notre Dame pick up in my recruitment, make them my top school and the school I inevitably wanted to go to." Williams had a final five of Ala- bama, Notre Dame, Stanford, Texas and USC from his 50 scholarship of- fers, and the Fighting Irish outlasted those other programs. He announced his pledge to Notre Dame Aug. 8. It doesn't get much bigger for the Irish than landing the nation's No. 6 wide receiver and No. 45 overall player per Rivals. "Just to be able to say that I'm go- ing to play football for the Univer- sity of Notre Dame — that's crazy," Williams said. "That leaves me star- struck every time I think about it. The opportunity ahead of me is re- markable. 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 had opined that the former two schools were the top choices. The Fighting Irish got Williams' last visit of the summer, and it ultimately put them 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 reevaluate 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 re- cruit continued to learn more about Notre Dame, he came to realize that the Fighting Irish fit those categories perfectly. "Obviously, football. I'm a big foot- ball 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 some- thing I spend a lot of time doing also. I like learning different things and be- ing 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." Williams is Notre Dame's third wide receiver commitment in the 2022 cycle, joining Ponchatoula (La.) High's Amo- rion Walker and Vancouver (Wash.) Union's Tobias Merriweather. Wil- liams and Merriweather became good friends in the past several months and even played for the same seven-on- seven team in 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." MaxPreps listed Williams on its 2021 California All-State second-team of- fense and also named him to its 2019 Sophomore All-American second team. He was named to the All-Trinity League first-team offense as a sopho- more and junior. During a five-game spring junior season in 2021, Williams caught 16 passes for 239 yards and five touch- downs. Two of those scores came in Mater Dei's 34-17 triumph against archrival St. John Bosco. 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." ✦ COMMITMENT PROFILE CJ WILLIAMS The Fighting Irish Strike Gold With Elite California Pass Catcher Williams, who is listed as the No. 6 wide receiver and No. 45 overall prospect in the country by Rivals, picked Notre Dame over Alabama, Texas, USC, Stanford and others. PHOTO COURTESY RIVALS.COM "Just to be able to say that I'm going to play football for the University of Notre Dame — that's crazy. That leaves me starstruck every time I think about it. The opportunity ahead of me is remarkable. I'm ready to play in the blue and gold." WILLIAMS FILM ANALYSIS "[CJ Williams] definitely can catch the ball with cornerbacks hanging all over him. He's not a guy who's going to be a burner, but that's perfectly fine because in a crowd, he can make catches. He's an excellent route runner, very well coached, has phenomenal hands and can line up in the slot and go. "He's a great teammate and will go into Notre Dame and compete early for playing time. He's a very competitive kid and very nice off the field. He will be able to get open, catch everything thrown his way, won't get jammed at the line because he's muscled up and physi- cally impressive. I think in Notre Dame's sys- tem, it's a really nice fit for them." — Rivals national recruiting director Adam Gorney