Blue & Gold Illustrated: America's Foremost Authority on Notre Dame Football
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"My family wasn't necessarily shocked about the Notre Dame thing, but I did keep it pretty quiet. I didn't want to jinx it. Then the offer came, and my mom was so happy for me. "She likes the football program and knows all about it, but she was really excited about the academics at Notre Dame. I think that was the biggest thing for her. She knows that this will change my life. She was nearly in tears about everything. It was a pretty special mo- ment." Williams' offer list didn't include just Notre Dame and a few smaller schools. There were some major programs com- ing after him. In addition to the Irish, he held offers from Akron, Cincinnati, Illinois, Indiana, Louisville, Minnesota, Mississippi State, Nebraska, Ole Miss, Purdue, Wake Forest and Wisconsin. "I was getting a lot of interest from Louisville, Maryland, Ole Miss, and a lot of SEC and Big Ten schools," Wil- liams said. "Louisville recruited me re- ally hard. Maryland came in late, and they were all over me — I loved their uniforms. Ole Miss wanted me real bad. They were sending me something every day. It felt good to have a program like that say I was a guy who could be a dif- ference maker for them. "Notre Dame was consistent, though. They were always contacting me and recruiting me. I heard from Coach Elston all the time. It meant a lot for me. I always wanted to play close to home, too. It just all came together with Notre Dame." Williams called his junior season "de- cent." He had some college interest and some quality offers, but his recruitment really started picking up during his se- nior year. Notre Dame, like many oth- ers, extended a scholarship offer after Williams racked up 85 tackles, seven