Four-star DB Jalani Williams identifies top contenders

Between a slew of new offers and several unofficial visits, it has been a very active off-season thus far for St. Louis (Mo.) Parkway North four-star safety Jalani Williams. After seeing many of his top schools in-person, Williams released his first group of favorites over the weekend.

THE LATEST

Williams’ recruitment has kicked into a new gear in the New Year, with eight offers being added to his list since Jan. 1. Five of those schools – Alabama, Florida State, Notre Dame, Ohio State and Oklahoma – make Williams’ first top eight of his recruiting process that was released Friday evening. Georgia, Missouri and Penn State round out that top eight. Williams made unofficial visits to Georgia on Jan. 27, Oklahoma on Feb. 17 and Alabama on Feb. 24, but he does not plan to take any of his official visits this spring, preferring to save his five trips for senior year.

IN HIS WORDS

“Just (a) Top 8 for now. (It) can change with new offers.”

RIVALS’ REACTION

There are a few surprise omissions from the early top eight, with Illinois and Nebraska among the first to come to mind. As Williams noted, though, this is not a list of finalists, but a listing of his favorite teams at this point in his recruitment. It does give us a sense of what the four-star is looking at, though, and what immediately sticks out is that the group is primarily made up of traditional college football powers. Additionally, several of the schools on this list have existing connections with Williams. Oklahoma just signed Parkway North defensive tackle Michael Thompson in the 2018 class and Missouri is the home-state school, and not surprisingly the one he has visited most.