Williams decides for Notre Dame
It was important to defensive end Jhonathon Williams to move quickly once new offers earlier this month added intrigue to his recruitment. The Berrien Springs, Mich., three-star did that, making a commitment change on Wednesday.
"I [made] that commitment to Notre Dame today," Williams reported.
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Williams had committed to Missouri in September, but new offers started popping up in the wake of his senior season's completion. The offer from Notre Dame held particular appeal because of his proximity to their South Bend campus and he took an official visit to see the Irish this past weekend.
In the days since his official visit, Williams came to the conclusion that playing big-time football close to home was too good to pass up.
"Really what made the decision final was all the things with my family," Williams said. "I've been supporting them for awhile now and it wouldn't be in my best interest just to leave. My family is pretty excited."
This past weekend's official visit to South Bend revealed other aspects about the program that fed into Williams' decision to commit to Notre Dame.
"I felt really welcomed there from all the players and I hadn't experienced anything like that on all the other visits," Williams said. "They were really interactive with me and I just felt at home there."
Once he came to the decision, Williams had two phone calls to make. The call to the Missouri coaches was not an easy one to make.
"It was very difficult," Williams said. "I really respect and have mad love for Coach Kul [Craig Kuligowski] and Coach [Gary] Pinkel at Missouri, but as of right now it's not the best thing for me to do family-wise."
The call to Notre Dame coaches was decidedly more jovial, and elicited a strong response from the coaching staff.
"I talked to Coach [Bob] Diacco, Coach [Brian] Kelly and Coach [Chuck] Martin. They were all pretty excited about it," Williams said. "They said to keep the grades up, keep lifting and keep getting bigger and stronger."
Notre Dame has discussed bringing the 6-foot-5, 220-pound Williams in to play outside linebacker, in the spot currently manned by senior Prince Shembo.