Justin Williams is a consensus 5* LB from Conroe, Texas who plays football at Oak Ridge High School. Going by the recruiting industry rankings, Justin is the #11 player in the country, the #1 LB, and the #3 player in Texas for the 2024 recruiting cycle.

·         HT/WT – 6’2” 205 lbs.

·         Jersey # - 4

·         40 Yard Dash – 4.44 (11.01 100 Meter Dash)

·         Vertical – 37 inches

·         Junior Yr. Stats – 95 tackles, 17 TFL, 8.5 sacks

·         District 13-6A Defensive Player of the Year (2022)

Justin Williams also happens to be a track star for Oak Ridge. He runs the 100m, 200m, and does long jump/high jump. Noticing a trend here? Several of the last recruits that I have evaluated are also track stars in high school. If there wasn’t already enough speed in Athens, the 2024 class will be bringing plenty of its own.

Justin Williams is a true sideline to sideline tackler with a great nose for the football. I briefly discussed how fast Williams is in a straight line sprint, but what is more impressive is his in-game speed. Roquan Smith (6’0”, 235) runs around a 4.50 forty. While Justin is a bit taller and thinner than Roquan, he is the same type of tackling machine at ILB. 95 total tackles in an 11-game high school season is sensational. Couple that with heavy TFL and sack numbers, and we are looking at Georgia’s next Butkus Award winner.

Play #1 on his Hudl reel… we see the 4.44 forty on display right away. Justin comes from the middle of the field to chase down a surefire TD off a perimeter WR screen. He takes great pursuit angles, and he is a proficient tackler. Tackles emphatically with great form. Comes in a little high at times, but he is also big and strong enough to do so at the HS level. Would love for him to add 10-15 pounds to play Georgia’s Mike or Money linebacker. Justin has great vision and patience. Appears to really be a student of the game and a savvy player. Diagnoses fake handoffs and QB/RB movement extremely well. The Dawgs will have another heat seeking missile in the LB group with Justin. Jumping to 2:20 in his Hudl clip, watch Justin drop back into coverage, maintain eyes on the QB, and come up to make a sack.

Talking about his strength, go to 4:30 and watch Williams man handle a center trying to move to the second level. According to his Hudl profile, he also has a bench max of 320 pounds. He looks to be a capable blitzer, and I will once again emphasize the sack and TFL numbers from the ILB position. I did not see many clips of him in coverage, other than him briefly dropping back and then coming up to make a sack. I do not have worries in that department. While it was not on tape, Williams also took a lot of reps at safety for Oak Ridge. He assesses plays so well and has such great speed that it gives me confidence in his pass coverage ability at the SEC level.

There are not many negatives to Justin Wiliiams’s game. He is the #1 LB in the country for a reason and should fit in with any type of scheme in college. On the other hand, Justin will be coming into a crowded LB room in Athens. Georgia brought in three of the top linebackers in the 2023 cycle with Troy Bowles, Raylen Wilson, and CJ Allen. With the assumption that Jamon Dumas-Johnson (JR) and Smael Mondon (JR) are NFL bound after this year, Williams will still have to fight through Xavien Sorey (RS SO), E.J. Lightsey (RS FR), and the 2023 trio of Wilson, Allen, and Bowles for immediate playing time. In my opinion, Justin Williams could follow the same path of Malaki Starks or Joenel Aguero where he is simply too good to keep off the field.

·Justin Williams Player Comparison – Alec Ogletree. As similar as Williams plays to Nakobe Dean or Roquan Smith, Justin’s physical makeup aligns with Ogletree much better. In 2012, Alec Ogletree racked up 111 total tackles, 11.5 TFL, and 3 sacks. They are both lengthy, athletic ILB’s with the ability to make tackles all over the field. Ogletree is listed at 6’3” 230 and was drafted 30^th overall in the 2013 Draft by the St. Louis Rams. I can neither confirm nor deny that Ogletree and I sharing a first name had any sway here.