Behind the scenes: LSU reels in Ory Williams

LSU reeled in a commitment from 2024 San Marcos (Tex.) offensive tackle Ory Williams, who gives the Tigers three offensive line commits. How’d offensive line coach Brad Davis reel in the 6-7, 285-pounder?

We dive into his recruitment and how LSU was able to go into Texas and pull Williams out of the state.

*** Let’s go back to April 2022, when LSU offered. In-state Baylor, Houston, Texas Tech and others were early offers for him. Williams then added an LSU offer in late April, shortly after Texas entered the mix. Davis and player personnel assistant Carl St. Cyr were key in the early offer. LSU’s been high on Williams from the get-go really after seeing him in-person last spring. His size and traits have been there for a while. As he developed over the next year, he skyrocketed up LSU’s board. I can tell you the Tigers are as high on him as they are any offensive lineman in the country. This is a massive land for their own board.

*** Jumping ahead to the spring when Williams wrapped up spring practice, I spent some time around the San Marcos area. The feeling down there was LSU jumped way ahead in his recruitment. There was buzz LSU was the favorite by far and that night of his spring game, he confirmed it. He named LSU the leader in his recruitment and had a number of official visits set for the summer. Over the course of those visits, there was some changing in terms of which visits he ended up taking, but LSU was the constant in the equation.

*** Fast word to that official visit he took in June and we spent time around Williams around camp. He was pretty adamant about LSU getting his commitment at the end of the visit. He was ready to give the good word to Kelly and Davis, which we expected in a way. He was eyeing an announcement in his senior season, but opted to move up his decision. That said, he’s been an LSU silent since back in June. He did give LSU a commitment coming off the official visit.

*** We’ve been in relatively consistent contact with Williams. He’s been talking about various avenues to make his commitment public. Ultimately, he ended up making the announcement on Sunday. He’s kept us in the loop from the get-go. The Bayou Splash was another opportunity for him to come into Baton Rouge and spend time around the staff. It was the right timing to reaffirm his commitment and he ended up moving up that timeline to make his pledge public.

*** As a final aside, Williams is a terrific young man. His character and personality is what we’d call in my hockey world as a “glue guy.” The locker room and offensive line room is going to bond with him well. He fits the bill of what Kelly and Davis are looking for when they recruit prospects. He’s got a ton of upside, but also is all about the structure of the program and direction of LSU under Kelly.

The post Behind the scenes: LSU reels in Ory Williams appeared first on On3.