(Photo via Amaris Williams, twitter)
One of the bevy of commitments the Florida Gators got in the month of June was from four-star defensive lineman Amaris Williams (Clinton, NC/Clinton). Now that things have settled down a bit and I’ve had time to watch his film and talk to scouts, it’s time to provide some analysis.
The first thing that Florida fans should know about Amaris Williams is that Tennessee and Penn State- two respectable programs- wanted him. Bad. He visited PSU two weeks before visiting Florida (on June 16), and Tennessee put the nationally-famous recruiting whiz Rodney Garner on the case. Both missed, and Jay Bateman and Mike Peterson won the battle.
Williams also had offers from Georgia, USC, Oklahoma, Virginia Tech, North Carolina, NC State, and Auburn.
A consensus four-star recruit, Williams puts a lot of things on tape that make him appear to be a future playmaker at the SEC level. You can watch that tape here.
Jumping off the screen right away is his ability to get where he needs to go quickly- and that goes for both short and long distances. His first step off the snap is explosive, and he’s able to beat a lot of offensive lineman with it. To boot, he runs a 4.7 40 yard dash, which gives him a nice range and an ability to track down ball carriers in the open field.
The caveat to that is that it does seem as though he’s completely unblocked in several plays on that reel, and that offensive tackles might want to try blocking him. In some of those cases, it appears more likely to be a mental mixup on the part of the offensive lineman. On others, though, Amaris Williams simply rockets out of his stance and blows by the tackle too quickly for him to do anything to stop him.
That quick twitch that Williams possesses is paired with excellent instincts. Part of why he’s so difficult to block is that he times the snap count so well, and executes that forward explosion toward the backfield so quickly, that there’s just nothing any opposing offensive lineman can do. There are several such plays on that highlight reel, where Williams is already accelerating as the ball is in the process of being snapped.
That anticipation-plus-speed combo is likely going to be neutralized somewhat at the SEC level, where the offensive tackles are much more talented than they are in western North Carolina high school ball, but it’s still something opposing offenses will need to be aware of. In any case, stepping up to a tougher level of competition is going to force him to add more skills to his repertoire.
His hands are very good for a defensive lineman, but it does seem as though he doesn’t always place them exactly where he wants or needs to. Scouts warn that he does need to improve his pad level, at least in terms of consistency. And he’s big- he most recently checked in at 6’3, 270- but if he tacks on another ten or fifteen pounds of pure muscle, he increases his chances of being able to continue bullying offensive linemen at the SEC level.
Then there’s the question of where he should play. He’s got some versatility at the high school level, getting some looks both on the interior of the defensive line, at the edge, and in between at the 3-technique spot. He’s probably not quite big enough to play inside in college- at least, not yet- but his quick twitch ability projects well either at the 3-technique (between the tackle and guard) or the 5-technique (edge) slot.
All things considered, Amaris Williams is a big pickup for Florida- in part because it fills that yearly need in the trenches. Billy Napier made no bones about it, Florida needed to upgrade its talent on the offensive and defensive lines, and Williams is a large piece of that on the defensive line. With Williams and Jamonta Waller both committed, Florida is currently the only school in the country to have multiple top-20 defensive linemen in the 2024 class committed. For depth, Florida also has two additional top-70 defensive linemen committed in Nasir Johnson and Kendall Jackson, and Michai Boireau gives them a solid fifth member of that DL class.
As a reminder, Florida’s class currently sits at #3 in the country in the 247Sports Composite rankings, and #4 in the On3 industry rankings. That means that- at least as of now- Florida currently has that unanimous top-five class that fans have been clamoring for.
