Surprise! Elite safety Avantae Williams fakes out Florida, picks Miami on Signing Day.
The Miami Hurricanes pulled off the biggest surprise of National Signing Day. Avantae Williams, who almost every prognosticator predicted would sign with the Florida Gators on Wednesday, decided to sign with Miami.
Williams is an elite safety, ranked No. 1 at his position by Rivals.com and regarded as a top-50 overall prospect in the 247Sports.com composite rankings. He announced his commitment at DeLand High School, reaching for a Florida hat before grabbing the Hurricanes hat, placing it atop his head and throwing up the U. The university confirmed his signing just moments later.
This isn’t the first time Williams has committed to Miami. The defensive back originally committed to the Hurricanes in 2017, making his announcement on the same day running back Lorenzo Lingard, his cousin, orally committed to Miami’s Class of 2020. He spent more than a year pledged to the Hurricanes before backing away from his commitment in 2018 and picking the Oregon Ducks later in the year.
Williams, however, decommitted from Oregon less than a month before the early signing period and reopened his recruitment. It ultimately came down to a battle between Miami and the Gators, although the Ole Miss Rebels and Georgia Bulldogs also made pushes to get Williams to their campuses for official visits. After he visited Coral Gables and Gainesville last month, Williams instead decided he would decide between those two.
Lingard’s decision to transfer to Florida wasn’t a death knell for the Hurricanes, though. Williams said it wouldn’t affect his recruitment and it didn’t. Instead, the 5-foot-11, 170-pound senior favored the long-standing relationships he had with Miami’s defensive coaching staff, which is still almost entirely in place from when he first committed to the Hurricanes.
Williams is one of two players to sign with Miami on Wednesday, both of whom are blue-chip defensive backs. Isaiah Dunson, a four-star cornerback from Tucker in Georgia, signed his letter of intent with the Hurricanes on Wednesday after orally committing in January.
This story was originally published February 5, 2020 at 12:47 PM.
