Podcast: Five-star athlete James Williams’ commitment to Miami is as big a deal as you think
Nights like Tuesday don’t come around too often for the Miami Hurricanes. In fact, something like it had not happened in a decade.
James Williams, the No. 1 player in Florida and the highest-ranked prospect to commit to Miami since 2010, is now in the Hurricanes’ Class of 2021. The five-star athlete was trending on Twitter almost immediately and stayed trending all the way into Wednesday morning. It was — without exaggeration — a truly momentous occasion for Manny Diaz and Miami, and the Eye on the U podcast is here to break it down.
David Wilson and Susan Miller Degnan, the Hurricanes beat writer for the Miami Herald, discuss the significance of landing Williams and, most importantly, keeping the five-star athlete from leaving South Florida. Even as powerhouses like the Clemson Tigers, Georgia Bulldogs and Alabama Crimson Tide took their shots to lure Williams out of Florida, the Plantation American Heritage defensive back decided to stay home. The Hurricanes’ recruiting momentum, it appears, is very real.
What will Williams bring once he arrives in Coral Gables? Wilson, who covers high school sports for the Herald, throws out some comparisons for the 6-foot-5, 218-pound senior and explains why he has a skill set worthy of the No. 9 player in the country, according to the 247Sports.com composite rankings.
If you’re not into recruiting, skip ahead to the second half of the episode — unless you don’t want to hear any pessimism about the college football season starting on time because we’re worried here at the Eye on the U podcast. Last week, Miami briefly shut down practices after three players tested positive for COVID-19.
The concern goes much further than just what is happening with the Hurricanes, though. With less than three weeks until practices begin, athletic directors across the country are split on how to handle the season, conferences are implementing different rules and the NCAA is basically passing off responsibility to these individual institutions. Until there’s some sort of unity, we’re worried about what this season might look like.
