OLB Nazir Williams Joins 2015 Class

@MattSchonvisky

Nazir Williams became the 9^th commit to join the 2015 UCONN football recruiting class yesterday and by all accounts, the Huskies landed a keeper.

Williams, who stands 6’ 3” and 225-pounds, has only been playing football for two years. His head coach at Bridgeton High School (Bridgeton, NJ), Dave Ellen, joined The Boneyard blog for an interview this afternoon.

“I was trying to get him to play football since he first stepped on campus here as a freshman,” Ellen said over the phone. “He had never played before, but he was always an athlete, always a basketball player. I was finally able to convince him to come out for the team his sophomore year. He had some success his first season, but last year he really was able to build on that success on both sides of the ball.”

On offense, Williams plays wide receiver and is an intimidating one at that.

“He really excelled at receiver because he’s such a good athlete,” Ellen explained. “He has really good hands and the ball disappears when he catches it. The ball just sticks to his hands and he has the ability to go up and get it. For a receiver, he has such great size, is hard to bring down and he’s able to drag defenders if they don’t just bounce right off of him.”

On defense, he plays more of a hybrid defensive end.

“He really comes off the edge,” Ellen continued. “He can also play off the ball in zone coverage and man up, as well. We don’t have our ends play with their hands down here, so he’s pretty much been a stand-up guy his whole career, which should definitely suit him well at UCONN.”

His coach described Williams as a quieter kid than most, at least until he gets to know you.

“He’s funny, smart and picks up on things at a really quick pace. He picked up the offense immediately his first year. He’s really matured as a football player and has stepped into roles on both sides of the ball.

The maturity on the field, has translated to how Nazir handles himself off it, as well.

“Last summer he had a job where he had to be at the school at 5:30 in the morning, took a bus to the beach to work all day down there and then got back to school for practice at 5 in the evening. He’s planning on doing the same this year, as it keeps him busy and focused on going to school. You can tell that’s important to him. I’ve been coaching here for twenty-six years and you can tell the kids who are focused on education and the ones who are not. Naz is definitely one of those kids who are.”

Ellen stayed out of the recruiting process for the most part, besides making some suggestions, as he want his players to make the decisions that best suit them.

“Naz was looking at UCONN, so I told him what type of school it is, what the community is like and all of that,” Ellen said. “But I really try to stay away from steering anyone anywhere. I just told him I thought the coaches came down here early and also offered him early, which I thought was key. They left it in Naz’s hands which impressed me, as he was really going to be a highly sought after recruit.”

“As everyone knows that has gone on to college, once you get to the campus that sticks out above the others and it feels like home, you know,” he went on. “When he got back from his visit, he was impressed with the atmosphere there. He was enamored by the coaches, as well as the players that he met with. I told him to sleep on it and he texted me real early yesterday morning. I’m glad he went up there and was able to make his decision this early in the process as it will give him a chance to focus on his senior season and getting better.”

His head coach felt UCONN’s constant contact made a difference..

“I thought the good thing was communication with Naz, but not just on their end, it has to be reciprocal and he did a good job with that. The UCONN staff wasn’t badgering him, but they kept in touch. Rutgers was definitely a big player and Delaware really wanted him. Temple was in it, as was Buffalo. UCONN was really smart getting him up to campus early and he loved it. It was the total package for him and he is really at ease with his decision.”

In addition to the school’s Ellen mentioned, Maryland and Minnesota were also showing interest in Williams.

“I’m just excited for him and for our whole town really. It’s nice when you have a kid that gives exposure to us and hopefully it helps some of the others guys here on this team as we have a couple more that are on the verge of getting offers.”

Star athletes have come through Bridgeton before, most recently DL Christian Brown (West Virginia) and RB Dominic Williams (Wagner), who is currently at camp with the Minnesota Vikings.

Bridgeton was one play away from the state championship game last season, but Ellen feels his team and Nazir are in for a big senior year.

“He’s already gotten a little bigger, but he naturally has a big frame, which is one of the things UCONN really likes about him. I think he’s going to dominate on both sides of the ball. Last year, definitely at receiver, not too many could stay with him. Defensively, we don’t face that many teams that run a spread where we can let him loose, but when we play those teams, he’s going to have a fun time.”

“On our end as a coaching staff, our job is to hone his skills on both sides of the ball. UCONN is really looking at him as an outside backer, but he could be an option at wide receiver or even tight end depending on how big he gets. I want to get him ready so he has a chance to compete when he gets up there next year.”

As Coach Diaco continues to add to his first full class at UCONN, size, intelligence and maturity, will surely follow.

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