Texas Basketball: Transfer SG Donovan Williams mentioned as BC target

Former four-star Texas basketball shooting guard recruit and sophomore Missouri City, TX, native Donovan Williams is now available in the NCAA Transfer Portal at this point of the offseason on the Forty Acres. Texas saw the talented in-state product Williams enter the transfer portal following the departure of now former sixth-year head coach Shaka Smart.

Back on March 26, Smart left Austin to become the next head coach in his home state with the Marquette Golden Eagles. What followed was Texas hiring the former Texas Tech Red Raiders head coach Chris Beard to replace Smart.

However, one of the most anticipated storylines looming for this offseason for the Longhorns basketball program is roster attrition/volatility on the recruiting trail. Texas already lost the likes of senior big man Royce Hamm and Williams to the transfer portal. And they lost the commitments of key 2021 prospects like four-star Brookfield Central power forward David Joplin and four-star IMG Academy shooting guard Tamar Bates within the past week and a half.

What’s next for former Texas basketball SG Donovan Williams?

With Hamm committing to play for the UNLV Rebels in the Mountain West Conference out of the transfer portal this month, Williams is the highlighting former Longhorn still available at this point in time. Williams wasn’t all that productive during his two years playing for Texas, but he still brings a lot of talent and two-way potential to the table.

A lot of former Longhorns struggled to find traction on the offensive end of the floor under Smart’s direction. That shouldn’t prevent potential suitors from looking into what Williams brings to the table for them.

During his two years playing for Texas, Williams averaged 3.3 points per game, 1.1 rebounds, 0.3 assists, 0.4 steals, and 0.2 blocks. And he’s shot 34.3 percent from the field, 21.9 percent from beyond the arc, and 76.7 percent from the free-throw line.

If there are a good amount of suitors looking to pursue Williams out of the transfer portal, it might not be long before he finds his next home. And a piece from Tyler Calvaruso of 247Sports from April 2 mentioned the Boston College Eagles out of the ACC as one potential suitor for Williams out of the portal.

Although Boston College was not one of the 16 schools that offered Williams out of Elkins High School back during the 2019 recruiting cycle, they look to be hitting the portal hard this offseason. Boston College has already lost a trio of guards to the portal this offseason, with two of them specifically playing the same position as Williams.

It makes a lot of sense for Williams to be a target of the Eagles out of the portal. Maybe Marquette could be a potential landing spot for him too, namely to be reunited with Smart.

Coming out of high school during the 2019 recruiting cycle, Williams ranked as the nation’s No. 73 high school prospect, No. 11 shooting guard, and No. 9 prospect out of Texas (247Sports Composite). And the Top247 ranked him as the nation’s No. 71 high school prospect, No. 10 shooting guard, and No. 9 prospect out of Texas.

Williams was one of the higher-rated signees in the Longhorns 2019 class. He also had a lot of high-profile schools on his offer sheet. Some of the other notable schools to offer him were the Miami Hurricanes, Georgia Bulldogs, Texas A&M Aggies, Houston Cougars, Illinois Fighing Illini, Kansas State Wildcats, Mizzou Tigers, Oklahoma Sooners, Oregon Ducks, SMU Mustangs, and Texas Tech Red Raiders.