Texas lands former Oregon 3-Star OT commit Cameron Williams

This is a massive weekend without a doubt for head coach Steve Sarkisian and offensive line coach/offensive coordinator Kyle Flood in terms of tangible success with the 2022 Texas football recruiting class. Texas landed a huge commitment on Dec. 11 from the former Oregon Ducks commit and elite five-star Summer Creek offensive tackle Kelvin Banks.

Flood, Sark, and the Longhorns made it two former Oregon offensive line commits that they landed this weekend on Dec. 12 by bringing in three-star Duncanville offensive tackle Cameron Williams along with Banks. Texas is clearly having success with some of their top offensive line targets in the 2022 class, as evident by these two most recent commits over the weekend.

Williams made his commitment to Texas known thanks to an announcement on his Twitter timeline on the afternoon of Dec. 12. He is now the fourth offensive line commit in the Longhorns 2022 class. And he is the second former Oregon commit joining the 2022 class in a span of roughly 24 hours.

Texas football adds second OT commit in 24 hours in 3-Star OT Cameron Williams

https://twitter.com/BigCamWill/status/1470121861874954242?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet

It was the departure of the now-former Oregon head coach Mario Cristobal that opened the door for the Longhorns to openly pursue the likes of Williams and Banks. And it didn’t take long for the Longhorns to capitalize on the de-commitments of these two talented offensive tackles.

Texas had a huge position of need in the 2022 class at offensive tackle, especially since the other two offensive line commits in the mix are likely going to play at guard.

Moreover, it was unclear after Cristobal departed for the head coaching job with the Miami Hurricanes whether Williams would join him. Williams was already interested in the Hurricanes before Cristobal went there. It seemed like a real threat to Flood and the Longhorns that Williams would end up essentially flipping from Oregon to Miami.

Yet, Flood was able to take this opportunity to get a commitment out of Williams ahead of the Early Signing Period on Dec. 15 and lock it in this weekend.

Williams officially de-committed from Oregon on Dec. 8. Thus, it only took Flood and the Longhorns four days to essentially flip his commitment to join Texas.

Texas is now getting a powerful 6-foot-5 and 360-pound offensive tackle hailing out of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex that brings an SEC-type punch to the offensive line. It became clear early in the summer how much the Longhorns were prioritizing the recruitment of Williams.

But Williams would originally commit to Oregon on July 1. Texas still stayed on this recruitment, though, showing how important the coaching staff found him to be as a potential part of this 2022 class.

Williams is a massive body for Texas to have coming into the mix along the offensive line. He apparently weighed in around 380 pounds for Duncanville High School this fall. So, he’ll definitely have to trim down some weight before getting any sort of playing time at Texas. But that could happen pretty quickly in 2022 if Williams signs and enrolls early on the Forty Acres.

There are some areas that Williams still has to improve, including progressing his footwork/fundamentals and quickness off the line of scrimmage. Trimming down weight and working with Flood and this Texas staff should help him develop in those areas pretty fast starting next year.

Williams is a stout run blocker and a reliable pass blocker that has long reach and excellent power to push through multiple opposing defenders. He is excellent at finishing his blocks too, which is something that will really come in handy for this Texas ground game.

It’s hard to tell at this moment how quickly Williams will be able to compete for snaps along the offensive line. If he slims down and gets quicker in the offseason ahead, he should be able to compete for some reps right away. But he has a long way to go before that can happen.

Texas is getting the type of offensive linemen in Williams that might not be ready to make a massive immediate impact, but he could be a solid three or four-year starter. Williams is going to be a solid long-term piece of this 2022 class.

All in all, it goes without saying that the Longhorns are starting to see the fruits of the newly instituted NIL program which is set to pay scholarship offensive linemen $50,000 annually to all that agree to participate. Texas has now landed Williams and Banks since that was first instituted earlier in the month.

Texas now has 23 commits in total in the 2022 class just a couple of days ahead of the Early Signing Period. Some of the most important offensive line targets remaining to watch from here on out include five-star Bowie interior offensive lineman Devon Campbell and four-star Todd Beamer (WA) offensive tackle Malik Agbo.