Marcus Freeman shares importance of Cam Williams to signing class

National signing day occurred this past week, and when speaking on the 2024 recruiting class after getting it in ink, Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman specifically broke down one of the Irish’s top guys: wideout Cam Williams.

Williams was a riser through the recruiting process and the Irish first reached out and offered him when he was lower rated than he is now. He would eventually commit to ND, but the staff had to fend off some other suitors as Williams’ play improved and his profile grew as a senior in high school. Now, he’ll officially be headed to South Bend.

When asked what about Williams makes him such a top prospect in the class, Freeman pointed to one lethal trait. Al Davis might say it kills.

“I don’t know if Cam was maybe a five-star when he committed. I don’t know when he became one. But the thing that attracted us to Cam was his speed. When we’ve said — ‘Hey, we need to address speed’ — we want to continue to enhance our speed on the outside on both sides of the ball. That was a thing with Cam.”

Williams’ speed wasn’t just a number on paper, either, because Coach Freeman says the staff made the short trip to watch him run those times in person.

“We saw him multiple times run 4.4s. We had him in camp. We had him live. He is a tremendous player that’s from Chicago. We have to make sure that the best players in Chicago that fit this place continue to come to Notre Dame. That was the case with Cam.”

Marcus Freeman got a good one.

Background on Williams

In the On3 Industry Rankings, which utilizes four major recruiting services, Cam Williams came out as a five-star prospect, the No. 29 overall player and the No. 9 wide receiver in the class, which is apparently loaded at his position.

Cam Williams was described as “the complete package” by his Glenbard South High School coach Ryan Crissey.

“There isn’t much he can’t do on the football field,” Crissey told Sports Illustrated. “His ceiling is so ridiculously high. That’s just it, Cam is really a true football player. From a receiving perspective, he’s an explosive athlete, has good hand skills, his body control is unreal and the tempo he uses as a route runner is just unmatched.”

Through his sophomore and junior seasons Glenbard South, Williams racked up 920 yards receiving and 14 touchdowns. Most of those numbers came in his junior season when he exploded for 13 scoring grabs and an average of 20 yards a catch. Williams also averaged 8.5 yards a carry in 2022. “He’s an incredible natural athlete,” his coach said.