A talented signal caller, Williams adds depth to the Canes’ QB room.
In this installment of The Recruiting Notebook, we meet the player who satisfies Recruiting Rule #1: Get a QB every year, Milton (FL) 3-star QB Emory Williams.
Bio
As stated above, the #1 recruiting rule is you need to get a QB every year. In an effort to satisfy that foundational requirement, Miami worked to connect with Milton (FL) QB Emory Williams.
A 6’4” 190lb signal-caller, Williams starts at QB for Milton, a small school in Florida’s panhandle just East of Pensacola. Fun fact: Milton is so far West that, even though it’s in Florida, it’s on Central Time. It’s basically East Alabama that far up the panhandle. Anyways, I digress.
Williams started to make a name for himself on the field with a strong junior season in 2021. In 9 games (he missed one because of injury) playing in Florida’s 6A classification, Williams completed 63% of his passes for 2,168 yards with a 16-3 TD/INT ratio, while adding 64 yards and 4 TDs on the ground. For his efforts, Williams earned 2nd team All-Area accolades.
With a solid season to his credit, Williams saw several teams reach out with scholarship offers. This continued as the signal-caller showed good skills on the camp and 7v7 circuit through the summer. Williams had such a strong performance at a regional camp for Nike’s The Opening that he earned a place in the Elite 11 Quarterback camp. This is a camp routinely attended by the best QB prospects in America, so Williams earning an invite as a relatively unknown commodity is a big deal.
Around the same time Williams was lighting things up on the Camp circuit, Miami started to make a serious push to add him to the 2023 recruiting class. The Canes were pursuing another QB at the same time, but that didn’t diminish their desire to get Williams in the group as well. Following a June Official Visit to Coral Gables, Williams committed to Miami.
Williams went out to the Elite 11 and performed very well, finishing in the middle of the pack of the 20 players at the event. He flashed great talent and improving skill, and that set the stage for his senior season back at Milton.
In 8 games this fall (another 1 game missed to injury), Williams demonstrated his skills well. 62.6% completions for 2,049 yards with a 20-4 TD/INT ratio, while adding 238 yards and 2 TDs rushing. This shows consistent play and good tools, which will be needed as he moves forward to his college career at Miami.
Recruiting Ranking
On the 247sports composite, Milton is a 3-star prospect, the #33 QB nationally, #105 in the State of Florida, and #668 player overall in this class.
Milton committed to Miami from a list of 15 scholarship offers from around the country.
As A Player
Williams is tall and thin at 6’4” 190lbs. He could stand to add weight to his lithe frame, which will help him withstand hits in the pocket and hopefully help to improve his arm strength moving forward.
Williams stands tall in the pocket, and shows decent pocket presence. He routinely climbs the pocket to avoid the rush, but this will need to happen much quicker in college against better athletes than those he faced off against in HS. Williams displays a solid base as he sets up, and takes a short stride as he throws. Williams’ footwork is connected to his reads, with him resetting as he reads the field. This can continue in college, but, again, will need to be faster.
Though Williams can run when he needs to, nobody will confuse him with a running threat. He’s more of a “run because it’s available” than a “called QB run” type of player. Scrambles when coverage takes away his passing options will likely be the majority of his rushing attempts in college. Well, those and sacks, but you get the idea.
In instances when he throws on the move or off platform, Williams is better going to his right than his left. Williams does well to flip his hips when on the move, but needs to drive the ball off his back foot with more zip.
Williams’ arm is good but not great. He can make all the throws you want, but there’s a time component here. On-time throws can be successful. But Williams doesn’t have the arm to make throws late and get them there on time (such as can be done by players with stronger arms). Accuracy is among Williams’ strengths as a passer, but this is an area that can still see improvement moving forward.
Here’s another look at Williams by 247sports Director of Scouting Andrew Ivins:
A developmental quarterback prospect with the traits that everyone covets these days. Measured roughly 6-foot-4, 190 pounds summer before senior season and oftentimes looks the biggest player in his huddle. Owns a live arm and isn’t one that struggles to put pace on the ball. Quicker release usually allows him to stay on schedule. So does a sturdy base and cleaner footwork. Has operated primarily out of a single-back spread attack on Friday nights and found plenty of success in that type of system, averaging just over 240 yards passing his first full year as a starter. Should be categorized as more of a pocket passer than anything else at this stage in his development, but has flashed the ability to move the chains with his legs in certain situations, and was actually a district qualifier in the 110 and 300-meter hurdles as a tenth grader. Will need to keep evolving as a decision maker and learn how to process complex college defenses that will disguise pressure and coverages, but has the tools to eventually emerge as a starter at the Power Five level with some coaching and seasoning. Biggest thing moving forward might be just learning how to consistently win games and figuring out how to become an X-factor on offense.
Strengths
- Height
- Production
- Accuracy
- Pocket awareness
Weaknesses
- Average arm strength
- Lithely built and needs to add weight
- Average athlete
Miami Outlook
Williams has talent but he’s definitely a more developmental player at QB for Miami. With the talent on the roster, and the development needed from Williams to be game-ready at this level, fully expect it to be 3+ years until he sees the field.
I do think Williams is maybe a bit more talented than others, but it’s hard to forecast him starting here. If he does, that means he’s made a big leap in his skills, and that wouldn’t be a bad thing. Still, with the trajectory Miami desires to be on, and the level of recruiting possible with Cristobal at coach, it’s hard to envision a world where Williams isn’t recruited over in the near future, even as early as Miami’s next recruiting cycle.
Still, Williams is better than other developmental prospects that Miami has signed in recent years, so don’t fully count him out from being a factor in the QB competition a couple years down the line.
That’s it for this installment of The Recruiting Notebook.