Williams on Stanford commitment

Football fans who stumbled upon top 2016 Texas defensive lineman Michael Williams' Twitter account on Friday morning were greeted by an unexpected addition to his profile page.

His Twitter bio read, in part, "#FearTheTree STANFORD FOOTBALL COMMIT."

In other words, Williams had delivered a silent - but at the same time public - commitment to the Cardinal.

The standout defensive lineman had considered making an unusual commitment announcement for an extended period of time.

"I've thought about this a long time," Williams said. "Most of the time now people are attention seekers. I've sen a dude drop a top-12, top-10, top-five, top-three, top-two. That just gets annoying. Nobody wants to see that on their timeline. And I could see the fans and people just start getting annoyed by that. (I felt like) I don't even need all the attention. I got all the attention I needed sophomore year when everybody kept calling me and calling me. I just wanted to be low-key about it."

Williams informed Stanford's coaching staff of his decision last night. He got a hold of his area recruiter, Tavita Pritchard, who has helped lead Stanford's efforts with Williams and fellow top Texas recruit, Kaden Smith.

Williams has also developed a strong rapport with his future position coach, Randy Hart, and he jokingly asked Pritchard to make sure Hart didn't get too excited when learning of the news. ,p>

"I talked to Coach Pritchard," Williams said. "He was excited. I told him to make sure Coach Hart didn't have a heart attack.

"(Pritchard) was just excited. He wants to... make sure I get this application in so we can get everything on the road."

Williams was one of the most highly recruited defensive linemen in the nation. He picked Stanford over offers from dozens of other top programs, including Texas, Ohio State, TCU, Michigan, UCLA and many others.

"Education has always been big to me," Williams said. "That's one of the first things I said when I was writing down the list when I was getting offers. Education was a big thing to me no matter what football program it was. And then I was realizing that football is a short thing but the education will last forever. And Stanford gave me the best chance, I believe, to make sure I make the most out of the free education I'm getting."

Though the All Saints High School star said that Stanford has been high on his list for "about three months now," even prior to his May unofficial visit to The Farm, that trip did help cement the Cardinal's standing in his recruitment.

"I got to talk to all the coaches," Williams said. "I felt the love - I felt the love from everybody. I felt at home. All the facilities were nice - that's not really a big thing to me, but everything looked nice. The people there were nice. The surroundings were nice. And I just loved California, the different vibe I got from being in the south my whole life. It was just different on the West Coast."

Williams said that Stanford is recruiting him to play the defensive end position in their 3-4 defense.

He's been in touch with several of the Cardinal's 2016 commits, including Bo Peek and Clark Yarbrough.

"My boy Bo Peek, I talk to Bo a lot," Williams said.

"I've been talking to Bo for a while. We've been talking about breaking records."

Yarbrough, a more recent Stanford commit, has also been in Williams' ear as of late, though the defensive lineman didn't need much convincing by the time the two started talking.

"I already had my mind made up before he even tried to recruit me," Williams said.

Now that he is committed, Williams will do his best to try to help Stanford build its 2016 class. Specifically, he's eyeing one of the nation's top players, five-star linebacker Caleb Kelly.

"I'm trying to recruit Caleb Kelly," Williams said. "I want him on the team."

Additionally, Williams is close friends with one of Stanford's 2017 targets, linebacker Baron Browning, whose older brother, Barry, played cornerback for the Cardinal.

Williams will recruit Browning, but at the same time wants the top 2017 prospect to make the decision that best suits him.

"I was on the phone with Baron when you called," Williams said. "I'm going to try to recruit Baron but I'm going to tell Baron it's the best fit for him. I can't tell (another prospect) what's going to make you happy, because you have to live (with what you decide). I don't want to be the reason you're unhappy at a place - I'm just going to try to tell you what I know... (I wouldn't want someone else to) feel that regret because you didn't pick what college you wanted to go to."

Williams, however, is confident in his Cardinal commitment. He is considering visits to other schools before Signing Day, but doesn't envision any program surpassing Stanford.

"Like, when Stanford talks they told me - they have nothing to be afraid of," Williams said. "They feel like they can compete with the top in country, so you can look everywhere you want to but you will find nothing is better than what's in Palo Alto right now."

Williams has set up his senior class schedule with an eye on gaining admission to Stanford, and feels good about his academic standing. He expects to receive a copy of the Stanford application shortly.