USC commit Andrew Williams proves the City Section still has football talent…

Andrew Williams of Fremont High is a 6-foot-5, 220-pound senior who committed to USC last February. This raw, two-way player can play edge or tight end with the Trojans. He finished with 80 tackles, 10 for loss, nine sacks and three forced fumbles on defense to go with 12 all-purpose touchdowns, nine rushing, three receiving, on the offensive side of the ball. Eric Sondheimer / LAT)
Eric Sondheimer (LA Times) — It was 7 a.m., and Fremont High’s Andrew Williams was sleeping at his grandmother’s house in South Los Angeles when she woke him up to tell him a USC football coach wanted to speak to him on her cellphone before he went to school.
Williams will never forget that moment on Feb. 12. Defensive line coach Eric Henderson was calling to officially offer him a scholarship to play for the Trojans.
“You don’t believe it until you see it,” he said. “When he told me in his tone and how serious he was, I knew it was real. It was destiny calling. It took me a couple hours to reflect what was going on. I was stunned.”
By lunch time in the school quad, while surrounded by friends and classmates, the 6-foot-5, 220-pound Williams was calling Henderson to tell him, “I’m ready to become a Trojan.”
Henderson replied, “Hold on. I have someone who wants to speak to you.”
Coach Lincoln Riley joined the called.
“He said, ‘We’re so excited to have you here.’ It was genuine,” he said.

Fremont High SR Andrew Williams has shown his versatility as a DE, TE and FB. CSU and SDS offered him last season. MICH ST, MINN, ASU, ALA and UCLA had also expressed interest. (Eric Sondheimer / LAT)
Williams (now listed as a three-star on 247Sports and On3/Rivals) was so unknown in the recruiting world before committing to USC last February that he said, “I wasn’t mentioned by any recruiting sites. I had no stars. Honestly it didn’t make me feel any different. I was the same player before the stars and without the stars. Most people still don’t know about me.”
He said a three-touchdown, 10-tackle performance as a junior against L.A. Jordan last fall while playing fullback, defensive end and receiver caught the attention of Colorado State assistant Chad Savage, who later joined USC as an assistant.
Recruiting players from inner city Los Angeles used to be a priority for USC and UCLA. Fremont grad Ricky Bell, a star running back for USC, has his name on the Pathfinders’ stadium. Fremont grad Mark Bradford was a star receiver at Stanford. Crenshaw has sent numerous players to USC and UCLA. Dorsey’s head coach, Stafon Johnson, was a standout running back for the Trojans.
But a drop in talent in the City Section has made identifying potential success stories more difficult. Williams, who has a 3.8 grade point average and plans to graduate in December, said he hopes to be part of the start of a rebirth in championing players from the inner city.
“I’m comfortable with people looking up to me,” he said. “Somebody in the city is actually doing it. Just as I can do it, so can you.”
He doesn’t doubt the road ahead remains difficult.
“I feel I was one of the least privileged kids,” he said. “To have the opportunity I’m doing now. … If I was another 6-5 kid that wasn’t from South Central, I would have been known. They would have shot me up the rankings. They don’t show that in the city I love. That’s cool. That’s for them to keep sleeping on us.”
Living 10 blocks from Fremont with his grandmother since he was 7, Williams said he didn’t discover football until his freshman year. He said he had too much free time until reaching high school and finding something to focus on.
“Have you heard the saying, ‘People get stuck and lost in the system?’ People become a product of their environment,” he said. “I needed time to figure my way out. I came to a realization when I came to high school that something was going to have to happen.”
With his height, athleticism — he can dunk — and agility — he also ran track — USC will watch him this fall to see whether his position will be tight end or defensive end. He’s a raw, intriguing prospect with lots of room to become stronger.
First-year Fremont coach Derek Benton was the coach at Jordan last season when Williams had his big game.
“He made his mark against me, then I knew and heard about him and it was one of the attractions coming here,” he said. “I’m very impressed with Andrew as a person.”
All Williams wanted was an opportunity to get a degree in college. He wants to study communications and learn about sports broadcasting. He said he didn’t need to visit multiple colleges or seek attention from social media. The USC offer was enough.
“Football teaches you can’t expect results without work,” he said. “People expect things in life, but they don’t put the work in. That’s a lesson football teaches you. It teaches unity, leadership, how to treat others.”
He has been rewarded for making good decisions and surrounding himself with people who want to see him succeed. All he’s ever wanted was a chance to prove himself.
“I’m doing my thing,” he said.
latimes.com
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Phil Steele’s preseason poll, ranking all college football teams, 1 to 136 1. Penn State 2. Notre Dame vs USC Oct. 18 3. Texas 4. Alabama 5. Ohio State 6. Clemson 7. Georgia 8. Oklahoma 9. Texas A&M 10. Florida 11 LSU 12 Michigan at USC Oct. 11 13 Oregon vs USC Nov. 22 14 Miami 15 Arizona State 16 Indiana 17 Illinois vs USC Sept. 27 18 Baylor 19 Utah 20 Tennessee 21 USC 22 Ole Miss 23 SMU 24 Auburn 25 Texas Tech 26 TCU 27 South Carolina 28 Iowa State 29 Louisville 30 Kansas State 31 Iowa at USC Nov. 15 32 Wisconsin 33 Arkansas 34 Pittsburgh… Read more »
Sounds like a great kid. He will do well no matter what he does.
I will be rooting for Andrew Williams to succeed this season at LA Fremont. And yes, coach Chad Savage, doing his thing finding diamonds in the rough recruits missed by other programs which has been his calling card. Great story and Andrew appears to have a pretty good head on his shoulder. Good luck young man!
This is a great story. USC’s current staff as recruiters is so far superior to the group originally brought aboard by LR back in 2021-2022, it’s not even funny.
Throw in our new GM, Chad Bowden, and USC is strong enough now to locate, properly evaluate, and sign both the sleepers as well as the ones everyone wants.
Now Lincoln Riley just needs to step up to the plate and finally start coaching like the elite coach we all thought he was in the first place.
I sincerely hope that last comment is achievable. I unfortunately have my doubts.
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Coulda woulda shoulda is the story about last season’s losses to teams not favored. Were there any player injuries or crucial calls by referees that caused the 3-losses plus the overtime loss to Penn St.? Or was it due to the playcalling & inability to manage the clock? I was just thinking, could LR be another James Franklin being unable to finally win the big games? He had the talent at Oklahoma and can you say Utah had more talent than USC in winning twice two season’s ago? Or was LR outcoached in the 4th quarter by Willingham like he… Read more »
If LR was making $5 million a year instead of $11 he would have been fired in December. The whole program, LR and Jen Cohen all must know this. It has to be the elephant in the room. Has LR been told to change? Will he continue his pass happy ways? The keys to next season will be run/pass play calls, and play calls with, 5 min. in the game, the lead and the ball.
Run blocking is easier than pass blocking. So run the damn ball! LR can’t blame poor execution, lack of talent/skill. It’s all on him.
Problem last year with the run is LR kept going away from it. He has been the biggest problem.