Destiny Called Andrew Williams to USC

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

Andrew Williams of Fremont High hold up his hand to show gloves with the USC insignia on the palms.

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 senior Andrew Williams sits in the back of the end zone holding a football in both hands.

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

______________

TrojanDailyBlog members —  We always encourage you to add factual information, insight, divergent opinions, or new topics to the TDB that don’t necessarily pertain to any particular moderator post or member comment.

 

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parcelman007
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July 18, 2025 11:01 am

I’m hearing that Nick Saban wants to get back into coaching. Possible destination…….USC….or so they say. I think hiring him would be a big mistake.They guy is 74 years old. You couldn’t possibly give this guy a long term contract and I question whether he would accept a 1 or 2 year contract. There are a lot of great young coaches out there who would love to come to SC especially now that SC seems to have its act together.

Jamaica
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July 18, 2025 1:44 pm
Reply to  parcelman007

My concern is he has his own tried & true system he believes in and if that were his demands, how much change would occur?

parcelman007
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July 19, 2025 8:45 am
Reply to  Allen Wallace

74 is too old. Now that everyone is seeing that the USC administration is behind this football team big time, USC is probably one of the favorite destinations for most coaches. There’s a lot of good young coaches out there. LR is a young coach who could evolve into a great coach.

Jamaica
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July 19, 2025 2:30 pm
Reply to  Allen Wallace

It took getting rid of a college president who didn’t care about CFB and USC’s historical past. I haven’t a clue why the Board of Directors decided to turn around and support sports again. But it has and the present future looks bright. I am sure being invited into the B1G and the money that brought made it an easy decision. Now if USC academics ranking would return to where it was 20 yrs ago, USC would get back where it belongs!

parcelman007
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July 19, 2025 4:45 pm
Reply to  Allen Wallace

Hope we never lose Jen Cohen. Before she came I sensed an opposition to the football program by parts of the administration. It seems like she either won them over or silenced them. I hope she never wants to leave.

parcelman007
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July 20, 2025 4:41 pm
Reply to  Allen Wallace

Long Live Jen Cohen…..unless she becomes AD at UCLA or ND…….just kidding

Steveg
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July 18, 2025 7:05 pm
Reply to  parcelman007

His daughter shot that down today.

illinoisusc
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July 19, 2025 7:19 am
Reply to  Steveg

Steveg…..I’am scheduled for back surgery in the future. Although I’d love to say hello at the Illinois game the surgeon tells me I’ll be off line for an undetermined time. Fell from an army obstacle course 55 years ago and it finally caught up to me. I hope you and your family have a wonderful experience at the game. I don’t know how much you know about U of Illinois yet but if you have not, try Papa Del’s……I used to live on it 55 years ago. Back in the day they were in a hole in the wall place… Read more »

Steveg
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July 19, 2025 7:38 am
Reply to  illinoisusc

My grandaughter is enrolled at Illinois and she loves it when we all go to the games. We went last season for the MInn game. I have no idea where my son got the seats but thanks for the heads up. Last time there we walked all over campus, it is huge, and she showed us Papa Dels. Sorry you are layed up, but thanks for those years of service, and I hope it all heals up great, even though at our age things heal much slower.

parcelman007
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July 19, 2025 8:47 am
Reply to  Steveg

They always deny these things. Saban denied that he would leave the Dolphins for Alabama and then took the Bama job the next day if I remember correctly.

parcelman007
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July 19, 2025 4:47 pm
Reply to  Allen Wallace

I hope his wife now convinces him to stay retired

Golden Trojan
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July 17, 2025 11:24 am
Reply to  Allen Wallace

The greatest college band ever. They need some NIL. They are everywhere all the time!

Golden Trojan
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July 17, 2025 10:14 am
Reply to  Allen Wallace

I have to ask, as others have as well, how do rankings change in July? It’s the off season. Is it the result of changes to QBs after Elite 11 finals in June? Do Receivers change ranking if they participated as well?

parcelman007
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July 16, 2025 4:42 am

There is a lot of hatred around the country for USC football. SC players need to learn to embrace the hatred. All of the great teams and men were either loved or hated.Think of the Boston Celtics, LA Lakers, NY Yankees, Green Bay Packers. Think of Donald Trump, Barach Obama. When you reach a certain level of achievement you’re going to get more haters, more lovers and less people in the middle.The SC players need to learn to embrace the hatred.

Steveg
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July 17, 2025 7:19 am
Reply to  parcelman007

I remember when USC was at the top, and the swagger just infuriated the haters to no end. Perhaps we see that coming back again. I hope so.

parcelman007
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July 17, 2025 9:06 am
Reply to  Steveg

Like I said……Embrace the hate….If you don’t have people hating you, you must be just kind of a mediocre guy or team or whatever. The greats have always had a lot of those who loved them and a lot of those who hated them and less who did not care one way o the other.

parcelman007
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July 16, 2025 4:32 am

There’s clearly bias in the star rating system against SC. They want to create the idea among protential recruits that if you go to SC you’ll be downgraded therefore making it tough for SC to recruit. It’s hard to just pick allstar teams in the individual leagues like the trinity;league. Now just imagine how hard it is when you have more than 1,000 players to rate from leagues of different strengths. It’s hard to rate a RB if he is on a team that doesn’t run much or a receiver on a team that doesn’t throw much. How can you… Read more »

parcelman007
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July 16, 2025 3:45 pm
Reply to  Allen Wallace

Maybe I’m wrong about these guys being biased. You’d know more than I do if you did that kind of thing.Maybe I’m listening too much to guys like Josh Pate who grew up in the south and said that the football fans down there absolutely hated SC.

parcelman007
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July 17, 2025 2:53 am
Reply to  Allen Wallace

amen

Jamaica
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July 15, 2025 9:03 am

Lane Kiffin has drank the SEC koolaid finally no longer being the lone wolf willing to call a spade a spade. He stood at the podium at the SEC press conference with a straight face telling all who would listen the SEC 8-game is fair compared to the Big Ten 9-game conference schedule because the SEC middle and lower ranking teams are better than the Big Ten’s and playing away games in the SEC are much harder. What he didn’t defend was the SEC’s consistent insistence to schedule 3 to 4 easy wins each season to pad its record getting… Read more »

Golden Trojan
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July 15, 2025 9:34 am
Reply to  Jamaica

In the 2010s the SEC beat the Big10 in 63% of their head to head games. Over the last 5 years that gap has narrowed to 55%. Last season with conference realignment in effect, the Big 10 won 60% of all games and 83% of bowl games against the SEC. So, no Kiff, the SEC is no longer better than the Big 10.

Jamaica
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July 15, 2025 8:31 am

Rivals has supposedly upgraded 3-USC 2026 commits, 1 from a 4-star to a 5-star and the other two from 3 to 4-stars as told by Marc Kulkin’s podcast. He didn’t say who the athletes were.

John Weld
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July 14, 2025 12:18 pm
Reply to  Allen Wallace

USC Baseball draft history

Captureusc
Golden Trojan
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July 14, 2025 1:56 pm
Reply to  Allen Wallace

MLB is especially difficult to reach. 28% of this years opening day rosters were players born outside the US, Canada and Puerto Rico (the domestic draft).

parcelman007
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July 12, 2025 9:50 am

Do these people at the NCAA actually get paid a salary? If they do, I would say paid for what? What do they do? Wingfield should have been given a decision long ago(one way or another). At least give him a decision., one way or another. Then if he wants to challenge it in court he has time to do that and still not miss the 2025 season. When is the decision going to come? In the middle of November?

parcelman007
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July 11, 2025 5:19 pm

I expect a lot more powerful USC football teams in the future. I really expect them to become a powerhouse again. SoCal has all the advantages that the other teams don’t have. Plus, this is the first time I have ever seen the university go head over heels for the football program. I’m not a USC football historian(correct me if I’m wrong on this) but it seems to me that in recent years the administration has been luke-warm towards the program.They hired Clay Helton…..not a great coach. They hired Steve Sarkesian……Washington couldn’t wait to get rid of him.They took a… Read more »

Trojanfanatic
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July 11, 2025 2:50 pm

Parcelman007, I’m gonna bite. You are certainly correct the pressure for LR to be a better coach and win is number one for the program. I believe in the back of most fans minds, certainly mine, is whether LR has really done the homework to pivot off his version of Air Raid, which severely lacks any sophistication, balance, unpredictability and physicality to be a contender. Most niche offenses become outdated ( wishbone, I formation, Air raid, wing T, etc.) because defenses catch up and then dominate that offense. LR hearing our whispers , could run a bunch to show visually… Read more »

parcelman007
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July 11, 2025 4:58 pm
Reply to  Trojanfanatic

Let’s see what LR does nexr year. I do think he’s a really good offensive mind. If he thinks the defenses are catching up to him maybe we’ll see a lot of new stuff that we haven’t seen before like more runs and even using the tight end more. He’s always had great offenses and last year wasn’t so great. Let’s see what he decides to do about it..

parcelman007
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July 11, 2025 8:17 am

The pressure on Lincoln Riley to start winning big is getting intense. That’s good. We will see what kind of a coach he really is. The reason the pressure is getting intense is because coaches can see that the USC administration has taken the big step to go full throttle into winning big in football and all the USC advantages, there are a lot of great coaches who would love to be the next USC football coach.

volunteerTrojan
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July 12, 2025 7:35 am
Reply to  Allen Wallace

The fact that AF and WV are on the collage and USC is not speaks volumes. The football program has reaped what the administration has sown. I believe next year’s version of this banner will be different as USC climbs back into the picture and national respect is gradually restored. I am more optimistic about the future than I’ve been in quite a few years. The last move was bringing in an unprepared HC and expecting that to cure all ills. We now know it didn’t. Since then, a rock solid foundation consisting of every element necessary for success has… Read more »

Golden Trojan
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July 10, 2025 10:17 am

This from another blog. The big athletics project (new football building, baseball stadium, women’s soccer stadium) is still more than $50 million short in fundraising. USC has decided that because of this, the baseball stadium will be completed in phases. That means USC will play at the new Dedeaux Field next season but it will remain under construction. This is why the Trojans’ best pitcher, best relief pitcher and No. 2 hitter departed the program. When Andy Stankiewicz got hired, he was told USC would play off campus for one year. Well it’s been two years with Year 3 about… Read more »

John Weld
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July 10, 2025 12:57 pm
Reply to  Golden Trojan

Yes, the baseball program and it’s coach are on an upward trajectory, but the reality is that the baseball program has lost money every year for the last 50 years. The baseball program exists because the football team does turn a profit…….even under the reign of an unsuccessful coach. In my view, if I were AD, all the money would be invested in the football program. Interestingly; the House Settlement terms (approved by a female judge) allowed for all of the money to be given to the mens football and basketball teams because they were the only programs that earned… Read more »

Golden Trojan
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July 10, 2025 3:05 pm
Reply to  John Weld

Good point, put your money where you can make money. Too bad, baseball was, hopefully, still is on the way back. Aren’t there any ex MLB/Trojans BB players that want to help the baseball program?

parcelman007
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July 11, 2025 8:05 am
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They should just let players go pro right after high school like in basketball. Let the NFL(and the United Football league and all the rest) be footballs version of professional sports. If kids don’t want to go to college let them go straight into whatever pro league they are good enough to play in. Hopefully, I’m wrong(I’m no lawyer) but it seems to me that college sports, in general(including football), are being destroyed. If they are good enough to play at the college level, give them a scholarship. That scholarship is worth a lot of money. They can get an… Read more »

Jamaica
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July 11, 2025 9:40 am
Reply to  parcelman007

I don’t know if the NFL owners want to deal with “baby sitting” new recruits straight out of high school. Rather they would need to create a minor league to get minimally trained athletes up to playing NFL level. We have seen how the level of NBA play has been affected by 18 & 20 year olds. NFL wouldn’t put up with that! JMO

parcelman007
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July 12, 2025 9:40 am
Reply to  Jamaica

Then create such a minor league professional football league. That’s better than destroying college football with all this NIL.

Golden Trojan
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July 11, 2025 10:33 am
Reply to  parcelman007

Only 1.6 percent of college players get to the NFL. That means 98.4 percent want to get a degree and play ball. Now they get a share of the revenue they generate as well.

UtahTrojan
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July 9, 2025 10:28 am

Sounds like a great kid. He will do well no matter what he does.

Jamaica
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July 9, 2025 9:04 am

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!

UtahTrojan
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July 9, 2025 10:29 am
Reply to  Allen Wallace

I sincerely hope that last comment is achievable. I unfortunately have my doubts.

Jamaica
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July 9, 2025 8:48 am
Reply to  Allen Wallace

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 »

Golden Trojan
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July 9, 2025 9:11 am
Reply to  Jamaica

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.

volunteerTrojan
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July 9, 2025 5:54 pm
Reply to  Jamaica

Little did we know LR’s Tulane masterpiece was the harbinger of results to come.

UtahTrojan
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July 9, 2025 10:32 am
Reply to  Allen Wallace

Problem last year with the run is LR kept going away from it. He has been the biggest problem.

illinoisusc
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July 9, 2025 3:26 pm
Reply to  Allen Wallace

Well, I hope that Jen attends the Illinois/USC game. After the game she should lean over and ask Illinois’s athletic director Josh Whitman what he thinks she should do.
He’ll probably be in a really good mood and recommend that USC retains Riley for the entire length of his contract. Midwest directors have been known to sell used cars for a living part time. Those fixer uppers can go for good prices if they have new tires.
USC……we’ve been thru a lot of fixer uppers.

illinoisusc
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July 9, 2025 4:29 pm
Reply to  Allen Wallace

Illinois vs Indiana ……..I got a feeling Illinois loses……they could pull out a close one.
Illinois vs USC…….I’am a neutral as a fan but as a football person……Illinois gets the nod.
Either way…..as you stated……it’s much better football than USC vs Wa St.
Being done…..naw……at Illinois a 8-4 record is considered to be a great year. No expectations. If they somehow make the playoffs it’s a long day playing somebody like Oregon.

Golden Trojan
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July 9, 2025 5:39 pm
Reply to  Allen Wallace

When do the Boo Birds and the planes with “FIRE RILEY” banners start at the Coliseum?

illinoisusc
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July 9, 2025 6:18 pm
Reply to  Golden Trojan

If we lose to anyone other than Oregon, Michigan, ND or Illinois I suspect Riley is going to have a few Boo Birds.