(Photo of Jaraye Williams: Twitter)
BURIEN, Wash. - LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The writing was on the wall, but now the news is official.
Class of 2021 outside linebacker and Louisville football legacy commit Jaraye Williams announced late Friday night that he is backing off his verbal pledge to the Cardinals and reopening his recruitment.
The decision is not all that surprising, and is one that was largely expected to come sooner rather than later. During the Early Signing Period last December, Louisville signed 21 of their 22 Class of 2021 high school pledges, with Williams being the lone prospect not to sign.
The Cardinals would later sign three transfers to bring them up to a full class of 24 prospects. Normally, a school is allowed to sign 25 recruits for each class, but with JUCO LB KJ Cloyd being able to join the program as a full qualifier last season, his scholarship counter also applied to this class.
Williams was regarded as arguably the top prospect in the class for Louisville, being ranked as the No. 92 prospect in the Class of 2021 according to SI All-American’s Postseason SI99.
A six-foot-three, 197-pound prospect for Burien (Wash.) Kennedy Catholic, Williams had 30 tackles, 5.5 TFLs, 2.0 sacks, an interception and a forced fumble during his junior season. With the state of Washington electing to delay their 2020-21 football season to the spring, he has not yet seen the gridiron for his senior year.
He is the son of former Louisville men's basketball star Terrence Williams, who played for the Cards from 2005-09 and was taken at No. 11 overall by the New Jersey Nets back in 2009.
Louisville will kickoff the 2021 season against Ole Miss in the annual Chick-Fil-A Kickoff Game at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Ga. on Monday, Sept. 6.
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