Want to attack every day with the latest Georgia football recruiting info? That’s the Intel. This entry is about the latest honor earned by Georgia freshman 5-star DL Mykel Williams out of Hardaway High in Columbus.
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Mykel Williams. Nasty. Future. Bright. Athens.
That’s was the word chain commonly associated with the Georgia freshman DL when he showed out this month in Texas.
Williams, who is already on campus at UGA, often looked at times to be the very best prospect at the All-American Bowl Week on a consistent day-to-day basis.
It appears the prestigious Maxwell Football Club out of Philadelphia concurs with that assessment.
Williams was named the 2022 Maxwell Football Club Defensive National High School Player of the Year. Per the release, he finished his senior season with 81 tackles, 20.5 stops for losses and 12.5 sacks. That’s after a 17.5 sack season as a junior.
The Georgia freshman had three tackles for losses, including a sack in the All-American Bowl out in San Antonio on Jan. 8. He’s already rated as the nation’s No. 5 DL and the No. 21 overall prospect in the country. Look for those rankings to rise considerably in the final evaluations for the 2022 class.
He is expected to wind up ranked among the top 10 players in the country, if not higher than that. The 6-foot-5, 260-plus pounder was just that dominating.
Former recipients of the Maxwell Football Club honor include Alabama’s Derrick Henry and Bryce Young, Georgia’s Jacob Eason and Nolan Smith, Clemson’s Bryan Bresee and Trevor Lawrence, among many other standouts over the years.
Penn State RB signee Nicholas Singleton was named the National Offensive Player of the Year on Thursday in tandem with Williams. Both All-American Bowl participants will be honored at the 85th Maxwell Football Club Awards Gala on March 18. That event will be held in Atlantic City.
The former USC commitment said earlier this month that he was “extremely ecstatic” to be joining the program in Athens this month. DawgNation should be, too.
Mykel Williams: A dominating DL is already at Georgia
DawgNation had several conversations with Williams out in Texas earlier this month. They will provide the bulk of a larger “Next Generation” piece on him to come.
He was really hunting that week out in Texas.
“I did come in with that mindset of ‘Oh yeah people are going to realize who I really am’ after this weekend type deal,” he said. “But that wasn’t my main focus this week. My main focus was just on my keys and playing ball.”
The Chuck Smith protege hails from a part of Georgia that is not known for its great football, its great weekly competition or great facilities.
That’s why he drove up to Atlanta on the regular to train with the former Tennessee All-American and NFL veteran. Smith has really become very adept at training the next wave after wave of elite pass rushers in the South. Smith, who will now return for his senior year in Athens, also worked with him during his rise as a prospect.
Perhaps one of the coolest things in regard to Williams was his ability to share and transfer what he knew. That came easy for him with future Georgia teammate Marvin Jones, Jr. Jones is another 5-star signee in the class.
He likely has more raw tools and upside than Williams, but he doesn’t possess the bag of tricks and polish to his game yet that Wiliams showed in Texas.
The brightest part of all that for Georgia fans was the camaraderie and kinship shared by those two. Jones asked him on a practice day to show him a few things. Williams readily obliged.
“That’s my boy,” Williams said. “That’s my teammate. You feel me? That’s my brother. I am going to help him get to be as good as he wants to be.”
He did so with the proficiency of a clinic teach tape. For those that bleed the red and black, the two of them working together on the damage they will deal to SEC QBs in Athens was a beautiful sight.
“It is going to get real crazy,” Williams said. “It is going to get real crazy. We are going to get real crazy and also add a couple more pieces to our puzzle. We are going to be a big bad defensive line for a Power 5.”
Mykel Williams: What his new teammates said about the POTY
Williams was one of several Bulldogs who got to participate in bowl practices with Georgia in December before they left for The Orange Bowl game week in Miami.
“It was an adjustment for like the first two days,” Williams said. “But after I got adjusted I felt like I would be okay.”
He was. Williams was able to quickly morph those nerves into the same practice mindset he had ever time he has stepped onto the grass.
Williams said his “Welcome to the SEC” moment came from Georgia senior captain Jamaree Salyer. He did more than just thud him up. Salyer was rated as the nation’s No. 1 OG coming out of high school in 2018, but he performed brilliantly over his last two seasons at left tackle.
“Yeah, he long set me,” Williams said, “I went for my move and he face shot me, moved his hands and caught me.”
Wiliams said Salyer had a simple reply to that rep.
“This is college.”
“Oh yeah, you’re right,” Williams said he responded in kind.
What did his future ‘Dawg teammates have to say about him when they were all in Texas?
“He’s a ‘Dawg man,” Griffin Scroggs said. “He’s out here whipping people’s butts man. He’s as humble as you can be off the field. He’s just like that. He’s real good. Going to be really good for Georgia.”
“I’m just glad he is going to be playing for Georgia and on another team coming after me,” Gunner Stockton said.
“His play speaks for itself,” Oscar Delp said. “This week was one of the weeks where I got really close with Mykel and Marvin. Just getting to hang out with them the whole time. Just getting to know them and talking with them. It was super cool. I really feel good about those two. Those two are going to be crazy together.”
“Then Mykel is just unstoppable. He knows every move. The way he is super genuine off the field. He is really funny also. People don’t see that side of him outside of football. He’s really a guy you can just hang out with and chill around.”
“He’s a ‘Dawg,” Marvin Jones Jr. said. “You can see from all of the videos. He was the ‘Alpha Dawg’ here back-to-back. He’s somebody I can’t wait to work with. I think he does a lot of stuff better than me. Having him on my side will really help me elevate my game. I think I can also help elevate his. I think I do some stuff he doesn’t do. I think he does a lot of stuff I don’t do. I think that us being able to learn from each other is going to make each other really great players.”
SENTELL’S INTEL
(check on the recent reads on DawgNation.com)
- The national championship roster is splintered, but 18 early enrollees are already on campus
- All-American legacy RB Justice Haynes sees “something special” at UGA
- 5-star junior DL Victor Burley gushes over Georgia’s fans, its present and its future
- Stetson Bennett IV: The father of the Georgia QB recaps how hard this year was for his son
- Kelee Ringo: The late-game hero recaps that Chip-6 pick that sealed Georgia’s national title
- BREAKING: 2023 legacy Lawson Luckie becomes the first new commit to the national champions
- Justin Shaffer: The “Pac-Man” Georgia Bulldog story to read before the national championship game
- Earnest Greene II: How Georgia beat out Alabama for prized All-American OL
- Cover 4: The DawgNation staff predictions for the national championship game
- BREAKING: All-American Earnest Greene III has made his college decision
- All-American RB commit Jordan James on why he didn’t sign with UGA during the early period
- Cover 4: Why will things be any different this time with Alabama?
- Earnest Greene III: All-American OL previews his Saturday decision reveal
- Cover 4: What’s the biggest Alabama weakness that the Bulldogs must exploit?
- Marvin Jones Jr: The Orange Bowl story you need to read about Georgia’s next great pass rusher
- Shemar Stewart: 5-star DL breaks down why UGA remains in his final three
- Under Armour All-American Game: Five UGA signees will take the field from the 2022 class
- All-American Game week is underway for UGA’s 2022 signees and a key unsigned target
