Ed Reed hiring not likely to make impact on key recruit Avantae Williams

Four-star safety Avantae Williams will make his college choice official on national signing day next week when he signs his National Letter of Intent. The addition of Ed Reed to the Miami football staff is not likely to make an impact either way.

It seems as the recruiting process for Avantae Williams has come down to Miami and Florida. The Gators are the prohibitive favorite to sign the second-ranked safety in the 2020 recruiting class. Miami is not expected to gain an advantage with Ed Reed hired as the Hurricanes Chief of Staff on Thursday.

Ed Reed was Avanate Williams’ head coach in the Under Armour game in Orlando earlier this month. At the time, Georgia was initially in the mix with Miami and Florida to sign the elite safety. Miami previously was thought to have an in to sign Williams because of former five-star running back Lorenzo Lingard.

Williams and Lingard are cousins. Lingard transferred to Florida after the conclusion of the 2019 Miami football season. Lingard was never able to able to recover from a serious knee injury sustained in practice as a true freshman in 2018. Williams who was committed to Miami from 2017-18 seems to be his own person.

Williams is currently projected as warm to both Miami and Florida according to the 247Sports crystal ball. Scorching hot to Florida is more accurate. All 12 of 247’s prognosticators project Williams to sign with the Gators. Eleven of those 12 projections have been in the last month. Williams can be difficult to read at times.

"“Yeah, Georgia, I’m pretty sure it will be them…I like Georgia a lot…The DBs, the tradition, the way they play, their coaches…everything about them. I’m comfortable right now. I don’t know where I’m going, but I’m just comfortable. I have visits left to UF and Ole Miss and I’m setting up Georgia.”"

Those were Williams’ postgame comments to the Orlando Sentinel following the Under Armour game after he was coached by Reed. In addition to Miami, Reed was also committed to Oregon who is coached by Miami alum Mario Cristobal. In the four weeks since the Under Armour game, Williams canceled a visit to Georgia.

Williams announced the canceled visit to Athens while in Gainesville last weekend. The 5’11, 170-pound safety did indicate he enjoyed working with Reed in Orlando. It is tough to gauge if that means anything more. Inside the U discussed Williams’ relationship working with Reed for the Under Armour Game.

"“It made the game a lot easier. I know a lot more now than I did before. I learned a lot from him. He just asked if I was going there. It was nothing too crazy.”"

The interest from Reed for Williams to sign with the Miami football program increased exponentially with his new role with the Hurricanes. Williams would be a huge addition to the Hurricanes in the Class of 2020. The 2020 Miami signing class is currently ranked 17th. The addition of Williams would vault Miami to 12th.