Riley Williams, nation's No. 2 tight end, trims list to 4, raves about Alabama official visit

Central Catholic High School tight end Riley Williams is one of the most coveted football prospects in the history of the state of Oregon.

The 6-foot-6, 230-pound jumbo pass-catcher is rated the nation's No. 2 tight end and has already accepted an invitation to the Under Armour Al-American Bowl.

This month, Williams has scheduled official visits to Alabama, Miami (Fla.), Ohio State and Oregon.

At this point, he said, that is his final four.

Over the weekend, Williams took his first official visit to Alabama and was completely blown away by the experience.

"Shoot, it was crazy," he said. "It was definitely... I don't know how to explain it. I loved everything about it."

Pressed to lay out what exactly stood out about the trip, Williams gave a detailed response. 

"There were a lot of things... the history, of course, the campus - it was beautiful," he said. "I enjoyed the town of Tuscaloosa. It was a nice, condensed area. The coaches and the players, as soon as I stepped foot on campus and talked to them, I felt automatically like I was a part of that family. I've mentioned it before... in my recruiting process I put the sense of family atmosphere as the No. 1 of where I'm going to go and they definitely showed me that."

Often, the first visit slowly gets overshadowed by other trips.

Williams has official visits to Ohio State (June 10), Miami (June 17) and Oregon (June 24), but he said he's not a believer in "last visit gets a boost."

He said he's "level-headed" about the process and will take each visit into account on its own merit.

So, for Alabama, there's nothing left to show. 

"Honestly, they don't really need to do much, because that sense of a last visit is 'best for last,' I don't believe in that," Williams said. "I'm an open-minded kid. They don't need to do anything, I didn't really want to leave. It was a great visit, for sure." 

Next up is Ohio State, a campus Williams has visited before and enjoyed the first time around.

"I've been there before... it was about a year ago when I first got the offer," he said. "I'm excited to get back, see the coaches again, show my face around there again. Honestly, I'm excited to get back down there."

With three more trips remaining, Williams has a strong idea in mind for the rest of his recruitment.

A summer commitment is likely.  

"I'm planning on finishing up these visits in June, taking July to process, and then August is when I'll most likely make that decision," he said.

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