This red-hot guard from Nebraska is a recruiting priority for K-State and many others
Kansas State basketball coach Bruce Weber wasn’t with his team the night before the Wildcats played a road basketball game against Iowa State last weekend at Hilton Coliseum.
He had somewhere more important to be.
Donovan Williams, one of the nation’s top unsigned recruits, was playing a high school game 224 miles to the west in Lincoln, Nebraska. So that’s where Weber was on Friday evening. He sat on plastic bleachers inside a gym, wearing a puffy Nike vest that displayed a Powercat over his chest. Then he saw quite a show.
Williams led his Lincoln North Star team to victory by scoring a career-high 44 points. The following day, he broke that personal record by scoring 50. That’s almost 100 points in one weekend.
It’s easy to see why schools like K-State, Oklahoma State, Texas and many others have made Williams, a four-star guard, a priority recruit as the late signing period approaches.
“The reaction has been just crazy — a lot of love and a little bit of hate towards it. That is just what comes with being a top player in the country,” Williams said during a phone interview. “For the most part, it has been a lot of love and a little shock. Not many people can score like that. It has been a lot of fun.”
Expect the good times to continue. As the 6-foot-5, 200-pound Williams attempts to end his prep career with a state championship over the next two months, he will also weigh a number of quality college basketball options, which will take him on recruiting trips to different parts of the country.
He wasn’t sure that would happen when he tore a knee ligament last April and withdrew his commitment from Nebraska following a coaching change from Tim Miles to Fred Hoiberg. But Williams is back and playing better than ever.
At least a handful of college coaches will be on the edge of their seat when he announces his commitment in April.
“I am really open to everything right now,” Williams said. “I don’t really have any one school as a priority. I am just trying to focus on my season. Obviously, I am taking a visit to Texas A&M (Tuesday and Wednesday) and there are a couple other schools I am paying attention to like Kansas State, Texas, Oklahoma State and Oregon. But I am really open to everything right now. When my season is over, I will narrow it down to about five or six and take official visits.”
Williams has already taken unofficial visits to K-State and Oklahoma State. He will return to either or both for official visits if they make his list of finalists.
“I’m not going to take any official visits until March when I narrow my schools down,” Williams said, “so I can make them all count.”
Williams has also received interest from several other schools, such as Missouri. But Williams said the Tigers haven’t offered him a scholarship.
”Cuonzo (Martin) has reached out five or six times but it’s been very separated, so it has been hit or miss with them,” Williams said. “I’m not going to pay much attention to it. If they offer, they offer. If they don’t, they don’t. It’s really not that big of a deal.”
Williams hears from K-State coaches daily. The Wildcats were the second team that offered him a scholarship after he backed away from Nebraska, following Texas, and they send him upwards of four recruiting letters per day.
Before Williams visited Manhattan and watched K-State play Texas Tech last month at Bramlage Coliseum, he purchased a K-State hoodie and wore it behind the home bench “to show some love.” He said it meant a lot that Weber attended his game on Friday.
“They are definitely up there, for sure,” Williams said of the Wildcats. “They were my second offer. I talk to them every day. I have a great relationship with Bruce and (associate head) coach (Chris) Lowery. It is a very great relationship that I have with them right now.”
It will be interesting to see how many other college teams get involved with Williams as his high school career comes to an end.
His recruitment seemed over when he originally pledged to his hometown Huskers. Then his recruitment felt uncertain when he tore his ACL last April during an AAU tournament in Arkansas. He went up for a dunk and landed awkwardly. Just like that, he was off the court for nearly 10 months of rehab.
It was a thrill for him when he returned to the gym, but most college coaches were skeptical of his abilities. They wanted him to prove he was back before they offered scholarships. Now that he has, the offers are starting to roll in.
Here’s the scary thing: he doesn’t think he’s totally healthy yet.
“Overall, I would say I am at about 80%, explosive wise,” Williams said. “I’m not jumping out of the gym like I used to. I’m not all the way back, but I’m doing well enough, obviously, to play at the level that I am. So I’m feeling good.”
Weber has taken notice.
If Williams elects to play for the Wildcats, he would be a big addition to their 2020 recruiting class, which already ranks in the top 20 nationally with Nijel Pack, Luke Kasubke, Selton Miguel and Davion Bradford on board.
Williams grew up playing point guard and can still handle the ball like a floor general now that he has grown enough to also line up at shooting guard and small forward. He is averaging 28 points and 10 rebounds this season.
He should be able to help any college team with his offense.
“I can shoot the ball from anywhere, no matter how far away it is or where I am on the court,” Williams said. “I am a team leader and I rebound the ball very well. I feel like I can do it all.”