Ishaq Williams is Irish

Posted on by SEE

Notre Dame took a giant step toward building a dominant defense with the surprise commitment of outside linebacker Ishaq Williams to join Stephon Tuitt in what is turning into a top 10 and possibly a top 5 recruiting class. Williams was rated as the East team’s third best performer at the Army All-American team and the best pass rusher on a team filled with dominant pass rushers, including Aaron Lynch, Ray Drew and Tuitt. Rivals called him unstoppable in practice and said he will be considered for five-star status.

The second ranked defensive end on Rivals and a five-star recruit on Scout, made a predawn pledge the Irish when Bob Diaco showed up to meet him at his Brooklyn home at 4:30 am. His father, Shaun Williams told Irish Illustrated that the visit put Notre Dame on top, “The whole idea of how confidently coach Diaco talks about Notre Dame winning a national championship in the next few years, he just felt he had to buy in.” His father twittered, “Ishaq is Irish. See you in South Bend”.

Ishaq Williams | OLB
ESPN Grade 82 | Scout ***** | Rivals ***** Top 100
Hometown: Brooklyn, NY | Abraham High School
Height 6’6″ | Weight 240

Scout: A long, rangy defensive end that is athletic enough that he could still make a home at outside linebacker, but as he fills out his frame, he has the potential to be a force off the edge as a pass rushing defensive end. Fast enough to run down backs on a sweep the other direction, and intense enough to de-cleat would be tacklers on a crack back block, Williams has a total package of skills, size, effort, speed, and nasty.

Rivals: Williams proved to be a superior athlete with tremendous speed off the ball. His overall length helped keep offensive linemen off his body and his frame will eventually allow him to grow into a monster. He was productive all week and in the game as a pass rusher and on coverage teams. The combination of size, speed and growth potential was too much to ignore. He has the makings of a difference maker coming off the edge at the next level.



Rivals on Williams 5th Star (1:40 Mark)

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12 thoughts on “Ishaq Williams is Irish”

  1. Whiskeyjack says:

    Ishaq is the prototypical Cat LB in Diaco’s system. Hard to overstate what a significant pickup this is for the Irish.

  2. The Piper says:

    ***CORRECTION***

    DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS

    We’ve all heard it a hundred times. And it’s been shown here numerous times that to win a Natl Championship, more important than scoring offense and rushing offense is RUSHING DEFENSE.

    Truth is that Notre Dame has struggled to land a 5* DL since the early ’90s, and next to coaching, that is the chief reason we have struggled for years.

    I recall many on the boards here calling Kelly small timey and not being capable of landing the big defensive player. As expected, many of those concerns were unfounded. Kelly has now beaten Miami and USC, his defense was #1 in scoring in the last 5 weeks of the season, and he’s on the cusp of signing 3 5* DLs.

    Go Irish

  3. Jim Prisby says:

    So far this looks like a pretty solid recruiting class. I’d love to see Savon add to this class at RB. Mr. wishy-washy Lynch can go somewhere else with his skeptical attitude and poor grammar. I’m also concerned that we weren’t able to attract another solid DT / nose guard. I’d really like to see more depth in the middle to stop the run and, from what I see, there isn’t a DT even considering ND. A shut down corner would be nice as well but I guess I’m getting greedy!

    • Lou says:

      I think we are fine this year without a DT, especially when you consider that Nix will be the starter for at least three years, besides with these guys on the outside a decent guy can get a push inside to help stop the run.

    • Whiskeyjack says:

      You wouldn’t be so dismissive of Lynch if you’d seen him blowing up offenses across from Tuitt in the Army All-American bowl. Adding Lynch to this class would be a huge recruiting coup.

      Kelly undoubtedly will look to pick up a DT/ NG next year, but with Sean Cwynar, Hafis Williams, and Louis Nix, there were far more pressing needs for this year’s class.

  5. AJ says:

    ND is building great depth at all positions on D. With a spread O you need to have 2-3 guys playing 20-30 Downs rather than 1-2 playing 40-50. Dline will have plenty of depth for 2011. DT will have Cwynar, Newman, Stockton and Nix with 2 years or more each. Add Hafis Williams as a DE/DT and you have plenty of depth at DT. The area in need is the secondary but with 5 commits that issue will be rectified shortly. The D will be good in 2011 but will be phenomenal in 2012!

  8. Scranton Dave says:

    Big time commit! Tuitt and Williams are the type of recruits we have been missing for years, and Lynch may be next. The future looks bright!