Bobcat to Gator? Florida football gives an offer to 4

For months, Buchholz WR/RB Justin Williams has collected college offers.Schools from Florida State to Kentucky have taken a liking to the Sun’s defending big school offensive player of the year.

In his senior season, Williams will hope to finally lead the ‘Cats to the state championship game. BHS has lost in the state semifinals four years in a row – to St. Thomas Aquinas, Venice, Lakeland and Osceola.In total, Williams has received offers from 12 Power 4 programs. Besides the three SEC, he holds offers from four ACC programs (FSU, North Carolina, Louisville and Wake Forest), three Big 12 programs (UCF, Utah and Cincinnati) and two Big 10 programs (Wisconsin and Iowa).Florida football extended an offer to the 4-star athlete Friday afternoon, Williams announced on his X account.

Where does Justin Williams have offers from?

UF is the third SEC program to offer Williams so far, along with Ole Miss and Kentucky. The Rebels offered him before the 2024 season, and the Wildcats offered him in February.247sports rates Williams as the 12^th-ranked athlete in the Class of 2025 and the 24^th-ranked prospect in Florida. He comes in at 5-foot-11 and 190 pounds.According to 247sports, Williams will officially visit Tallahassee on June 20. Williams said the Seminoles have recruited him “every day.”Swamp247 reported that Williams was on Florida’s campus Thursday. If Williams commits to Florida, he’ll be fifth Bobcat on the current Gator roster — along with sophomore LB Myles Graham, redshirt-senior Kicker Hunter Smith, redshirt-freshman LB Matthew Kade and redshirt-sophomore OL Bryan Rosenberg.Why is Florida football interested in Williams?Looking at Williams stats, it’s no surprise that the Gators hold interest in Williams. The rising senior became the first high school football player in Florida since Devin Hester over 20 years ago with 1,000 rushing and 1,000 receiving yards.His 1,473 receiving yards led Class 6A and ranked 4th in Florida. He finished second in the Florida Dairy Farmers 6A Player of the Year voting. Receiver has been Williams dominant position with the Bobcats. As a sophomore in 2023, he had 1,005 yards.However, coach Mark Whittemore shifted Williams to running back halfway through the season. He was the primary back for the Bobcats last seven games of the season and totaled 1,023 on the ground.Against Tocoi Creek, he set a Buchholz program record with seven total TDs (five rushing and two receiving). The next week, he rushed for a mind-boggling 297 yards at Bartram Trail.

Friday, the SEC program that sits less than five miles from Buchholz finally noticed the star athlete.Noah Ram covers Gainesville-area high school sports and University of Florida athletics for The Gainesville Sun, GatorSports.com and the USA TODAY Network. Contact him by email at Nram@gannett.com and follow him @Noah_ram1 on X/Twitter.