Missouri has landed its third defensive end in three weeks in the 2024 recruiting class. Hudson (FL) three-star Elias Williams chose the Tigers on Friday night over Indiana, Kansas and UCF.
"I'm choosing Mizzou because they are genuine and it feels like home," Williams told PowerMizzou.com prior to his announcement.
Williams announced the decision prior to Hudson's game against Chippewa Falls. A source told PowerMizzou.com Tigers defensive ends coach Kevin Peoples is at the game.
Williams took an official visit to Mizzou on the Tigers' Gold Rush weekend in late June.
"That took really good care of us, put us in a nice hotel and fed us a ton of food," Williams said after the trip. "They have a really nice campus. I really liked the campus."
He also took official visits to his other three finalists that month. He had long been targeting an early September announcement, but there was some doubt cast on that earlier this week when he picked up offers from Kansas State, South Carolina and Alabama. But Williams stuck to his timetable and chose the Tigers.
He is the 14th commitment in Mizzou's 2024 class and joins Jaylen Brown and No. 3 national prospect Williams Nwaneri as defensive ends in the class. Williams checks in at 6-foot-4, 240 pounds.
"What I really want to work on is my hands because at the college level everybody is 6-5, 300 pounds and everybody’s just as good as you," he told PowerMizzou.com earlier this summer. "I want to really focus on the little things like my handwork and footwork."
"Williams looks to have added good weight early in his senior season, allowing for a more versatile defensive approach as an inside-out rusher, with the production still there," Rivals.com Southeast analyst John Garcia Jr. said. "He is steady with his hands and has enough lower body power to work through initial contact, with true redirection skill thereafter. After making more than 20 stops behind the line of scrimmage as a junior in 2022, he looks even more poised to splash against both the pass and the run this fall."
PowerMizzou.com will have more on Williams' commitment in the coming days.
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