Next in line

For the second-straight day, Columbia (Mo.) Rock Bridge defensive end Tre Williams camped with his high school team at Mizzou.

This time, however, things were a bit different.

"I'm a Bruin Tiger now," Williams said, following the afternoon session on Faurot Field. "I'm a bear with stripes.

Williams, a four-star recruit and the No. 14-rated weakside defensive end in the nation, committed to Missouri on Friday afternoon. He chose the Tigers over offers from Arkansas, Nebraska, California and Arizona State, among others.

The decision, as we previously discussed, was a long-time coming. Williams picked up an offer from Missouri in early March, and since then, he's waited for the perfect time to verbally commit.

Even his teammate Bryce Banks, a recent Missouri offer, knew it would eventually come.

"Even after he got his first offer, the only thing he would talk about was how much he wanted that Mizzou offer," Banks said.

The decision, Wiliams said, was easy. Standing on Faurot Field, he pointed back toward a golf cart idling in the south endzone.

Head coach Gary Pinkel behind the wheel.

"I had to get it out of the way," Williams said. "That man sitting right there? Gary Pinkel? Great dude. Been here for several years. And Coach Kul (defensive line coach Craig Kuligowski)? Ain't no body like him around the country.

"I want to get to the next level, but it's not just about the next level. I want to get here and expand my horizons."

Williams said he's put himself in the perfect situation to do both. The comparisons to Aldon Smith are easy, and Missouri coaches and players have made them, already. During Thursday's practice, defensive tackle A.J. Logan, himself a former Bruin, told Williams that Missouri's staff would use him all around the line, similar to how the used Smith, a former All-American, first-round draft pick and current outside linebacker for the San Francisco 49ers.

"I look at his tape all the time," Williams said. "All the time. Just watching and learning."

"Tre is the prototype at that position," Rock Bridge coach A.J. Ofodile said. "People covet those long, basketball-type bodies. He has long arms, great quickness, great ability to bend and turn the corner.

"Those are skills you can develop to a certain extent but they're also innate. He's a guy that has a lot of that just naturally. The exciting thing about him is, those basketball bodies aren't usually the most physical guys in the world. They're good pass rushers, but you don't necessarily have guys that can help in the run game. But he's a naturally physical kid, he's naturally explosive and powerful. But he hasn't even cracked the surface of what he can be."

Ofodile said Williams fluctuates between 220 and 230 pounds now, but said after a year in Missouri's program, he'll be between 255 and 260 pounds.

"The sky's the limit on what he can be," Ofodile said. "I think, personally, he'll fall in line with the lineage they've had, the prospect they've had at defensive line."

Amazingly, Williams was relatively under the radar in terms of the national landscape. So much has changed since March, and Williams said it's still "surreal."

"Nine months ago, I was standing on the sideline at Moberly," Williams said. "I move here to Rock Bridge with my mom, and everything changed.

Now, recruiting out of the way, Williams said his focus is on his Rock Bridge team, and on improving his strength.

"If I get stronger, and then I get here," Williams said, pausing. "I mean, I'm still a puppy. That don't mean I can't get big, too. My goals, this year -- right now, my goal is to fill up the stands with as many people as I can."