One elite wide receiver firmly on Clemson’s recruiting radar for the class of 2022 is CJ Williams of Mater Dei High School in Santa Ana, Calif.

Williams, the No. 5 rising junior wideout in the country per 247Sports, has amassed more than 40 scholarship offers and is getting ready to narrow down his recruitment in the near future.

“I’m going to start narrowing down my schools and I think I’ll come out with a top schools list pretty soon,” he told The Clemson Insider. “So, just waiting for that, and September 1 is coming up, so that should be an interesting time to see who really wants you.”

Sept. 1 is the date when college coaches can begin initiating contact with prospects in their junior year of high school. Right now, coaches are not allowed to actively reach out to 2022 recruits, though they can pick up the phone when recruits call them.

One of the coaches Williams has been staying in touch with under those restrictions is Clemson wide receivers coach Tyler Grisham.

The Tigers have only offered one wide receiver in the 2022 class thus far – Del Valle (Texas) five-star Caleb Burton – but Grisham has been telling Williams to stay patient for a potential offer as Clemson goes about the recruiting process much more slowly than most other schools.

“Overall, we’re just talking about football in general, life,” Williams said. “I like our conversations because we can just talk and kind of be carefree and not really worry about just football, and I think that’s important. We’ve been talking about being a man and stuff like that, what you really look for in life and just the situation around the world. So, that’s good.

“As far as offers and stuff like that, we’re still talking about the recruiting process for Clemson, how that goes slower, so it makes sense to me and I’m all for it and I’m just waiting for my opportunity to come.”

Williams has a specific plan for how he will trim down his recruitment moving forward and when he will ultimately make his college decision.

“I’m a younger dude, I’m only going into my junior year, so I’ve got two more years of high school football, a good amount of time,” he said. “I’ll enroll early, probably, that fall semester of 2022 year, after that. So, I think my commitment will come around the summer next year after junior season. I want to play my senior season out and just focus on football and just have fun, be a senior for a while, so I’ll do that.

“But I think the process is going to go from 15 and then I’ll narrow it from 15 down to 10, then seven, then the five will probably be my five official visits and then I’ll decide from those five — the information I’ve gathered, I’ll make my decision.”

If the Tigers don’t make the first cut for Williams because they haven’t offered yet, he says they will still have a chance to enter the mix as one of his top schools should they decide to offer in the future before he commits.

“Most definitely,” he said. “I take into consideration the fact that they are slow in their process. They didn’t start their 2022s (offers) until later than other schools. So I think for me, it’s just narrowing down my options. Recruiting is a tricky game at the end of the day, and you really don’t want to lead other coaches on. You want to let them know and stuff like that. But I think Clemson, just taking that fact into consideration that they’re a little bit later, I think they will have a chance. Obviously I would like to get on campus and experience it, and they could have the opportunity to be in one of my final schools or even the schools that I choose to go to one day.”

Clemson’s rich history of producing NFL wide receivers is one of several aspects of the program that appeals to Williams.

“Obviously it’s an elite program,” he said. “They develop their players, they get guys out. They had a wide receiver drafted last year obviously (Tee Higgins). Sammy Watkins, Deandre Hopkins both went there. So, that offense is pretty nitpicky as far as who they choose and who they recruit, and they recruit dogs and I like that. But I feel like you have a good opportunity to play on a big platform there, and they’re always in the national championship and that final four contention. So, the opportunity to go play there with a great coaching staff around you, their fan base — you can’t ask for anything more than that.”

Williams, who was born in Alabama before moving to California when he was a young child, said he doesn’t anticipate distance playing a role in his college choice. Instead, he is more focused on other factors that will be key in determining where he ends up at the next level.

“I’d say the factors that really go into it is the likeminded players that I’m in with the locker room,” he said. “Obviously I want to be with guys that want to succeed in the classroom, succeed on the field and succeed as young men and just become better. I feel like that’s really important. I like to be around high-education dudes that want to see themselves succeed in life. And then also relationship with the coaching staff is big. I want to get that family feel from them, and just the opportunity to develop myself as a student, as a football player and more importantly as a young man off the field.

“I just want to be able to have a coach one day that I can look at and be like, he changed my life somehow, and I feel like every single school that’s recruiting me so far has that opportunity and really has that ability to do that.”

Williams is ranked as the fourth-best prospect from California, No. 5 receiver and No. 33 overall prospect for the 2022 class according to 247Sports.

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