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2025 Countdown to Kickoff: #7 E.J. Williams Jr.
Height: 6’4”
Weight: 205 pounds
Hometown: Phenix City, AL (Clemson)
Class/Position: RS Senior+ / Wide Receiver
Is 2025 the year of E.J. Williams?
He’s played in 45 career games with nine starts in his career so far, and heads into his final season of college football after coming to Bloomington in the spring of 2023. He was by all accounts an elite high school prospect, as his size and athletic ability rocketed him up recruiting rankings and eventually landed him at Clemson. Much like his time at IU so far (more coming in a second), he showed flashes for the Tigers but was never consistently productive or dominant – despite the tools.
Williams transferred to IU after his junior season at Clemson and came in under Tom Allen. It’s been an interesting IU career for EJ was well, as he got it rolling early then suffered a hand injury, then really got it going late before the season ended. He had four straight games of at least four catches to end the year, which gave fans hope he could be someone to play a much larger role in 2024. Tom Allen gets fired, Cignetti gets hired, and E.J. Williams decides to stay at IU and not enter the portal.
With a massive roster makeover and scheme adjustment taking place in year one of the Cig era, E.J. Williams struggles to see consistent snaps and decides to enter the portal in Week 9 after playing 4 games to preserve his redshirt. After a period of uncertainty and some pointed conversations with Curt Cignetti, Williams decides the best place for him is in fact Indiana and decides to return in the offseason.
Williams now enters his last year of college football as someone that has shown great flashes but less-than-great consistency. Curt Cignetti said recently in fall camp said that Williams took a while to get going but has really come on of late. That’s a great sign for IU, as they’ll have to replace KeShawn Williams, Myles Price and Miles Cross from a wide receiver room that was incredibly deep and talented.
Elijah Sarratt and Omar Cooper Jr. are your clear 1A 1B receivers in the offense heading into the season, with the staff searching for the guy that will step up and be another option to make plays. If Williams can stay on the field and put good snaps together regularly, it could be a massive deal for Indiana in 2025.