All-American Bowl journal: Notre Dame WR Cam Williams recaps first practice
Throughout the week at the All-American Bowl in San Antonio, Glen Ellyn (Ill.) Glenbard South wide receiver and Notre Dame signee Cam Williams shares his thoughts and experiences of taking part in the prestigious postseason all-star game with Blue & Gold.
Below are a few of his thoughts after the first day of practice.
Williams on Tuesday’s practice: “I think the first practice went well. Things got done and lots of things were learned. I thought I did pretty well. I’m still getting back into things after not playing football since November, but it’s coming back for sure. We had lots of team (11-on-11), a bit of one-on-ones and seven-on-seven went on today.”
On how he handled the coldy, rainy conditions and if he’s more used to playing in it: “Yeah, even though I’m from the Chicagoland I’m used to it, but that still doesn’t mean it’s not cold. It definitely doesn’t feel like I’m in Florida even though I’m used to it, but it was still fun to be out there despite it pouring.”
On some of the other players he’s gotten to hang out with this week: “Honestly, the Notre Dame guys I’ve been around and the Illinois natives like Justin [Scott], Christian [Bentancur] and Marquise [Lightfoot]. And then also hanging around Carter Nelson, because we became really cool after our official visit.”
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On Dec. 20, Williams, who ranks as the nation’s No. 29 player and No. 9 wide receiver per the 2024 On3 Industry Ranking, went from a commit of 18 months to a Fighting Irish signee. Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman was excited to talk about Williams during his signing day press conference.
“The thing that attracted us to Cam was his speed,” said Freeman. “When we’ve said — ‘Hey, we need to address speed’ — we want to continue to enhance our speed on the outside on both sides of the ball. That was a thing with Cam.”
“We saw him multiple times run 4.4s. We had him in camp. We had him live. He is a tremendous player that’s from Chicago. We have to make sure that the best players in Chicago that fit this place continue to come to Notre Dame. That was the case with Cam.”
Previewing Notre Dame recruits in the All-American Bowl
All-American Bowl week for Notre Dame’s 2024 class is here.
On Monday, the players set to compete in the premier postseason all-star game arrived in San Antonio, Texas. The All-American recruits will practice Tuesday-Friday ahead of the contest which will air on Saturday at 1 p.m. ET on NBC.
Notre Dame had 11 signees in the game in 2022 and had five in it last year but it would’ve been more if not for injuries. And the Irish have four players in the game Saturday.
Saline (Mich.) High quarterback CJ Carr was invited to the game but opted to participate in Notre Dame’s bowl game practices rather than in the prestigious all-star event. And West Roxbury (Mass.) Catholic Memorial offensive tackle Guerby Lambert suffered a minor knee sprain in late November. Lambert will actually be in San Antonio later this week but will not participate in the game.
Blue & Gold is in the Lone Star State to report on the following four Irish signees who will play in the All-American Bowl: Glen Ellyn (Ill.) Glenbard South wide receiver Cam Williams, Lufkin (Texas) High running back Kedren Young, Bellflower (Calif.) St. John Bosco linebacker Kyngstonn Viliamu-Asa and Charlotte (N.C.) Christian EDGE Bryce Young.
On the West team, Williams will wear No. 8 and Viliamu-Asa will rock No. 27. For the East squad, Bryce Young will have the No. 97 jersey and Kedren Young (no relation) will wear No. 3.
