Oklahoma football spotlight: Freshman DB Gentry Williams

With a 22-member recruiting class and 13 more players picked up from the transfer portal, almost a third of the Oklahoma football roster for the coming season is made up of newcomers.

Periodically, into the summer months, we will be introducing you to these new faces. Today, we introduce freshman defensive back Gentry Williams, who comes to OU as the No. 11 cornerback in the 2022 class, according to 247Sports.

Who is Gentry Williams?

Gentry Williams is a freshman cornerback at the University of Oklahoma. He was what many would consider the crown jewel of the 2022 recruiting cycle for the Sooners.

He was ranked the No. 4 cornerback in the class by ESPN and is a consensus top-100 prospect. He chose Oklahoma over the likes of USC, Alabama, Florida, Arkansas and several others. He is not an early enrollee, so he did not participate in the Red-White game. He is another in-state prospect to stay home, however, from Tulsa’s Booker T Washington High school. Williams was also a track star in high school Oklahoma state 400-meter champion in 2019 and played quarterback for Booker T. Washington as well as corner.

Gentry committed to the previous staff but kept his pledge to Oklahoma after the coaching change. He chose to sign in the second national signing day period in early February so he had the chance to meet and know who his cornerbacks coach was before signing on the dotted line. He was pleased with the hire of Jay Valai as defensive backs coach.

Oklahoma roster projections

Oklahoma is pretty loaded at the cornerback position, but talent never truly waits. Williams is a special talent who should command early playing time. Still, without being an early enrollee, 2023 sounds far more likely than 2022. Oklahoma looks solid at corner with Woodi Washington, D.J. Graham, Kani Walker and Jaden Davis.

The staff is high on all of these players, and you figure Wyoming transfer CJ Colden, as well as Joshua Eaton and Kendall Dennis, stands to to be ahead in the rotation in 2022. Williams also has a slight build at just pounds. He does have room on his frame to add weight, which takes time. Williams should have a great chance of winning a starting corner spot as a redshirt freshman in 2023.

Scouting

Williams is a superb athlete regardless at which angle you look at it. He stands at 6-feet, 1-inch, 170 pounds, he is strong, athleticly and can run. He is a shutdown player on the defensive side; it’s difficult to shake his coverage and he has the athleticism to jump up and high point the ball in traffic.

He has tremendous twitch, which makes him a prime candidate to possibly return kicks and punts for Oklahoma and is overall dangerous with the ball in his hands. He takes good angles to the football and plays well in contain against the run.

Williams is still raw at corner and must add bulk to his frame to play the way he did in high school, which was a ton of bump and run. He needs work on his technique, but has closing speed, and great change of direction talent that helps him mirror and shadow wide outs.

Gentry shows off hops on deflection:

Impact for Oklahoma

Another kid from the Sooner State chooses to stay home. That alone is a huge win. Pair that with a player with a high profile at a premium position, and the impact is enormous.

The previous staff put an emphasis on upgrading the athletes on the back end of the defense, and they have. The new staff will inherit one of the most athletic defensive backfields in the country and has the expertise in place to get the most out of that talent.

Oklahoma fans should be ecstatic about the trio of talented defensive backs coming in from Oklahoma high schools this cycle.

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