What decommitment of C.J. Williams means for Notre Dame football, USC

Notre Dame football suffered a major loss to its 2022 recruiting class on Monday with the decommitment of C.J. Williams. Here’s what it means for Notre Dame, USC, and Michigan. 

Whenever there is a change at head coach, it’s going to have an impact on recruiting and the impact of all of the head coaching changes was felt once again by Notre Dame football on Monday.

The Fighting Irish lost one of their top commitments in the 2022 recruiting class as C.J. Williams, a top-100 wideout, officially re-opened his recruitment just two days before the start of the early signing period.

Williams who is 6-foot-2, 193 pounds is ranked 76th overall in the 247 sports composite rankings for the 2022 recruiting class but if you read his message, you could tell that he was impacted by the departure of Brian Kelly to LSU.

Williams is one of the best recruits in the state of California and plays for Mater Dei. Getting to him to South Bend was a big win for the Notre Dame football team, but a lot of it had to do with the head coach at Southern Cal at the time and that’s Clay Helton.

The Trojans obviously wanted Williams at the time but that was true of others such as Malachi Nelson and Raleek Brown who committed to Oklahoma despite being in USC football’s backyard.

But that all changed once Lincoln Riley became USC football’s head coach. Riley quickly flipped the commitment of Nelson, Brown, and others from Oklahoma to USC and now it’s likely that Williams will do the same from Notre Dame to the Trojans.

The sixth-ranked wideout in 2022 and No. 11 prospect in the state of California according to 247, already has a trio of crystal ball projections to USC football, so that seems like a done deal.

What’s next for Notre Dame football

With Williams no longer part of Notre Dame’s class for 2022, a top priority has become keeping Amorion Walker, a 2022 athlete capable of playing receiver or defensive back.

Michigan made a strong push for Walker but the Wolverines picked up some crystal ball projections for Darrius Clemons Monday, another 2022 wideout.

That could be interpreted as a sign that the Irish can at least count on Walker to sign as part of their 2022 haul, despite the Notre Dame pledge actually having multiple projections to Michigan.

Nothing is a given at this point, but with the other dominoes falling into place that would make sense (Walker signing with the Irish) and is at least one positive for Notre Dame football heading into early signing day.