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COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Brock Williams’ biggest challenge on Friday night may have been the bushes behind both end zones. The Libertyville (Illinois) 2027 five-star tight end scored three times in his team’s dominant win, and each time, he had to avoid the bushes just past the out of bounds line of the end zone. “We need to get those bushes out of their asap!” Williams joked after the game. “All three of my touchdowns today, I had to jump over and make a play over the bushes like someone was tackling me, but we made it.” Latest Ohio State Buckeyes news Former Ohio State football player sentenced in drug trafficking case: Buckeye Breakfast AP top 25 rankings: Where Ohio State football ranks after its shutout win at Wisconsin Inside Carnell Tate’s superb catch for Ohio State football and the interesting backstory to it Where is Ohio State football on Stephen Means’ AP Top 25 ballot after Week 8? His three touchdowns, certainly for Lake Forest in trying to defend him, were not laughing matters, though. On his first touchdown, he caught a fade route and simply leaped over the defender to make a stellar grab. On his second score, he beat the defensive back to the inside and caught a pass in the back of the end zone. And on his final score, he just outran the defender to the end zone, dragged his feet and scored his final touchdown of the night. The No. 32 overall player and No. 2 tight end in the 247Sports composite rankings certainly looked the part when he had to. “He can play tight end and down block somebody, he can line up as a split end and go catch a fade, he can return a kick, he can return a punt,” Libertyville coach Tim Budge told Cleveland.com. “We can say, ‘Hey, play safety on this play.’” Those kinds of athletic plays -- jumping over bushes not withstanding -- are why Ohio State has the 6-foot-5, 210 end recruit as one of the top targets in the 2027 class. And that doesn’t mean just at tight end. “He’s been just all around phenomenal -- especially this year,” Budge said. “Not only has he done a great job receiving, he’s a heck of a blocker. He is a very physical blocker and then he’s a new dimension of his this year has been his return game. He’s had a couple kickoff return and punt return touchdowns this year and just long returns.” Both Brady Edmunds and Jamier Brown, Ohio State’s other offensive commitments in the 2027 class, have been active about trying to bring Williams into the class. So too has tight ends coach Keenan Bailey, who has visited him a handful of times through the recruiting process. “He’s the best,” Williams said of Bailey. “That’s like a best friend to me. He recruits very well, cares about me, watches my games. I’ll hop on a call with coach (Ryan) Day every week, twice a week maybe. But yeah, my relationship with those guys is absolutely great.” Williams was on campus for the Ohio State-Texas game on Aug. 30 but has not been back since. He recently made a trip to Georgia and has a visit to Texas planned for Nov. 22. Those three programs are in his top three, and he’d like to visit each school one more time soon. His trip to Columbus back in August still resonates with him. “I loved it,” he said. “The environment was crazy. College Gameday was there, everything was there. The atmosphere was insane, and the amount of tight ends that were in the game was very good. And coach Kee’s the man.” But why Ohio State? For a program that has been a factory for first-round receivers in recent years, it feels simple enough to suggest that a tight end wouldn’t be a major part of the offense. For Williams, he says, it comes down to two factors: Communication and relationships with coaches, and tight end usage. This year, Ohio State is proving both. “I’ve been watching every game, and they’ve had five tight ends in there at one point,” he said. “It’s great to see. Last year they were Wide Receiver U, but now they got all the tight ends in the game that they need.” Williams has been compared by coaches to former Buckeye tight end Cade Stover, who is now in the NFL with the Houston Texans. But the upside with him is certainly through the roof. It’s why Edmunds has been so active in trying to land Williams and reaches out to him frequently. Williams, who lauded how good of a recruiter Edmunds is, said that the two may end up playing seven-on-seven together at some point next year. The Buckeyes, though, will have to beat out Texas and Georgia to get Edmunds his 2027 tight end prospect. Williams praised the way that Georgia has used tight ends in recent years, and his relationship with Texas coaches. Ohio State likely won’t have to wait long to find out if all the work Bailey, Edmunds and the rest of the Buckeyes have put in to land him. Williams plans to commit around the first week of December, citing a desire to get the recruitment process over with. And if he ends up choosing the Buckeyes, they could have their most talented tight end recruit in quite some time. “I feel like once I know where I want to go, there’s no need to take all those official visits,” Williams said. “I was raised better than that just to take all these officials when I already know where I’m going to go. I think that’s disrespectful.”
