Chris Beatty is rolling up his sleeves and going to work on the recruiting trail for the Mountaineers in the Tidewater region of southern Virginia. The WVU running backs/slot receivers coach’s latest target is Travis Williams, an outstanding outside linebacker from Lake Taylor High School, in Norfolk, Va.
EerSports.com caught up with Williams on Tuesday night and he explained how on Monday, his long list of suitors was narrowed down to three.
“I dropped it down to three yesterday,” Williams said, “Miami (Fla.), North Carolina and West Virginia.”
“They [WVU] are coming after me pretty hard. Coach Beatty wants me to go down there.”
Williams is part of the Lake Taylor team that is off to a 4-1 start. He said he and Beatty, also a Virginia native, talk on the phone once or twice a week. “We’re really tight. We talk about football stuff. He’s just a cool cat.”
Along with Williams’ three finalists, he was offered by Virginia Tech, Penn State, Tennessee, LSU, Maryland, N.C. State and Syracuse. ESPN Scouts Inc rated Williams the No. 42 overall outside linebacker and evaluated him with a 77 scouts grade.
What is intriguing about WVU to Williams is the Mountaineers’ 3-3-5 defensive alignment, a set up that allows blitzing and pressure to come from anywhere on the field, at any time. “The 3-3-5, you can never guess who is coming,” Williams said. “They have a lot of blitzing going on and I like doing that.”
The prep star believes WVU’s coaching staff is recruiting players who substitute size for speed, which is especially beneficial when dialing up the 3-3-5 odd stack scheme.
“I’m pretty fast,” said Williams, who is 6-foot-2, 195 pounds. “We don’t have to be real big to play linebacker. They want to keep that speed. Recruiters are starting to recruit speed rather than size.”
Williams’ determination on the football field is something he believes attracted WVU to offer him, then stay in an unrelenting pursuit for a commitment.
“I’m a good motivator. I bring it every time,” he said. “I don’t really take too many plays off.”
Beatty has already proven himself as a fixture in recruiting the state of Virginia having reeled in three current freshmen Mountaineers: running back Shawne Alston, defensive lineman Dominik Davenport and wide receiver Logan Heastie.
“Yeah, I know all of them. I talk to Logan Heastie on Facebook,” said Williams.
Heastie has talked with Williams about selecting WVU. “He’s cool with it,” Williams said and added Heastie’s mother, Karla, has been trying to talk him into becoming a Mountaineer.
“She was trying to get me to come to WVU.”
Beatty has already gotten class of 2010 verbal commitments from three more Virginians: running back Trey Johnson and offensive linemen Quinton Spain and Marquis Wallace.
Of teaming up with those Mountaineer players from Virginia, Williams said, “It would be nice to have that connection. I just want to make sure I’m comfortable where I’m at.”
During this past summer, Williams took an unofficial visit to Morgantown and said, “It was pretty nice.” He has not yet taken, nor planned any official visits this fall.
“Nah, I haven’t found time yet. I’m going to try to.”
Williams is a spur-of-the-moment kind of guy -- he does not know anymore than anyone else when he plans on making a verbal commitment.
“No, I just do things out of the blue,” he said. “I don’t plan it.”
But when he does, EerSports.com will be here bringing you the latest.
Travis Williams ESPN.com Recruiting Highlight Video
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