Recruiting Spotlight – Gentry Williams
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Booker T Washington 2022 defensive back Gentry Williams Gentry Williams 6'0" | DB Booker T Washington | 2022 State OK is patiently waiting. It’s not easy for one of the fastest players in Oklahoma. But just like in football, when you have to make the right move at the right time, that’s what Williams faces today in more ways than one. This week marks five months since Williams had surgery on a torn ACL he suffered in week one against Del City. It shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone that Williams is doing very well with his rehab and his recovery is coming along great. The Hornet Speedster is finally cleared to do what he does best, run.
Williams has also been patient with his recruitment. He’s the latest Booker T Washington standout to be recruited by college programs all over the country and it began when he was a freshman. Before he could even drive a car, Williams was considered one of the top prospects in the country. In late November, he announced his top ten schools. Williams admits that it’s getting close to the point where he’ll narrow it down again.
“I probably will sooner or later,” Williams said. “I need to narrow things down coming up soon. It’s just stressful balancing everything and I need to let these programs know if I’m just not interested. I do have a couple schools that are standing out to me right now so I’ll be narrowing it down soon.”
In the last week, the 2022 class saw two prospects announce their commitments. Williams, who is rated as the number two overall prospect in the class, isn’t going to jump into a decision when he’s not ready. Once again, he will stay patient. “I don’t want to rush the process,” Williams said of a possible decision date. “I do and I don’t have a time in mind but if I’m not ready, I’m not ready.”
Williams admits that staying patient over the last several months hasn’t been easy. WIlliams is used to being out on the field on Friday night’s, playing on both sides of the ball. Since he stepped foot on the Booker T Washington campus, he hasn’t spent too much time watching the game from the sideline. But that became his reality in 2020.
“You can take away a lot from it,” Williams said of his experience. “Good and bad. The game is never going to stop just for you. I could have had a great season but it was taken away from me. It can be taken away from anyone just like that. I had to lead by example and help the other guys out when I could.”
Williams expects to be back to 100% just after spring football in June. That’s bad news for the rest of Oklahoma as the Hornets are loaded with young talent, led by Williams. When Williams went down, the Hornets saw the emergence of Jaden King Jaden King 6'2" | DB Booker T Washington | 2022 State OK , who ended up being one of the best ball hawks in the state. He’s just the latest defensive back to make plays for the Hornets. Booker T Washington is no stranger to producing high quality college prospects but over the last five years, they’ve done an exceptional job with the DB position. You can make the argument that Booker T Washington is the high school version of “DBU”.
“It’s fun,” Williams said of playing in the very talented Hornet secondary. “We do a lot of 1 on 1 drills against one another. We turn on the lights of the stadium and you know you’re going against the best of the best in the state. It only makes us better.”
With Williams returning along with a wealth of young talent, the Hornets are hungry to contend once again for the state championship. 6A-D2 has been dominated by Bixby, who’s won six of the seven state championships. That one that got away was captured by the Hornets in 2017. Booker T Washington is determined to grab another one in 2021.