Ishaq Williams Will Not Announce Today, Irish Fans Remain Hopeful

Ishaq Williams the 6 foot 6 inch, 230 pound five-star defensive end out of Abraham Lincoln H.S in Brooklyn was tentatively scheduled to make his announcement today during the Army All-American game. Tentative being the key word, it is now thought that Williams will make his decision later this week. Notre Dame, Penn State and Syracuse are the three schools left on Williams list.

With these being Williams' choices, it's obvious that weather is not a factor. Syracuse might have a slight advantage because of its dome setting, and both of his parents having attended school there. Williams was in attendance at the Pinstripe Bowl at Yankee Stadium last week as Syracuse defeated Kansas State 36-34. There are some that give Syracuse an in-state advantage, but although the distance from Brooklyn to Syracuse is a little over 200 miles, in actuality it might as well be on another continent.

Williams 4.65 speed has been described as deceptively fast; he is rated the No. 2 defensive end in his class and No. 1 in the state of New York. Although he was recruited by more than 30 schools his only interest has been in Notre Dame, Penn State and Syracuse.

Penn State came into the 2010 season with defense in mind and finished with the 35th ranked defense in the land, this being said, I feel that there would be a question about Joe Paterno's stability as a head coach, there was much speculation going into PSU's Outback Bowl loss to Florida. Honestly, back in 1986 when Paterno was recruiting players that I had played with and against, I thought that he was outdated, and that was 25 years ago. Williams has never made an official visit to Penn State.

Notre Dame is the strongest of Williams' three choices, the punishment that the Irish defense dished out over the last four games of the season was incredible and had to make a recruit eager to want to suit up for Brian Kelly and Bob Diaco.

Williams had an outstanding visit to South Bend one that his father described as impressive, he was also taken by how much class was extended by Notre Dame and predicted a National Championship under coach Kelly. Add to the mix the fact that Mr. Williams was wearing a Notre Dame hat at least two days this week at Army All-American practice.

If Ishaq Williams makes his announcement today, which is highly unlikely, I feel that Notre Dame is the front runner, there is nothing in either Penn State's or Syracuse's programs that can compete with the Notre Dame experience, the days of Penn State being Linebacker U are long gone, and Syracuse is well...Syracuse.

There was also some speculation that Williams will delay his announcement because new Miami coach Al Golden made a home visit to Williams, and is now in the mix. While the visit is a fact, the chances of Golden swaying Williams to Miami this late in the game is unlikely.

Williams will be an early enrollee wherever he chooses to go, so one way or another he will make his decision soon, maybe today at the Army All-American game, maybe not.