2019 4 Star SF Samuell Williamson Commits To The Cards

Chris Mack has the Cardinal Caravan rolling as UofL picks up their third commitment for the 2019 class in 4 Star F Samuell Williamson.

C O M M I T T E D ‼️🔴⚪️⚫️#GoCards pic.twitter.com/u8J77xyI3Y

— Samuell Williamson (@S_Williamson35) September 17, 2018

Williamson, a 6’6 180 lbs SF from Rockwall High School in Rockwall, TX, is ranked 44th overall in the 2019 class per 247sports composite rankings. He chose UofL over Kansas, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Florida, and a host of other schools. Luke Murray was his primary recruiter.

I have watched highlights of Williamson, but we at @CardSportZone also got to see him in person at the open gym the UofL Basketball team held on Saturday. This guy is a cool customer on the court with a high basketball IQ and we came away highly impressed.

Williamson is in constant motion without the ball on offense; always forcing his defender to move and working his way to get open. He loves to get open in the corners for 3s. What stood out on his highlights and in the practice was that his movement isn’t a token gesture. He always moves with purpose; either to create spacing for teammates to work or to get open. He loves to go back door on over eager defenders for alley oops or layups.

However, Williamson can also handle the ball in the open court and in the half court. His ball handling is as smooth as his personality seems to be. He handles like a 6’2 PG and can actually run some point. It is entirely possible to run an offense through him if need be.

Williamson matches his ball handling with excellent court vision, awareness, and passing. In one of his highlights, he grabs a rebound, brings the ball up the court, and makes a nice pass between two unaware defenders to his teammate for an easy layup. At the open practice, he did an excellent job of feeding the post when a big had a favorable one on one matchup; he used very simple, crisp passes.

Williamson is a shooter. That’s a theme that seems to be emerging with Mack’s class. Though he didn’t hit as many shots in the open practice as I expected, his form was beautiful. His highlights bear out how good of a shooter he is. His range is easily beyond the 3-point line and he has a nice pull up mid-range game.

The thing I loved most about Williamson both in the highlights and open practice was his rebounding; particularly his defensive rebounding. He was not afraid to crash the boards for a rebound. He has a knack for getting position and getting the ball. His length, athleticism, and awareness allow him to rebound out of his area. He always jumps for and attacks the ball when rebounding rather than waiting for it to fall in his lap. Quite a few times at the practice, he would crash from the wing on defense and get up for the rebound.

Defensively, he has the quickness to guard the PG or SG position. He can stay with quicker players and his length will bother them. Of course, that length also allows him to guard SFs. If Williamson adds muscle, he might even be able to guard the PF position as well. He has quick enough hands to get steals, but isn’t necessarily a big gambler. Williamson has the length to become a good weak side shot blocker.

With Williamson’s commitment, Coach Mack got his version of Francisco Garcia. Like Garcia, Williamson is smooth, can shoot with range, can handle the ball, and can pass. He can be almost like the point forward Garcia was for Pitino. The biggest difference is that I believe Williamson is a much better rebounder. Once UofL’s strength coach adds muscle to his frame, he could become an elite rebounder. Williamson is a heady player with athleticism to match which could potentially make him a nightmare for opponents and an NBA lottery pick.

Williamson joins fellow commits Josh Nickelberry and Jaelyn Withers in UofL’s 2019 class, which is now ranked 4th in the team rankings for 247 Sports  per Evan Daniels.

Louisville's recruiting class moves to No. 4 in the @247Sports Team Rankings with the the addition of Samuell Williamson. Three four-star recruits for Chris Mack.

— Evan Daniels (@EvanDaniels) September 17, 2018

Coach Mack is allaying the fears of a scandal fatigued fan base and bringing hope back to Card Nation by securing the commitments of this trio of excellent players. He’s not done either as he sets his sights on the weekend of September 28th. With Louisville Live and the FSU football game as recruiting tools, he brings in his number 1 C target Aidan Igiehon and highly touted scoring phenom Rocket Watts hoping to have one or both join his elite class.