Talent Tracker: College football’s most talented rosters — and its next wave of ‘freaky’ players

Your weekly serving of college football roster acquisition thoughts — recruiting, transfer portal, you name it — from 247Sports Director of Scouting Andrew Ivins. 

We’re doing things a little differently this week. I just released my annual list of the 50 freakiest high school football prospects — an admitted and approved ripoff of Bruce Feldman’s famous version. So, while we usually end Talent Tracker with the “freak of the week,” today we’re starting with him before diving into a few other topics, including other committed prospects who remind me of next-level freaks, and what you need to know about college football’s most talented rosters. Plus, a commitment I really love for Oklahoma.

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time to get to know Jonah Williams. 

‘Freak’ of the Week Year

Safety Jonah Williams (commits Saturday with Texas, LSU and Texas A&M the top finalists)

Unlike previous editions of our Freaks List, there wasn’t really a clear-cut No. 1 Freak when we sat down and started building out the list. That is until we gathered feedback from talent evaluators around the country and by all accounts Jonah Williams — like those No. 1s who came before him — is a modern-day unicorn.

A 6-foot-3, 205-pound four-sport athlete, Williams is one of the first prospects who legitimately has a chance to emerge as a first-round pick in the NFL Draft and MLB Draft. The resume is simply one-of-a-kind.

Over the past two years, Williams has returned six interceptions for touchdowns. He has also found the end zone eight times via the return game while adding 117 tackles on defense to go along with 800 yards of total offense. All of that production has come while facing respected 5A competition at Galveston (Texas) Ball.

When it comes to baseball, the left-handed Williams, who most pro scouts view as a center fielder with his range, touched 94 mph on the mound this summer. He was also clocked getting from home plate to first base at a blazing 3.5 seconds after laying down a drag bunt. For what it’s worth, the average time for that distance in the majors is 4.2 seconds.

Impressive, but those aren’t the only acts that make Williams unique.

This past spring, Williams ran in a track meet for the first time using a pair of borrowed spikes and posted a more-than-respectable 22.24-second effort in the 200-meter dash to qualify for regionals. During the winter months, Williams emerged as a shutdown defender on the basketball court, earning all-district defensive MVP honors. He threw down some dunks, too.

Then there’s the testing data. At this year’s Under Armour Next Camp outside of Houston, Williams ripped off a 4.53-second effort in the 40-yard dash while also posting a 4.21-second short shuttle. Both times rank in the top five for the class when it comes to prospects over 200 pounds per the UC Report.

What makes Williams even more special is the fact that the five-star and No. 7-ranked overall prospect in the Top247 appears to just be scratching the surface of what he could be as both a football and baseball player.

“He’s never really had a dedicated offseason to football,” one Power Four defensive coordinator noted. “So, when you look at him, you can tell he’s got the genetic side of things and then with the movement skills, there’s just not many dudes that can move the way he does at his size. I think he’s the type of kid where whatever he chooses to do, he can do if we’re being honest.”

Williams says he models his play after another big-framed defensive back in Kyle Hamilton, who is set to become the NFL’s highest-paid safety next spring. Ohio State safety-turned-linebacker Sonny Styles and former Butkus Award winner Isaiah Simmons, who was used in a variety of different roles at Clemson, are some other player comparisons that have been tossed around in scouting circles.

As for baseball? Dustin McComas, a senior editor for Five Tool Baseball, tossed out Chad Jones as someone with a similar profile. The hard-hitting and hard-throwing Jones played multiple spots in the secondary for LSU and helped the Tigers win a College World Series by coming out of the bullpen before eventually being selected in the third round of the 2010 NFL Draft.

“It’s really obvious that he hasn’t had that specialized background that a lot of baseball players with his talent level have,” McComas said. “A lot of guys have been playing summer ball for six years and they might have a pitching coach or a hitting coach. What you see out there is just a guy that’s just naturally gifted. He doesn’t really know what he’s doing, but he makes it work, and that makes him all that more intriguing.”

When it comes to the recruitment, Williams is expected to pick between Texas A&M, LSU, Texas, Oregon and USC this Saturday, Aug. 24. The Aggies are the current 247Sports Crystal Ball leader, but it’s anyone’s guess as to which way Williams is leaning heading down the stretch.

Of course, scouts from the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Milwaukee Brewers and the other MLB organizations that have contacted Williams are probably wondering what the future holds for the one-horned creature.

Four committed prospects who remind me of next-level freaks

Elyiss Williams (Georgia commit)

Reminds me of: Former Bulldogs TE Darnell Washington

Georgia’s tight end room is one of the most formidable units in all of college football, and the Bulldogs have another cheat code on the way in Elyiss Williams, who looks to be a reincarnation of Darnell Washington.

Williams has, by far, some of the biggest features in the entire 2025 cycle. He measured in this summer at just a shade under 6-foot-7, 245 pounds with large 10 ¾-inch hands to go along with and a near 6-foot-11 wingspan.

The NFL-ready size certainly stands out, but what really separates Williams from the rest of the pack is what he has done down in the post. Williams is a two-time regional basketball player of the year that averaged a double-double (15.5 points per game, 12.6 rebounds per game) across his freshman, sophomore and junior seasons.

Tyshun Willis (Mississippi State commit)

Reminds me of: Former Bulldogs LB Willie Gay

Tyshun Willis is a two-time powerlifting champion in Mississippi. He holds the 1A state record in the 242-pound division with a 660-pound deadlift and has also squatted 585 pounds during competition.

A four-star prospect in the Top247, Willis projects best as a designated pass rusher at the next level, but he doubled as a wide receiver and wildcat quarterback as a junior at Camden (Miss.) Velma Jackson and put together some electric highlights for a mid-skill, totaling 633 yards of offense and 10 touchdowns to go along with 113 tackles and 20.5 sacks on defense.

Aside from the weightlifting totals, what also has Willis so high on the list is the fact that he has a pair of silver medals in the shot put hanging on the wall. When it comes to the testing, Willis ranks in the 99th percentile for his position in the 40-yard dash. Mississippi State has quietly put some elite front-seven defenders in the league, and Willis could be next up.

James Flanigan (Notre Dame commit)

Reminds me of: Former Kansas State TE Ben Sinnott

It’s rare to come across a football prospect with a Elite Prospects hockey profile, but J.J. McCarthy has one. So does James Flanigan. An assistant captain for Notre Dame Academy, the left-handed shooting Flanigan totaled 34 points in 28 games as a junior for Wisconsin’s back-to-back Division 1 state champions.

Flanigan, at one point, ranked as a top-300 prospect for his age after participating in the United States Hockey League. But it’s become more and more clear that his future is on the football field after he caught 27 passes for 503 yards and six touchdowns last fall while adding 58 tackles and five sacks on defense.

Flanigan, whose father and grandfather both played in the NFL, has also won state titles in both the shot put and the discus. His personal-best mark of 181-foot-1 in the discus is a top-five mark in the class.

Iose Epenesa (Iowa commit)

Reminds me of: Former Michigan EDGE Aidan Hutchinson

It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that legendary Hawkeye A.J. Epenesa‘s brother made the list, though we hope the family doesn’t hold it against us that we don’t compare the two. Iose Epenesa is one of the most accomplished throwers in the class with his personal best of 189-foot-10 in the discus ranking third amongst all the blue-chippers.

The younger Epenesa isn’t as tall as his older sibling, but he has a chance to be even more powerful, hence the Hutchinson comp. When Iose isn’t competing with the Edwardsville track and field team or patrolling the paint for the basketball team, he’s usually working out with his family’s personal trainer, Mark Slaughter. That means sled pulls on the hot pavement and large sets of t-bar clean and presses.

Epenesa, who holds five-star status on 247Sports, should only add more brute strength once he joins an Iowa program known for its player development.

Ranking college football’s most talented rosters

The 10th annual release of the 247Sports Team Talent Composite dropped Thursday. As my colleague Cooper Petagna writes:

The Team Talent Composite is a metric that examines and ranks every FBS team — accounting for transfers, dismissals and other early departures — based on how their players were rated in high school.

Since the Team Talent Composite debuted in 2015, every national champion has ranked within the top 10 of the rankings until this past season as Jim Harbaugh and the Wolverines (No. 14) bucked the trend in January. 

Obviously, this metric isn’t perfect. Some players fail to live up to the hype while others outperform high school expectations. The Team Talent Composite does not factor in 247Sports’ transfer rankings, instead using that player’s high school rating. In some instances, it doesn’t matter (Evan Stewart and Caleb Downs are five-stars any way you slice it), and in some cases it does indeed pull a team’s rating down (Miami won’t get the four-star credit for signing Cameron Ward, who was not rated out of high school). 

Alabama, Georgia, Ohio State, Texas and Clemson make up the top five. I thought Petagna nailed several of his takeways, including a strange talent dip that will highlight the LSU vs. USC game. 

• For the seventh consecutive year, the trio of Alabama, Georgia, and Ohio State have produced the top three spots in the 247Sports Composite Team Rankings. As mentioned earlier, only twelve points separate the SEC title contenders from the No. 1 ranking but make sure not to forget about Ryan Day and the Buckeyes as they boast arguably the most talented roster in recent college football history. 
• Often the source of criticism in a world of armchair experts, the Clemson Tigers remain one of the most talented programs in the country. Whether that will translate to W’s on Saturdays remains to be seen. A model of consistency in the 247Sports Team Talent Composite era, Dabo Swinney’s Tigers have reached the College Football Playoffs six times in the last nine years. The only program with more appearances in that same span? Alabama. Pretty darn good.

• The Trojans of Southern California find themselves in unfamiliar territory as they come in at No. 15 in the updated team talent rankings, registering their lowest finish in the 10-year history of the team talent exercise. Only one program to date has claimed a national championship ranked outside the top 10 as Michigan and their nation’s-leading 13 NFL Draft selections became the lowest ranked team in the team talent composite era to win it all this past season.

  With expectations rising in Los Angeles and Caleb Williams taking his superman cape to Chicago, expect Lincoln Riley’s roster-building chops to be under more of a microscope than ever before. 

  It still may not not as dramatic a tumble as their week one opponent in Las Vegas, but the Bayou Bengals reached a new ten-year low this year, ranking No. 9 in the most updated team talent rankings. Although many head coaches would love to switch places with Brian Kelly and take the keys to his Top-10 roster, the standard at LSU remains championships. Any slight deviation from that path will more than likely end up costing you your job. 

There’s a ton more you can check out on all things Team Talent Composite, including a further deep dive into trends. 

Sneaky-good commit of the week

WR Andrew Marsh to Michigan

It feels a bit weird calling the No. 10-ranked wide receiver in the country a “sneaky-good” get for the defending national champions, but a quick glance at Michigan’s two-deep heading into Week 1 leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to the perimeter pass catchers, and that’s where Andrew Marsh should eventually be able to help out. Marsh is a jump-ball winner with a budding 6-foot-1 frame and 4.5-second speed. He’s coming off a junior season at Katy Jordan in which he caught 65 passes for 1,158 yards and 15 touchdowns while facing some of the best competition Texas has to offer. 

The Wolverines have signed a handful of four-star wide receivers in recent years, but Marsh might have the best chance out of any of them to emerge as a true go-to target on the outside as he excels in contested-catch situations and has a knack for powering his way through tackles before finding the end zone. Michigan wants to run the football — and for good reason – but it’s kind of wild that the school hasn’t had a 1,000-yard receiver since Jeremy Gallon in 2013.