Kyle Williams, WR, Washington State
Size:
Height: 5105
Weight: 190
Arm: 30 ⅛”
Hand: 8 ¾”
Accomplishments:
Second-Team Freshman All-American (2020)
”Kyle Williams is a deceptively quick, nuanced receiver who makes a habit of trying to make defensive backs look silly.”
Strengths:
Manipulation tactics
YAC tools
Locates soft spots
Release effect
Deceleration
Concerns:
Blocking
Consistency against physical man coverage
Coming back to the football
Film Analysis:
A former high school quarterback at Hawthorne High School and then at Narbonne High School, Kyle Williams graduated from Santa Monica High School after making the transition to wide receiver. As a senior in the 2019 season, Williams put up 31 receptions for 763 yards and nine touchdowns. He committed to UNLV and earned All-American Second Team honors in the COVID-shortened six-game season. In his three seasons at UNLV, he recorded 117 receptions for 1,568 yards and nine touchdowns before transferring to Washington State for his final two seasons. Williams broke out in 2024 with an outstanding season where he caught 70 passes for 1198 yards (career high) and 14 touchdowns (career high).
Williams was a do-it-all man for the Cougars when it came to alignment, pre-snap motion, and schemed-up touches to go along with his route tree. Capable of expanding his release package, he has quick feet with manipulation to open cornerbacks where he wants to and release in the opposite direction, creating early separation. When faced with press alignment, well-timed jams have proven effective to slow him down, but he flashed hand usage and body movement to avoid strikes and stack vertically. He’s deceptively quick in accelerating upfield due to his long strides, but he covers ground quickly and forces corners into penalties. In his route stem, Williams uses well-timed manipulation tactics with intention and vertical sell, moving corners around and decelerating to change direction.
He’s a good athlete at the catch point to make contested grabs with well-timed jumps and tracking the football, but contact at the catch point produced mixed results. Williams could come back to the quarterback more frequently instead of stopping at the end of his route, but shows a good understanding of finding soft spots in zone and sitting down. After the catch, he takes advantage of good angles and his acceleration reduces good angles taken by pursuit defenders to arm tackles. He runs with a physical nature and good contact balance after the catch with the ability to break arm tackles and grind out yards.
Williams is a great athlete with surprising nuance to his route tree who suffered from poor quarterback play or his season could have been even bigger in 2024. He projects as an alignment-versatile receiver with an ability to win on the outside who is very intriguing for NFL success.
Prospect Projection: Day 2 — Adequate Starter
Written By: Daniel Harms
Exposures: Syracuse (2024), Boise State (2024), Washington (2024), New Mexico (2024)
