Pitt FB Recruiting
Pitt Offer ‘Exciting’ for 2026 4-Star ATH and His Family
Tony Williams didn’t know that Pitt offensive coordinator Kade Bell was stopping by Raines High on Wednesday until his coach pulled him out of class Wednesday morning.
The last time Williams — a 6-foot, 215-pound four-star athlete from Jacksonville, Fla. in the class of 2026 — had talked to Bell was on social media. So, it’s safe to say he was a bit surprised to receive an official offer from Bell.
“That’s something I’ve been looking for since my freshman year when I first met a Pitt coach with a couple of my home boys, just finally getting it and the feeling of getting it feels great,” Williams told Pittsburgh Sports Now.
“I had hit him up on Twitter, sent him my film and he had responded back with a fire emoji. He eventually came up to the school today. I didn’t know he was going to be there, my coach called me up out of class and told me he was in there. He sounds like a great dude, and I was talking to him, and he was talking about my film and a couple of linebackers that’s already there.”
Pitt joined the likes of Bowling Green, UConn, FAU, Georgia State, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa State, Liberty, Miami, USF, SMU and Tulane in extending Williams an official offer.
Blessed to receive a D1 power 5 offer from university of Pittsburgh 🔵🟡@Kb1Raw @rainesfootball @JohnGarcia_Jr @JeremyO_Johnson @MohrRecruiting pic.twitter.com/ZMPheEzACb
— Tony “Ducie” Williams 4⭐️ (@3kDucie) January 8, 2025
It’s still a pretty recent relationship, but it’s one that Williams is excited to explore. It’s an offer that excites him and his parents, considering he’s been waiting quite some time for the offer to arrive.
There wasn’t too much of an opportunity for Williams and Bell to sit down and talk on Wednesday, but he’s already somewhat familiar with the program.
“I know a couple of my friends and friends’ siblings went there, and I know Aaron Donald went there because I’m a huge sports guy and a huge football guy,” Williams said. “So, I know a lot about them.”
The history of defensive success in Pittsburgh is well-documented, and Williams appears to be destined for the defensive side of the football. He started his high school career on the defensive side of the ball, played on both sides of the ball as a sophomore and emerged as a defensive leader as a junior.
“Going into my freshman year, I wanted to be an offensive player, but my coach told me I was going to be able to be prioritized on defense,” Williams said. “So, just going into my freshman year, I didn’t really get too many offensive snaps. My sophomore year came, and that’s when I really started playing both ways. And that really took my game to another level because if I’m not really getting off that well at linebacker, and I start getting off at running back, it boosts my play.”
Williams knows what to look for on both sides of the ball, and that certainly paid off as a junior at Raines. He led the team with 101 tackles (58 solo), 16 tackles for loss, six sacks, three forced fumbles and two pass breakups — and an astonishing 10 two-point conversions.
He was a versatile playmaker as a sophomore, running for 320 yards and seven touchdowns on offense and picking off five passes on defense.
Rivals ranks Williams as the 59th-ranked recruit from Florida and the 15th-ranked inside linebacker in the class — holding a 5.8 Rivals Rating. He isn’t ranked by 247Sports or On3, but that will likely change in the coming weeks.
Williams is hearing from the likes of SMU, Illinois and Miami right now, but he’s excited to dig more into Pitt in the coming weeks.
“My parents were very excited with the offer, and I was very excited because I’ve been looking forward to it since my freshman year,” Williams said.
“I haven’t really gotten a chance to visit, but I’m going to definitely book a visit and try to get up there and check it out. I really want to experience new places; I want to go up north and see some new things.”
