Devin Williams Earns UCLA Men’s Basketball Offer, Sets Cutdown Date
Fresh off an offer from the Bruins, one local prospect is ready to move on to the next step in his recruitment.
Class of 2023 power forward Devin Williams picked up an offer from UCLA men’s basketball on Thursday night, his AAU team the Compton Magic announced on Twitter. Williams tweeted roughly an hour later that he will be cutting his list down to five schools on Saturday.
In addition to the Bruins, Williams also has offers from Cal, Cal Poly, George Mason, Loyola Marymount, Nevada, New Mexico, New Mexico State, Pepperdine, Portland State, San Diego, San Diego State, Santa Clara, Texas Tech, USC, Washington and Xavier.
Williams is scheduled to go on an official visit with the Trojans on June 9. While he doesn't have an official on the books for the Bruins, Williams was on campus Thursday, meaning he could have gotten his offer in-person.
The Southern California prospect is heading into his senior year at Centennial (CA), the same high school Ike Anigbogu and Jalen Hill went to. Anigbogu and Hill are also two of the eight UCLA players in the past seven classes who played for the Magic, the same AAU program that produced TJ Leaf, Jaylen Hands, Jules Bernard, Johnny Juzang, Jaylen Clark and incoming freshman Dylan Andrews.
UCLA assistant coach Rod Palmer is closely connected with Etop Udo-Ema, with the two being fellow co-founders of the Compton Magic, and he has played a part in upholding the Bruins’ connection with the program into the Mick Cronin era.
Williams marks a potential extension of that Compton-to-Westwood pipeline, as UCLA represents one of his six power conference offers and one of his three out of the Pac-12.
Leading the way for Centennial down low, Williams helped lead the Huskies to a 33-1 record and CIF Open Division State Championship as a junior. The 6-foot-10, 200-pound forward has excelled as a shot-blocker and high-flying athlete, and he has also managed to develop an outside shot over the past year.
Williams is a four-star prospect according to 247Sports and ESPN, but a three-star prospect according to Rivals and the 247Sports Composite. The composite rankings appear to be lagging a bit behind – slotting him in at No. 18 in California, No. 28 among power forwards and No. 133 in his class overall – while 247Sports moved him up from No. 139 to No. 88 in its most recent update.
ESPN has Williams ranked as the No. 7 power forward in the country, the No. 6 recruit in California and No. 58 overall.
Looking past the lack of consensus on the fast-rising prospect, Williams is one of the lower-ranked prospects Cronin’s staff has offered. Before Thursday, 11 of their 19 offers went to five-star recruits and seven went to four-stars.
Several of the five-stars have already committed elsewhere or trimmed UCLA from their list of finalists, and many hail from out-of-state. Williams, a local prospect, projects as more of a long-term, four-year player compared to the highly-ranked blue chips the staff has spent most of the past year targeting.
The Bruins do not have a single commit in their 2023 class, highly-ranked or otherwise. It is a pivotal class nonetheless, though, considering they could have as many as eight scholarships available to hand out.
UCLA’s post rotation may not need to be completely rebuilt unless McDonald’s All-American center Adem Bona goes one-and-done or Mac Etienne does not fully return from his torn ACL. Still, Williams would be one of only a handful of players who could be in Westwood past next season if he were to commit, and the Bruins will find out if he can indeed be had when he announces his top five over the weekend.
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