Antonio Williams Prospect Profile

Background

Antonio Williams grew up in Irmo, South Carolina, and attended Dutch Fork High School, where he played football, basketball, and ran track. He was part of three state championship teams and lost exactly one game in his high school career, finishing with 137 catches for 2,458 yards and 23 touchdowns, earning MaxPreps South Carolina Player of the Year honors his senior season and a trip to the Under Armour All-America Game. After originally committing to Oklahoma, he switched to Clemson in December 2021. He enrolled at Clemson as a true freshman in 2022, led the team in receiving that fall, and earned Freshman All-American honors before a series of nagging injuries wiped out most of his sophomore year and cost him a medical redshirt. He came back in 2024 with 75 catches for 904 yards and 11 touchdowns, earned First-Team All-ACC recognition, and finished his degree in December 2025 before declaring for the 2026 NFL Draft.

Physical Attributes

Antonio Williams comes is a Tinder 6'1" (5'11.5") and weighs 187 lbs. His combine testing was very solid: a 4.41 40, a 1.55 10 yard split, 39.5 vertical jump, 10'04" broad jump, and a 7 second 3-cone drill. All of that adds up to a 9.09 RAS for those who care about that sort of thing. His play on the field reflects the testing, but while he is fast, he does not look like he has 4.4 speed on the field. He plays more quick than long speed fast, but still has enough juice. As one would expect for his BMI, he is not the strongest player though, and can have a tendency to get pushed around.

Data and Tape Analysis

If you are unfamiliar with my WR radar charts, you can find more information here

I have gripes. A few, so let's just address those and we will come to the rest after.

I am usually in agreement with PFF with their grading system, but Antonio Williams' zone grade is just not correct. The standout part of Williams' game is his ability to find spots in zones. He's exceptionally skilled at finding the precise spot to position himself, making it simple for his quarterback to locate him. He doesnt stop once he is in position though; he continues to work to make himself stay in the best position possible. Williams has some of the best zone feel of any WR in this class.

Now let's look at what I said in my Cade Klubnik write-up:

Not only that, but the entire offensive architecture was overly simplistic, mostly because of that bad offensive line. Screens galore tried to help the abysmal pass blocking and a 105th ranked nationally run offense. When the opportunity to have a clean dropback showed up, Klubnik was often looking at receivers who were totally blanketed in coverage, and when they were open enough to throw it, drops. Watching everything, it was not surprising at all to see how poor Clemson was against expectations last year.

Watching Williams' tape confirmed to me the mess that Clemson was last year and made me go mad wondering how Garrett Reilly did not better understand the type of receiver he had! I mean, the number of tight formations where they had Williams chip, what are you doing.

For my gripes with Williams himself though, I just wish he was a bit stronger and did not telegraph his routes as often as he does. That is where he runs into the most trouble in man coverage is he lets DBs get an advantage of knowing what is going to happen too early.

He has solid, if not amazing, hands, and will not be expected to be a contested catch specialist at the next level. His potential with the ball in his hands is similar. Despite his athletic talent, he achieves nothing special in breaking tackles.

Grade and Outlook

Overall, I am quite bullish on Antonio Williams. Being a plus receiver in zone is a huge base to build on, and if he could get some good coaching, he has major potential in the league. I am wary of the fact that I am not sure if he will play on the outside, but even the player he is now would help an offense tick over in some of their more difficult third-down situations.

Grade: 5.9 (2nd Rounder)