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Four-star DB Gavin Williams commits to USC and goes in-depth on his decision

Screenshot 2025-11-03 at 2.22.43 PMby: Greg Biggins05/17/26GregBiggins

La Verne (Calif.) Damien defensive back Gavin Williams  just committed to USC and broke down why he chose the Trojans. 

Williams is one of the nation’s top defensive back prospects and is currently rated the No. 129 player nationally in the Rivals Industry Ranking, an equally weighted average that utilizes all three major recruiting services and the No. 9 safety as well. 

He cut his list to a final four of Notre Dame, UCLA, USC and Washington two weeks ago but the Trojans were able to lock in one of the top safeties in the country. 

“I wanted to stay home, that was one of the biggest reasons why I chose SC,” Williams said. “I really feel like USC is building something special with the class they had last year and this year and I’m excited to be a part of that.

“I had been leaning to USC for the last couple of weeks but I 100% locked it in and knew I wanted be a Trojan after they all came down to my Showcase. When I saw them all show up in the helicopter, that was major love and it just felt.”

Williams said the new defensive coaches, DC Gary Patterson and safeties coach Paul Gonzales played a big role in his decision as well. 

“I like both coaches a lot,” Williams said. “They immediately reached out when they came over to USC and I feel like I have a good connection with the whole staff right now. 

“Coach Gonzales is very genuine and a great coach. He has a strong background and has developed some really good safeties in the past so I’m excited to work with him. Coach Patterson has a DB background too and is a really smart coach and I know I’m going to learn a lot.”

Williams said he’s excited to play alongside incoming Trojan DB commit Honor Fa’alave-Johnson.

“I think we complement each other really well,” Williams said. “I think we can both come in and play right away, that’s something they told us.

“We’re different players so we can play together. They said they see me as that long, rangy safety who can cover on the back-end. Honor can move around and line up all over so I’m really excited about the opportunity.”