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USC made a big hire when they brought on one of the best special teams coach in Sean Snyder last week. They are now on the verge of poaching a key member of the Oregon coaching staff.
The Trojans are expect to hire Donte Williams as their new cornerbacks coach and passing game coordinator per Bruce Feldman of the athletic Monday afternoon. Williams later confirmed on his twitter account that he will be joining the USC coaching staff. Last week USC let go three assistant coaches on the defensive side of the ball which included Greg Burns. The addition of Williams from Oregon certainly makes up for that.
SOURCES: #Oregon CB coach Donte Williams is expected to become the new corners coach & Pass Game Coordinator at #USC, sources tell me and @AntonioCMorales. Williams was 247Sports’ No. 7 ranked recruiter in the country this year. Big move by the Trojans staff and their new brass.
— Bruce Feldman (@BruceFeldmanCFB) February 10, 2020
Williams was a member of the Oregon coaching staff as their cornerbacks coach. He held the same positions at Nebraska in 2016-2017 before making his way to the Ducks coaching staff in 2018. Williams is coming off of an outstanding year at Oregon. On the field he helped develop Oregon cornerbacks Deommodre Lenoir and Thomas Graham Jr. during his two season’s with the Ducks. Graham had 64 tackles with two interceptions and 10 pass breakups while Lenoir had 47 tackles with 7 pass breakups, an interception, forced fumble and fumble recovery last season. Both were All-Pac-12 honorable mentions in 2019.
What makes the hire a home run for USC is the fact that Williams is an outstanding recruiter. He played a major role in an Oregon 2020 recruiting class that finished No. 1 in the Pac-12. Williams managed to land five star linebacker Justin Flowe and four star wide receiver Kris Hudson, both are top blue chip prospects in California and right in the Trojans backyard. This year he was No. 1 in the Pac-12 recruiter rankings per 247 Sports. In 2019 he was rated No. 5 behind current USC wide receiver coach Keary Colbert.
Williams knows California when it comes to recruiting and has done a very good job recruiting the state the last few years. At Nebraska and Arizona he was able pull some key prospects out of California. In 2014 Williams was ranked as the top recruiter in the Mountain West during his time as recruiting coordinator and secondaries coach at San Jose State.
The additions of Todd Orlando, Sean Snyder, and Donte Williams shows that USC is pretty serious about surrounding Helton with quality assistant coaches. Not only did the Trojans pry away a quality coach in Williams, but they had to pay a premium to bring him to Los Angeles which also backs up the statement of utilizing their resources towards turning around things at USC.
USC now has one last spot on their coaching staff to fill which is the defensive lines coaching position.