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# Stampeding Through the 2025 USF Football Roster: #4 DE Michael Williams II
- URL: https://www.bayareaexaminer.com/stampeding-through-the-2025-usf-football-768/
- Published: 2025-08-24T13:01:00.000Z
- Updated: 2025-08-24T13:01:00.000Z
- Description: Mike Will Made two sacks last season.
- Author: Collin Sherwin
- Tags: #Migrated-1792597384348, #Import 2026-10-21 15:44

**PLAYER:** Michael Williams II

**POSITION:** Defensive end

**YEAR:** Redshirt junior

**HEIGHT/WEIGHT:** 6'3", 260 lbs.

**HOW DID HE GET HERE?** Williams played both linebacker and defensive end at West Bloomfield High School in Michigan, right outside of Detroit. He was a bit of a late surprise for the Bulls entering Jeff Scott’s final season in 2022, as he committed in January, just a few days before National Signing Day. The recruiting services gave him high three-star marks, and he had an offer sheet to match - he racked up offers from Michigan, Tennessee, and Ole Miss, among many others, though his recruitment seemed to have slowed a bit after he suffered a knee injury that caused him to miss a chunk of his junior season.

He redshirted as a true freshman in 2022, appearing in two games, then managed to work himself into the defensive line rotation in 2023\. He finished the 2023 season with 13 tackles, four TFLs, and a sack. It should be noted that Williams massively bulked up from his freshman season, when he arrived as a DL/LB tweener and presumed edge rusher, to 2023, when he actually played a good bit on the interior of the line for the Bulls.

**HOW WAS HIS 2024 SEASON?** A good step forward. USF rotated bodies and positions on the defensive line pretty liberally, and Williams was a big part of the mix. He played in all thirteen games and made the first starts of his college career - three in total, against UAB, Navy, and Charlotte. Notably, after experimenting with Williams as a defensive tackle in 2023, the Bulls returned him to his more natural defensive end position in 2024, and the returns were pretty good: he totaled 30 tackles, 6.5 TFLs, and two sacks, all while playing about 87% of his snaps on the edge, per PFF.

**WHAT SHOULD WE EXPECT IN 2025?** All indications from the offseason are that Williams is prepared to take a leadership role on USF’s defensive line, and is probably going to serve as a full-time starter for the first time in his college career. He’ll likely fill the defensive end role in USF’s base defense (brief overview [here](https://thebayareaexaminer.substack.com/p/stampeding-through-the-2025-usf-football-7b0)), though I expect to see him rotate all across the line, as with most of the Bulls’ defensive linemen. There are some pretty big holes to fill on the line with the departures of starters Doug Blue-Eli, Decarius Hawthorne, and Bernard Gooden, so a big season from Williams would go a long way.