By ANDRE CHAMPAGNE, Tiger Rag Staff Reporter
New LSU football signee Jackson Williams didn’t begin playing football until his junior year at Archbishop Shaw High School.
But when he did, the Eagles saw an immediate impact. Williams, a 6-2, 180-pound defensive back, helped lead Shaw to the Division II Select state championship in 2024, playing a major role on a defense that allowed just 13.5 points per game.
That summer, the Marrero, Louisiana, native, began receiving his first attention from colleges. Tulane was the first to offer Williams. After taking a visit Uptown, he committed to the Green Wave on Jun. 7, 2025.
But Williams decommitted on Dec. 1 after head coach Jon Sumrall announced he would take the head coaching job at Florida. So, he pivoted. Just a day later, Williams committed to Washington State and signed with the Cougars on Dec. 3. Unfortunately for the three-star safety, another block in the road emerged. Washington State head coach Jimmy Rogers announced he would be taking the Iowa State job, which released Williams from his National Letter of Intent.
A couple of weeks went by. Then, LSU pounced on the multi-sport star.
“LSU was coming around after they had heard that I unsigned from Washington State and that’s kind of how it (the offer) came around because they’d been interested in me, but I was always committed to another school, so they thought I’d always go there,” Williams told Tiger Rag in January.
After an extensive conversation with safeties coach Jake Olsen, Williams received an official offer from LSU on Jan. 11.
“We talked about how I can take that next step and help me become developed and how they can get me to reach my peak and the best football ahead of me,” Williams said. “He said he really likes how I’m versatile. I thought that it was a no-brainer for me to go there and just follow in the same footsteps as the other guys did before me.”
Williams, who grew up dreaming of putting on the purple and gold, made that dream a reality by committing to the Tigers on Jan. 18 after taking an official visit to Baton Rouge.
“The visit made me want to go there ten times more, just seeing the campus, the athletics facilities – all the things they had to offer,” Williams said.
Another selling point for Williams was how welcoming the coaching staff was.
“It’s really everything they have in place for you to be successful,” Williams said. “They try to build you to become a football player, but they also build you for the outside world as well and build you as a man in general. It’s the culture they’re building around there. It’s just so contagious.”
Williams didn’t meet LSU head coach Lane Kiffin during his official visit, so Kiffin and other staff members made the hourlong drive to Archbishop Shaw on Jan. 22.
“It was a good time,” Williams said. “We just talked about my film. He said he liked certain things on my film that you can’t really teach, and that as a second-year football player coming from basketball, there were hits I was making where he was like, ‘You can’t teach that type of mentality.’”
Williams said Kiffin’s unexpected visit went a long way and motivates him to work much harder for his head coach.
“It shows that he cares to come down here and take time out of his day,” Williams said. “I know he’s probably pretty busy with everything going on in college football and him taking time out of his day to come meet me in person because we didn’t get to meet during my visit was very important to me.”
Williams officially signed with the Tigers on Feb. 4. He is rated as the No. 167 safety in the country and No. 49 player in the state of Louisiana according to 247sports.com.
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