Miami’s soon-to-be QB grew up one of seven boisterous brothers. He’ll fit in fine at UM

Melissa Williams was driving home after picking up two of her seven sons from school last week and chatting via Bluetooth with a reporter.

The two boys — 14-year-old Graham and 13-year-old Caleb — were silent the entire way, until the reporter asked, “How do you guys feel about your brother going to the University of Miami?”

“He needs to take me with him,’’ Graham said.

Deadpanned Caleb: “I’m better.’’

When 6-foot-5, 205-pound Emory Williams, 18, signs his UM letter of intent Wednesday as the only quarterback in Miami’s recruiting Class of 2023, he’ll be ready to arrive in January as an early enrollee well equipped to handle the organized chaos of a large group of competitive males who spend much of their time together.

In order of birth, there’s Aubrey, 22; Greyson, 21; Emory; Tate, 16; Graham; Caleb; and Ross, 6 — the youngest and only one of the boys who doesn’t yet play sports.

“You just have to have a sense of humor and be OK with a lot of noise, a lot of mess — and a lot of food,” Melissa said.

“It’s not boring, I’ll say that,’’ said Steve Williams, Emory’s father. “What’s one more peanut butter and jelly, right? We’d be national heroes in China.’’

Emory, graduating early from Milton High near Pensacola in the Florida Panhandle, said there’s always something happening with six brothers around. “This is my favorite time of year because everybody is home,’’ Emory said. “But we do have a girl besides my mother. Our cat, Lucy, is half black and half white, with a black goatee right on her chin.’’

“Lucy holds her own,’’ Melissa said. “I told the boys, ‘The No. 1 rule in the house is Lucy does what she wants and we all just deal with it.’’’

FSU, UF

Williams, a polite, friendly, cerebral young man, has grown up less than a three-hour drive from Tallahassee, where his father graduated from Florida State; and a five-hour drive from Gainesville, home of the University of Florida, where a brother attends and his mom earned her online undergraduate degree.

Dad, a former marine, high school athlete and long-time Pop Warner football coach, oversees 12 stores as WalMart’s South Alabama/Northwest Florida market manager. “If anybody has complaints at their local Walmart in Miami,’’ he quipped, “it’s not my territory.’’

Mom, who played softball, volleyball, ran track and was a cheerleader in high school, is now a full-time grad student at West Florida, earning her masters in psychology with an aim to counsel inmates “to be a positive force for good.’’

At the church where Steve and Melissa got married 24 years ago, the seating wasn’t delineated by the bride’s family on one side and groom’s on the other, but by “Florida State people on one side and Florida people on the other,’’ said Steve, laughing. “It wasn’t planned that way.’’

Now they’ll have a Hurricane to make things even more fun.

Pocket passer

Williams, rated a three-star football player by the major recruiting services, is the nation’s 33rd best quarterback and No. 105 overall, regardless of position, in talent-rich Florida, according to 247Sports’ composite rankings. His Milton High Panthers, with 10 of 11 new starters on defense, finished 3-7 this past season, despite Williams’ continued strong numbers: 162-of-258 (62.7 percent) for 2,102 yards and 21 touchdowns, with four interceptions. He added 302 rushing yards and two touchdowns, though he is clearly a conventional, drop-back pocket passer.

As a junior, he threw for 2,168 yards (63 percent) and 16 touchdowns, with three picks. He also ran for four touchdowns.

“He’s a great young man,’’ Milton High coach Kelly Gillis said of Williams. “Full of character and integrity, always helping out with football camps, whatever. AP dual enrollment kid, high GPA, checks all the boxes. He is fundamentally sound in his mechanics and he’s always working on something — his reads, his progressions, his nutrition, his weightlifting. The kid can really throw it — the ball pops off his hand.’’

Williams was recruited by UM quarterbacks coach Frank Ponce and offered by UM in the spring. His 10 previous offers included Pittsburgh, Indiana, Memphis, Arkansas State and USF, among others. Eventually, offers came from Florida State, Cal, Wisconsin, Auburn and Georgia Tech. But UM stole his heart from the first of several visits, including this past weekend, and he pledged his commitment in late June.

“I was blown away by the Miami coaching staff, really felt connected with Coach Ponce and [offensive coordinator Josh] Gattis and obviously Coach Cristobal,’’ he said. “I appreciated their honesty and transparency throughout the whole process. And I connected with the players and other quarterbacks —[starter] Tyler [Van Dyke] was a super cool guy and he’s freaking good, too. He can spin it. And Jake Garcia and Jacurri Brown are great kids.

“I really enjoyed the dorms, the big lake in the center of campus and the town of Coral Gables,’’ said Williams, who also said he appreciates the “most passionate fans in the world.’’ He plans on majoring in international studies and said his goal in 2023 is to “get to know the system and get adapted to college life.”

“I have a lot of awesome friends and teachers here that I’m going to miss,’’ he said. “But I’m ready for a change. It’ll be neat to go to a new school and meet new people.”

Williams, a big fan of Drew Brees growing up, also studies LSU Heisman Trophy winner Joe Burrow, selected first overall in 2020 by the Cincinnati Bengals.

Elite 11 finalist

Considered under the radar from a recently struggling program, Williams nonetheless earned an invite this past summer to the Elite 11 national finals in Redondo Beach, California, after finishing in the top two of his regional. He thrived at nationals and finished better than former UM quarterback commit Jaden Rashada, 247Sports’ seventh-ranked signal-caller who flipped his commitment last month from the Hurricanes to the Florida Gators.

Sports Illustrated ranked Williams 13th of 20 national finalists the first day, third of those 20 on Day Two and first on Day Three.

“He showed very well,’’ 247Sports national recruiting analyst Chris Singletary, a former recruiting coordinator for his alma mater Michigan, said in an Elite 11 video review with Inside the U’s Chris Stock. “He exudes confidence and has that intangible where guys want to play for him. He’s about lifting guys up. Watching him with the rest of the quarterbacks, you could tell he’s intelligent.

“From the waist up he looks young, a great frame in the upper body [and] a lot of room to grow within the chest and shoulders. But from the waist down it’s like a different person — well-defined, muscular calves, hamstrings, quads. He has a strong power base to generate RPMs on the ball and velocity to make the throws. ...Really liked how the ball came out of his hands... nice, smooth release. He does not have a hitch in it. ...Really liked his mechanics. ...He has an above average arm.’’

“Singletary gushed about how Williams was a “nice guy” to whom others gravitated, but that the more he talked to him, the more he realized “he has some oomph in him — a lot of competitiveness and internal fire. This guy has what it takes to be able to compete on this level.”

QB Country

Williams has been playing football since he was 6, and has been privately coached by QB Country’s David Morris in Mobile, Alabama, since he was 13. Morris coaches several highly rated college quarterbacks, and his pupils included first-round NFL Draft picks Daniel Jones of the New York Giants (2019) and Mac Jones of the Patriots (2021).

“He’s an old-school pocket passer,’’ Morris told the Miami Herald. “Good feet, plays on time, strong arm, accurate, can throw with touch and layer it in there when he needs to. He’s really smart. He’s a guy that can play early. He’s mature enough to do that.’’

Williams chose to buck the hot trend among top high school players who compete in seven-on-seven tournaments. “I just don’t know how good it is for, specifically, quarterbacks,’’ Morris said. “It’s fun and it’s reps — that’s cool. But at the end of the day you get in bad habits with feet, bad habits with holding the ball. There’s no rush and you’re throwing to guys who may or may not run the right route. And you don’t have to drop so you can be lazy with your feet.”

Morris said former UM quarterback Malik Rosier, one of his program’s coaches, will also work with Williams, as he does now with Miami starter Tyler Van Dyke and freshman Jacurri Brown.

“I told him I was proud of him from not running from Jaden Rashada’s competition,’’ Rosier said of Williams. “When I was committed to Miami we also had Brad Kaaya and I was in a similar position. Emory has the height, the size and is smart. He loves the game of football and he’s going to be a really good quarterback for Mario. He has a lot of fundamentals already there and will understand a lot of complex coverages and route combinations.”

Cats over dogs

Those unfamiliar with Williams might not know he had hair down to his shoulders before he decided to cut it short around March because “it got a little too much to handle.’’ He said he likes cats better than dogs because “cats are much more self-sufficient and won’t be barking and going crazy in your house. They’re much more laid back.”

He said he likes “all kinds of music” but isn’t much of a dancer. He’s “pretty outgoing — sometimes I like to talk a little too much,’’ and loves playing video games. A “fun way to disconnect from everyday life and relax is to watch movies,’’ Williams said, citing 2001: A Space Odyssey, Monty Python and the Holy Grail and All Quiet on the Western Front as a few of his recently watched favorites.

As for the Hurricanes, Williams is confident Cristobal is doing exactly what’s needed to spark a turnaround after an ugly 5-7 season.

“It takes time to get it done,’’ Williams said. “I have 100 percent confidence Coach Cristobal will turn it around. He’s been successful everywhere he’s been, and I know we have a good group of guys and good core of recruits.’’

Said Melissa Williams: “I always say in counseling, ‘There’s no growth that exists inside your comfort zone.’ There will be some pain points there, but it’s good for Emory to see it from where it’s been. The rewards will be even greater when he sees it all the way through.”