And then there were three.
After official visits to Notre Dame and Syracuse, Lincoln All-American Ishaq Williams has cut his list to three – the Fighting Irish, Orange and Penn State, which he has seen on several occasions.
“It just felt good when I went to the schools,” he told The Post in a phone interview. “They’re all equal.”
The 6-foot-6, 230-pound defensive end/tight end, who led the Railsplitters to their first undefeated regular season in 17 years and to the PSAL City Championship division title game, plans to make a decision shortly and announce his choice during the nationally televised U.S. Army All-American Bowl on Jan. 8 in San Antonio, Texas.
Williams first went to South Bend, Ind., for two days last week with his father, Shaun. He was the only recruit on campus, so there was plenty of time to meet with the coaching staff and he sat in on classes and practices.
“It’s a great place, they have a lot of great players, I seem to fit in there,” he said. “I felt ready to commit, but then I went to Syracuse and I liked it as well. I’m going to take my time with the decision.”
Shaun Williams said the two schools’ ways of recruiting were very different. While Notre Dame is all about its tradition and state-of-the-art facilities, Syracuse offered more of a friendly family atmosphere with several other prospects on hand. While touring the upstate New York campus, in fact, defensive coordinator Scott Shafer hit Williams in the back of the head with a snowball.
“That is not textbook recruiting, but it’s about family,” Shaun Williams joked. “It came across as ‘You’re here, we love you, we want you.’ We really got the feeling that Syracuse would mortgage the farm on Ishaq and would make sure he succeeds on the field or off the field in case of injury.”
Penn State is also firmly in play, too, Shaun Williams confirmed. The plan was to take an official visit to State College, Pa., also, but there wasn’t enough time before students left for the winter break.
“Penn State is as strong a candidate for Ishaq as anybody,” he said. “We have such an extensive relationship with Penn State. We’ve been there so many times.”
All three schools have had in-home visits at the Williams’ home in Bedford Stuyvesant, Notre Dame and head coach Brian Kelly most recently on Wednesday night.
“It went well, we talked about football, but that’s not the only thing we talked about,” Ishaq Williams said. “We talked about having a great network of people around you, going to a great school.”
Now, it’s decision time, though Shaun Williams isn’t too worried.
“It’s tough in that which opportunity do you choose, but it’s easy, because either opportunity he chooses, he’s gonna win,” the father said. “He’s gonna get a great education, he’s gonna get great coaching around him, he’s gonna have a great program that he is a part of either helping to maintain or bringing back to glory or helping to build. And he’s gonna get a chance to get to the next level. It’s really a can’t miss.”