First for you trivia buffs: this means that the Aggies now have the top-rated player from the state of Arizona for the past three years, with Willis, Kyle Allen and Christian Kirk. More importantly, they probably just picked up their replacement for Devante Harris in 2016.
Willis played in 21 games during his first two seasons, including every game last year with one start. He had 22 tackles last year, so he's got experience in a pass-heavy league and isn't afraid to go tackle someone. Perhaps most importantly is his size: he's 6'2", 190 pounds.
Tall, long and physical. This sounds like someone John Chavis wants in his secondary.
Willis will redshirt this year, so he'll have three to play two. Hopefully, he'll be on campus when camp starts Aug. 10 so he can start getting a taste of how things will work in the new defense. Willis never really did acclimate out at UCLA, starting from his freshman season where he was supposed to enroll at the mid-term but actually didn't until very late in the summer, leaving him well behind in a secondary that had a lot of veterans in it. A&M didn't offer and he didn't show any interest in 2013, but that was then and this is now.
The addition of Willis is a big deal for A&M. It's anticipated he'll be a corner, but he spent most of his high school career playing safety. Assuming he does play corner (in his one start and most of the time at UCLA, he was a corner), Willis quickly becomes the odds-on favorite to replace Harris and takes some pressure off of the defensive staff as it looks for (possibly) two new starting corners in 2016. With Willis, the class of 2016 now has three committed corners, along with Trayvon Fuller and Charles Oliver. Keep in mind that they're still very much in it for high 4-star Byron Murphy (still ANOTHER Arizona standout), Eric Cuffee and Kristian Fulton, and you're starting to see what could be the makings of a very big haul at corner. To boot, the Aggies will still likely have Nick Harvey, Victor Davis, Tavares Garner, Noel Ellis, Roney Elam, Alex Sezer and Deshawn Capers-Smith around next season, so the potential options to fill the needs at corner could be substantial.
For the price of one of its leftover 2015 scholarships (probably), the Aggies picked up a big defensive back with two years of experience in a pass-first Power 5 conference. To boot, it's a big DB who doesn't mind being physical. That's a steal for the Aggies any way you slice it.
Willis played in 21 games during his first two seasons, including every game last year with one start. He had 22 tackles last year, so he's got experience in a pass-heavy league and isn't afraid to go tackle someone. Perhaps most importantly is his size: he's 6'2", 190 pounds.
Tall, long and physical. This sounds like someone John Chavis wants in his secondary.
Willis will redshirt this year, so he'll have three to play two. Hopefully, he'll be on campus when camp starts Aug. 10 so he can start getting a taste of how things will work in the new defense. Willis never really did acclimate out at UCLA, starting from his freshman season where he was supposed to enroll at the mid-term but actually didn't until very late in the summer, leaving him well behind in a secondary that had a lot of veterans in it. A&M didn't offer and he didn't show any interest in 2013, but that was then and this is now.
The addition of Willis is a big deal for A&M. It's anticipated he'll be a corner, but he spent most of his high school career playing safety. Assuming he does play corner (in his one start and most of the time at UCLA, he was a corner), Willis quickly becomes the odds-on favorite to replace Harris and takes some pressure off of the defensive staff as it looks for (possibly) two new starting corners in 2016. With Willis, the class of 2016 now has three committed corners, along with Trayvon Fuller and Charles Oliver. Keep in mind that they're still very much in it for high 4-star Byron Murphy (still ANOTHER Arizona standout), Eric Cuffee and Kristian Fulton, and you're starting to see what could be the makings of a very big haul at corner. To boot, the Aggies will still likely have Nick Harvey, Victor Davis, Tavares Garner, Noel Ellis, Roney Elam, Alex Sezer and Deshawn Capers-Smith around next season, so the potential options to fill the needs at corner could be substantial.
For the price of one of its leftover 2015 scholarships (probably), the Aggies picked up a big defensive back with two years of experience in a pass-first Power 5 conference. To boot, it's a big DB who doesn't mind being physical. That's a steal for the Aggies any way you slice it.
