The first thing I’d tell you is: Believe the hype. Only if there was some.
Well, technically there is some if “some” falls under the definition of “hardly any.” And only then if “hardly any” constitutes “not enough.”
If you haven’t heard the name or aren’t deeply immersed in the Illinois high school football scene, then reading the name Jonas Williams might catch you a little blindsided, off your square. Which shouldn’t be the case for a player who is not only at the top of many Illinois Player of the Year lists, but also the quarterback of the No. 1 team in the state, the Lincoln-Way East Griffins, who, going into a revenge match against their antagonists, are undefeated.
Only a junior, Williams already has committed to play for the current No. 1 CFB team in the nation, the Oregon Ducks, after next season and is 247Sports.com’s eighth-ranked quarterback in the nation in the Class of 2026.
Sans hype. Making the Class 8A state semifinal against Loyola Academy on Saturday officially his compounded coming-out and coming-of-age party.
On a field that just became a permanent part of his life this season as he transferred to Lincoln-Way East from Bolingbrook, this will be the fourth consecutive time these schools will face each other in the 8A playoffs (sixth time in the last seven seasons), with the Griffins losing to the Ramblers the last two years in the championship game (26-15 in 2023, 13-3 in 2022) before Williams took over as signal-caller 1. Loyola has been the ruination squad responsible for putting an end to LWE’s season four of the last five years. So to simply say this is a certified rivalry would be an understatement as well as a disservice to the recent legacy they’ve built between one another. And to just say this semifinal isn’t poised to be mega would be disrespectful to high school football.
Maybe it’s the box braids that don’t fit the 3.9 GPA that doesn’t fit the arm or accuracy that doesn’t fit the future of quarterbacking that doesn’t fit the trajectory that doesn’t fit the pedigree that does fit the description but doesn’t fit the perceived perception.
Maybe the leadership at quarterback at the high school level in a state that has damn-near zero history of producing legendary high school quarterbacks isn’t supposed to present itself as such. A player who transferred from one suburban school to another, even after insanely throwing for almost 6,000 yards and 70 touchdowns in his first two seasons as a freshman and sophomore, isn’t supposed to be entering the 8A state semifinals with an 11-0 record and the No. 1 ranking in the state. Maybe it’s the dual-threat thing, the fact that he’s not the typical pocket-presence quarterback most state-championship-caliber schools build their teams around despite him being good enough to be a top recruit at that position for a Power Four NCAA program.
A player who sits now, even before his senior season, before Saturday’s as-of-now career-shaping game, as the highest-rated Illinois high school recruit at QB in the last 18 years, since Isiah Williams of CVS was considered by 247Sports.com to be the second-ranked player in the state. Further that into how no other Illinois QB has even been ranked in ESPN’s top-10 state recruits since Springfield’s Rashad Rochelle in 2022, and there hasn’t been a four-star-rated QB from here since Lyons Township’s Ben Bryant in 2018.
Locally meriting Ashton Jeanty-type hype. Yet, not.
The fear of a C.J. Stroud/Jordan Love planet. Triplets in looks, personality and play. A “Got Next” one coming straight outta Frankfort. Future shockin’ like if the Bears haven’t made an extension, picked up the fifth-year option or made a clear decision on Caleb Williams by 2029; we could be looking right now at the player who could one day be for them what Jalen Brunson should have been for the Bulls coming straight outta Lincolnshire.
Maybe . . . naw, why go there? Forgive, I already did.
The under-the-radar nature of how Williams has flowed and functioned can almost be seen as disturbing. Very much like Brunson in 2015. The latest Illinois phenom hidden in plain sight that we are still waiting to prove himself despite all of the proof.
Lord Corlys Velaryon said on “House of the Dragon”: “Our worth is not given; it must be made.”
While entering into an invited or uninvited space, Williams has put all of the IHSA on notice about the true sense of his arrival all season. Not enough paid attention. So there’s still work to be done, still worth to be made.
The several On SI mentions, the two on Rivals.com, five in the Tribune, one in USA Today, the few here in the Sun-Times, including a July (preseason) feature. Maybe I’m asking for too much. But when a high school football player’s football LinkedIn profile is filling up the way Williams is stacking his, especially in this QB Era of Eras, you’d think — hope that, want to believe that — the yell from the mountaintop about this kid would be a little louder.