Geneva’s Williams commits to NIU

Updated: May 24, 2011 11:02PM

Matt Williams became the second junior football player in The Beacon-News coverage area to free up his summer considerably after the Geneva quarterback gave Northern Illinois University a verbal commitment Monday.

Plano running back Joseph Jones committed to Northwestern last week.

The 6-foot-3 quarterback was to stop at about a dozen camps during the offseason, but now he’ll just attend the Huskies’ camp in DeKalb and focus on his senior campaign with the Vikings.

“I felt like this was the right choice for me and getting it out of the way early lets me focus on Geneva football and getting to our ultimate goal, which is a state championship,” Williams said. “Getting it out of the way puts it in the back of my mind and lets me focus on the task at hand right now.”

Williams’ commitment came after a visit to the University of Toledo, and a Western Michigan coach called him Monday evening. He said most of the Mid-American Conference schools had been in contact with him, but NIU was the right fit.

The dual-threat quarterback is a recruit Huskies head coach Dave Doeren and offensive coordinator Matt Canada honed in once they were hired over the winter. And, despite Williams’ ability to play wide receiver, they like him under center. Williams said he’ll also be given an opportunity to compete for the starting job as a freshman in 2012.

“In a sense (it was important) and ultimately I’d like to play quarterback,” Williams said. “But if going to college on a scholarship meant playing wide receiver, I certainly would have done that, too. Definitely playing quarterback means more to me and I’m going in as a quarterback.”

It also doesn’t hurt that NIU had developed a recent pipeline to Geneva.

Williams was able to pick the brains of Pat Schiller, Frank Boenzi and Michael Santacaterina, all former Vikings who are currently on the football roster.

Then on Tuesday, former Vikings basketball and volleyball player Lauren Wicinski — daughter of NIU alumnus and head football coach Rob — sent Williams a congratulatory text.

“They’ve all been very helpful through this whole process and I can’t wait to play with them again,” Williams said. “We ultimately want to go out there and we want to be the next TCU, to go out there and prove to teams we can play with the best of the best and ultimately we want to be playing for a BCS bowl one day. I just cannot wait to get out there.”

© 2012 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.