Trainer | 2026 Notre Dame WR Target Brian Williams Has "Uncapped" Ceiling

To Kevin Wheeler, it was no surprise that Brian Williams Jr‍, saw a tremendous explosion of college interest at the beginning of this year and into the spring.

“The first thing is he's dedicated to his craft,” says Wheeler, founder of HD Performance, where he trains receivers like Williams.

“He's consistent. He stays in the lab.”

The 2026 Florida wideout is always looking for more work, according to Wheeler.

“I train quite a few guys and I've also got a personal life too, so if I am going out of town for something, he’ll hit me like, 'Hey coach, you've been gone for two days. When do you get back? You got a session when you get back?'” Wheeler says. “He's hungry. He's always working on his craft, studying the game, student of the game. 

“He loves the position, he loves learning, he loves football and he's getting better. I've seen his consistency and his discipline and commitment to continue to work on his craft and get better as far as route-running, releases, learning coverages, and just learning all the nuances of playing the position. So that's what separates him from a lot of guys.”

Wheeler has seen the Lake Mary High School standout steadily make jumps in his performance.

“He has pockets where he peaks and grows,” says Wheeler, who started training with Williams last March. “He got better in the summer. He got better during the season, after his season. He got better in the early parts of this year. 

“He really, really excelled during the season because he came to training every week, every Sunday he was at training consistently. He was there and he was consistent and he kept getting better and better and better throughout the season.”

The two really got to work in anticipation for February’s Under Armour Regional in Orlando, where Williams would shine. 

“We had two sessions that week where we just basically focused on the stuff that we always do, but I gave him some things to take into him winning one-on-one battles and stuff like that,” Wheeler says. “For him to go in and apply it the way he did, that's when I saw the greatest peak to this. He's starting to transcend again, taking this game to another level.”

That was right before the flush of offers started coming from high-major programs like Notre Dame, Florida, Florida State, Alabama, Auburn, Kentucky, Wisconsin and Penn State among others.

Wheeler has already taken an official visit to Penn State and was at Florida this weekend. He’ll be at Alabama next weekend and Kentucky after that before an official visit to Notre Dame the weekend of June 20th.

“With him being 6-4, he has an elite ability to drop his weight,” Wheeler continues. “He gets in and out of breaks efficiently. He's transcending. His ceiling is uncapped. He has an efficient release package, he has a variety of releases. He understands how to attack leverage and manipulate guys and move guys off their pole and move them off the line to be able to take the leverage that he wants. He has twitch to him. He's a guy who put it all together.”

And Wheeler only expects to see that growth continue.

“That's the beauty of it, he has the potential to grow in all aspects of his game,” says Wheeler. “JJ (Justin Jefferson) is like the model now. I don't like comparing guys, but anything we do, we want to be the best in the world. But just having that mindset and seeing how JJ attacks his work, how he plays big and physical. 

“He plays to his strengths, but he can also play a smaller twitchier guy as well. He runs great routes. Him just being able to play big and dominate and take over games. That's what we're focusing on now.”

Wheeler and Williams are working on “stacking good days” of work together. 

“He continues to grow and grow and grow,” Wheeler says. “Like I said, his ceiling is just untapped. He could be very, very special. He's a special guy. He could be very, very good.

“I don't say this about a lot of people, but he's a guy you could see playing on Sundays.”