Odell Williams has seen the college recruiting process from every angle.
He was recruited out of North Iredell High School to play football and participate in track and field at Western Carolina University.
He then coached high school track and over two decades, including at East Burke for much of that time, helping his student-athletes embrace the process and find new four-year homes.
Williams then did the recruiting himself as an assistant track coach at Lenoir-Rhyne University until 2024 after having served as an assistant coach at WCU after graduation.
And even before all of that, Williams said as a child he watched his parents, both of whom were educators, “sit with folks from my neighborhood and their parents at kitchen tables filling out college applications and FAFSA (financial aid) forms to get these kids aid to go to school.”
Now, Williams offers a guiding hand through the process, free of charge, for any local track and football student-athletes and their families who may need assistance.
“I focus on areas where I have direct connections with individuals within the college and university systems,” Williams said, “where I’ve got long relationships with people and it makes it a little bit easier.”
Williams said he basically got started as a recruiting aid when he took over as Cavaliers track coach in 2001.
“In terms of the recruiting process and helping kids get into school, I was doing this during the entire duration of when I was coaching at East Burke,” he said. “I spent a great deal of time putting East Burke kids out there to put in school as well as kids from other area high schools, schools from our conference, schools from outside our conference, schools in Iredell County, where I am from.
“I get people who relate back to when we had a great deal of success with East Burke track and field, and that always helps, that you know how to run a championship-level team, you had state champions and state record holders that you coached on that resume. Word of mouth kind of travels, and once you start helping one or two kids, people start contacting you. And I’m just one of these old softies. I can’t refuse a kid that actually wants to try to go to school.”
Williams said he worked with 18 student-athletes from the high school graduating class of 2026, 14 of whom are now ready to enter college athletics next month.
He said he’s already had three rising senior student-athletes contact him for assistance. Williams said more than ever before, it’s important for prospective college athletes to start the recruiting process early.
“Mainly because right now, the priority in recruiting is no longer the high school athlete,” he said. “It breaks my heart the way the transfer portal has transcended the traditional way students were recruited and brought into schools. If you’re not a four- or five-star athlete, maybe a high three-star, you’re a forgotten athlete now (coming out of high school).
“The priority list in terms of collegiate programs now is they go the transfer portal route because those athletes have one, two, three years of college experience and they just try to refine what they already bring to the program. Then you have the junior college athlete that they wanna look at and bring in, and then the third athlete is the high schooler.”
Just as collegiate programs being familiar with who they may be recruiting as early as possible is important, Williams said, so are things like being solid academically, staying out of trouble, and being presentable.
“That means making good grades in high school, even starting in middle school, so your transcript is even something a college athletics program will want to consider,” Williams said. “College recruiters now pick up the phone and call your teachers, administrators at those schools wanting to check out character references. I did it for eight years when I was at Lenoir-Rhyne. … And appearance does matter from a recruiting perspective. College recruiters want to see you the person, not a hood hanging over your head. And you’ve got to learn to communicate as well.”
Williams said the last thing that college recruiters and coaches want is to bring a kid into their program just to lose him or her for silly reasons.
“You want to make sure that everything that you produce to college programs is a true, full aspect of that student-athlete,” he said, “that you’re giving them accurate information in terms of what their capabilities are, what to expect of them when they arrive. College coaches want to make sure that once they bring a student-athlete on campus, they’re not going to lose them to a bad crowd, or they will be a casualty to academics and fall by the wayside.
“The first thing I ask parents when their student comes to me is where are you at academically? Those aspects to me are more important, what is the kid looking for down the road?”
Williams stresses that getting into an NCAA Division I program right out of high school isn’t realistic for everyone, and further, that given the changing college sports landscape, it’s by no means a limitation anymore.
“Every parent thinks their kid is a Division I athlete,” he said. “Often, the reality is they may be more of a D-II, D-III, NAIA athlete. Not everyone is a D-I. But as I tell parents, a good education is a good education.
“And if you start looking at NCAA Division I schools in track and field championships versus NCAA Division II schools, there’s not a whole lot of dropoff in times or distances. … Right now, D-I schools have new roster limitations and scholarship restrictions, and they are raiding the D-II schools’ rosters.”
Williams’ resume also includes coaching three prep state record holders and 16 individual state champions, winning 14 combined high school league and regional titles as a coach spanning track and cross country (including EB claiming the 2009 4A West Regional title), and serving as NCHSAA 2A West Regional championship meet director.
He also has had track meets named in his honor by both North Iredell and East Burke.
For those interested in speaking to Williams about their student-athlete’s prospects, he can be reached at owilliams60@outlook.com.
