Steady as it goes: Jonas Williams set to lead Lincoln-Way East

Changing schools brings with it some trepidation no matter who you are.

Even if you’re one of the state’s best quarterbacks.

So Jonas Williams, who transferred from Bolingbrook to Lincoln-Way East in January, readily admits even he was a little nervous when he walked on the Griffins’ campus for the first time as a part of that school for the first time.

“It was really exciting coming to Lincoln-Way East,” Williams said. “And it’s honestly been one of the best decisions my parents have made for me in my life with them moving here, but there were still worries being uncomfortable in a new environment where I don’t really know anybody. New city, new town, new coaches, I had to deal with those things.”

“And I think that’s helped me grow as a person. It’s been a blessing for me. There’s a lot worse situations I could be in. I’m surrounded by great coaches and great teammates. I don’t have to anything to complain about.”

Lincoln-Way East certainly isn’t complaining either.

“Everybody knows who Jonas Williams is on the field, but what I have really appreciated and enjoyed is getting to know him off the field, him and his parents. Character, integrity, tremendous class and that’s been the special thing about the move is just getting to know him as a young man,” Lincoln-Way East coach Rob Zvonar said. “Obviously, sometimes I get a little star struck watching him on the field. So I’ve been around 31 years and you stand there and you’re just like, ‘He just made that throw?,’ Those kinds of things. But what’s been really special is how he treats his teammates, the kind of young man and person that he is.”

Williams will be under the microscope at Lincoln-Way East, but the junior is used to having all eyes on him. The four-star recruit made his verbal commitment to Oregon earlier this month, choosing the Ducks from a group of elite programs including Alabama, LSU and Ohio State.

But even with those blue blood programs bending over backwards in attempts to secure his collegiate services, Williams isn’t resting on the fact that his future is basically secured whenever he makes that decision.

“Honestly I feel like I have to work on everything. I don’t think I’m satisfied in any asset of my game. Even though I’ve offered I’m still not satisfied. I haven’t won a state championship and that’s on my list. So really in my eyes, I don’t think I’ve accomplished as much as I want to,” Williams said. “Every day I’m working hard at anything I do. It could be stretching, I’m gonna stretch to the best ability that I can. If I’m lifting I’m gonna lift the hardest I can. Any asset that I’m working at I’m working to get better.

“So I think literally, I’m working hard on everything because I haven’t maxed out my my abilities in any asset.”

It’s an alarming thought that Williams feels he has so much work to do on his craft, because what he’s done so far is extremely impressive.

Williams stormed on to the high school football scene with a memorable debut in 2022, throwing for 407 yards and seven touchdowns in a season-opening win over Minooka.

He had been in high school for eight days.

He was 14.

And people quickly learned that it wasn’t a fluke or beginner’s luck, as Williams has promptly thrown for 6,006 yards and 67 touchdowns during his first two years of varsity football. And he did all of that before most quarterbacks take their first varsity snap.

“He’s a great competitor, but yet he also has tremendous humility,” Zvonar said. “This young man not only threw for 400 yards against us when he was 14 but he just turned 16 (Williams has a June birthday), and he really should still just should just be finishing his freshman year going into his sophomore year. And that’s what’s incredible about him. There’s no ceiling really on him right now.”

Although Williams is actively pushing himself to see if and where that ceiling might be, his focus is almost entirely on making sure he’s on the same page with his new teammates as much as he can possibly be.

“I’ve been studying really hard on this; I think I’m about 90% comfortable with right what we are doing,” Williams said. “For me getting 100% comfortable is being able to call everything on my own off the top my head so I wouldn’t say I’m there yet. But I’m definitely pretty comfortable with it.”

And his new teammates are finding their way along as well.

“He obviously has a higher velocity as he throws the ball,” Lincoln-Way East running back Zion Gist said. “I mean, they are perfect balls. So we just have to make sure that we catch the routes with him in the offseason and get used to that velocity.”

That rapport seems to be growing very, very quickly.

“I think that is a result of us working hard in the offseason every day. Three times a week since January we’ve been throwing together so I think that work that’s unseen, that work is being shown right now,” Williams said. “So I think as we continue to work and build that chemistry will be even better when the season comes around.”

If that jells in the way that most seem to think it will, Lincoln-Way East could potentially possess the most frightening offense in the state. But Williams thinks he may have already tapped in to what makes things work in his new program.

“I think when you’re around a bunch of guys who have the same goal in mind, you know, winning and being the best version of themselves. I think that pairs well with this team,” Williams said. “You can’t have a successful team with a much selfless guys and me players so that’s why they’re so successful because they don’t have any of that.”

And that quickly established level of comfortability has also spawned open and honest discourse between Williams and his teammates.

“I think every time I step on the field with these guys, we’ve built that relationship so I can tell them whatever and you know, they’ll respond in the right way. And the same with them. They’ll give me feedback. I’ll give them feedback,” Williams said. “We just build off that. It’s real mutual here. I’ve built a relationship mostly with all of these guys. And we trust each other so there’s no bad information.”

As for Zvonar he’s looking forward to have Williams on his side instead of trying to figure out how to contain him as an opponent.

“I’m just glad he’s on my side,” Zvonar said. “Going back to him as an opponent, you wouldn’t have known it by looking at him if he just threw an 80-yard touchdown strike or an interception, he has the same reaction.

“And that’s when you know you’ve got a winner.”