Pflugerville (TX) Next Great PG: T.J. Williams

The tradition of great point guard play runs deep with the Texas D1 Ambassadors program. Nowhere is it more entrenched than in Pflugerville High School’s succession of outstanding floor generals. The PG legacy at Pflugerville, an Austin suburb began with Bryan Beasley (Rice), Jonathan Garza (Lamar) and recently departed Deon Mitchell (Northern Iowa).

The heir apparent is 2013 PG T. J. Williams. I first met T.J. and his father, Tim when he was in the 4th grade and can remember this little kid who just had a sixth sense for how to play the game. He not only understood the next move two passes before anyone else saw it coming (very similar to an accomplished chess player) but even more importantly even though he was the best player on the court his first thought was to make a pass to involve other players for easy baskets. In this day of me first basketball, Williams was a mature thinking basketball player at only 10 years old.

For years, Williams was the undersized thinking man’s player…that is until this past spring when he began to sprout. He’s now a legit 6’1″ in his bare feet. Of course we’ll list him at 6’2″. The doctors say his growth plates are still wide open. We initially had him playing 17U as a freshman and he took his lumps but this past spring and summer was a different story. Paired in the backcourt with cat quick 2012 PG Michael Hardge of Georgetown allowed Williams to alternate time playing off the ball and taking on combo duties. His passing ability and ballhandling were never in doubt, so this summer he showcased the additional ability to shoot the three ball, mid range and a new found strength in finishing around the goal.

This season Pflugerville will be led by longtime Assistant David Raigosa as legendary Coach Mike Murphy steps down to do a little bit of broadcasting and to work on his potent golf game but don’t expect any fall off from the Panthers. They’ve got too many talented young players and a healthy tradition of being winners.. Expect T.J. Williams to lead the way and then head off into the sunset to play D1 basketball like his fellow Pflugerville and D1 Ambassadors alumni before him.

The D1 schools are already calling and visiting his high school workouts. At the moment he is being courted by Texas State, San Francisco, Denver, Evansville, Albany, and Missouri State. LSU has even made contact. If Williams continues to grow you can expect more of the power conference schools to come calling. T.J. is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Tim Williams of Pflugerville.