Senior cornerback on USC's 2026 roster.
5′10″ · 200 lb · Starke, FL · Bradford HS / Iowa State
CFB Index
A single number blending on-field production (an EPA-based value lane) with box-score output for this player's position.
0-100, scaled within each position's own cohort — not directly comparable across positions.
Recruiting
ATH recruit
No. 1596 nationally · Signed with Iowa State
No college snaps yet.
His career numbers, season by seasonThe story
4 cornerback on USC's 2026 roster.
Jontez Williams
Moves between deep coverage and the slot. Across four seasons and two programs, two head coaches: Matt Campbell and Lincoln Riley. Two straight seasons of it now: Preseason All-Big 12 (media) again in 2025. One game to point at: 3 tackles against Fresno State — Week 1, 2026.
5 TACKLES · 0 SACKS
Low coverage — composed from the verified record.
His career
Nobody recruited him. He earned the honors anyway.
Career arc
Trophy case · Confirmed honors
What the selectors said
ALL-BIG 12 · 2ND TEAM
All-Big 12 2nd team (2024)
Coaching lineage · 2023–2026
1 coachPlayed his entire career under Lincoln Riley.
Where He Ended Up · Transfer
Transferred to USC
Season context · Team result + system
Where this defender ranks vs the field
Box-score production percentiles vs the position cohort
Concern: tackles (0th percentile).
Percentiles are versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season, based on box-score production. There are no play-by-play efficiency bars here: CFBD's play-value model credits offensive players only, so no defensive EPA exists to rank.
Splits · Per-game
2026 season · 3 games
Home vs Road
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home3g | 1.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 |
First half vs Second half
| TKL/g | TFL/g | SACK/g | PD/g | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Weeks 1-73g | 1.7 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 |
Supporting cast · Scheme
Staff and system around the player
Head Coach
Lincoln Riley
Pass share
46.0%
97 pass / 114 run
Plays / game
70.3
3 games
Team sack rate
2.0%
102 dropbacks · PBP
Scheme: Run-leaning.
Player standing · 2025
Tackle volume for the position at the early end of the ladder.
| Season | Team | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | USC | 5 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 1 | -- | -- |
| 2025 | Iowa State | 15 | 9 | 1.5 | 0.0 | 2 | 1 | -- |
| 2024 | Iowa State | 46 | 23 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 5 | 4 | -- |
| 2023 | Iowa State | 6 | 2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 3 | -- | -- |
| Career | 72 | 35 | 3.5 | 0.0 | 11 | 5 | -- |
SIGNATURE GAME · Week 2 · 2026
W 49–30
vs Louisiana
Game by game
Point color shows the opponent's defensive strength that week (red = weaker defense, blue = stronger) — dashed line is this player's own season average.
Game log · Week-by-week
2026 season · 3 games
| Wk | Opp | TKL | SOLO | TFL | SACK | INT | PD | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wk 1 | W 42-26vs San José State | 1 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 3 tackles |
| Wk 1 | W 39-0vs Fresno State | 3 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 0 | Season-high 3 tackles |
| Wk 2 | W 49-30vs Louisiana | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 | |
| Total | 5 | 1 | 0.0 | 0.0 | — | 1 |
Play style
Moves between deep coverage and the slot — the modern positionless DB.
CFB Index positional classification
Player DNA
Moves between deep coverage and the slot — the modern positionless DB.
His 2025 production profile sits closest to Juawan Treadwell’s 2022 season.
Matches Juawan on
Not enough data yet for this comparison.
As a junior, his production profile tracks closest to Daiquan White's junior season at Georgia Tech (2025).
Matches Daiquan on
CAREER: Throughout his four-year career at Iowa State, Williams has recorded 67 tackles, including 3.5 for loss of 5 yards, 15 PBUs and 5 INTs while appearing in 32 games with 29 starts. 2026: Williams, who transferred to USC from Iowa State in January of 2026 and was the No. 1 cornerback in the...
17 more on the roster · USC team page