Carl Williams, a safety from Jacksonville who was committed to Illinois but wound up at I-AA South Alabama this fall, plans to transfer to USF this summer and join the team as a preferred walk-on, his father said Friday.

Williams, who redshirted in his only season with the Jaguars, will take two classes at a local community college this spring, then join the Bulls this summer, sitting out the 2012 season and then having three years of eligibility at USF.

Williams, 6 feet and 205 pounds, was rated as a three-star recruit out of Jacksonville's First Coast High (check out a 5-minute Youtube highlight video here), and his father said he ended up at South Alabama because he chose to withdraw his commitment to Illinois late in the recruiting process, only to find out the other major colleges that had offered him scholarships had by then addressed their needs at safety.

It's a low-risk, high-reward move for USF, much like a year ago, when walk-on safety Tre Griffin transferred to USF after signing with the U.S. Naval Academy on a football scholarship and deciding it wasn't a good fit. To be clear, Williams is like any other preferred walk-on -- given an initial spot on the roster but not on scholarship, and while he could be later elevated to scholarship status, he hasn't been assured of landing a scholarship at any point.

USF has already found success with walk-ons in Skip Holtz's two seasons, with quarterback Bobby Eveld going on scholarship after one semester in 2010 and receiver Stephen Bravo-Brown going on scholarship last fall after one season with the Bulls.