Brandon Williams to sign with Arizona Wildcats on Friday

In a surprising development, 2018 recruit Brandon Williams has announced that he will be signing with the Arizona Wildcats on Friday.

The news comes one day after multiple outlets, including the LA Times and Arizona Daily Star, reported that Williams was holding off on signing with Arizona until the spring because of the ongoing college basketball recruiting scandal that the UA is implicated in.

The catch is Williams will be signing non-binding scholarship papers rather than the usual National Letter of Intent.

Still, it’s a pleasant surprise for an Arizona program whose recruiting efforts have been ravaged since the FBI investigation went public.

Five-star point guard Jahvon Quinerly decommitted from Arizona in October, while several top-10 prospects have dropped the UA from consideration.

Four-star prospect Shareef O’Neal remains committed to Arizona, but the L.A. Times reported that he will be waiting until the spring to sign (they also reported that about Williams, though, so who knows).

Williams, a four-star prospect, is the No. 38 player in the 2018 class and No. 9 point guard.

The Crespi Carmelite High School product sat out his junior season with a knee injury, but he told the L.A. Times that he feels “100 percent.”

Williams recently took his official visit to Arizona during the weekend of the Red-Blue Game.

Follow Ryan Kelapire on Twitter at @RKelapire