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Nobody hit a baseball with more authority during the Texas Longhorns' victory over Ohio State on Sunday than Jonah Williams.
Williams, who plays both baseball and football at Texas, smoked an opposite-field double down the left-field line that left the bat at 106.4 miles per hour. That helped set the stage for a five-run inning that propelled Texas to a 10-3 win.
A native of nearby Galveston, Williams spent the weekend at Daikin Park in Houston squaring up the baseball. He ripped a 107-mile-per-hour single in Texas' win over then-No. 9 Coastal Carolina, then smashed a 99.7-mile-per-hour ground ball in the same game that resulted in a double play. Three of the 25 hardest-hit balls by a Texas lineup that produced 23 runs over the three-game Bruce Bolt College Classic belonged to Williams, despite the fact that he got only one at-bat in Saturday's win over Baylor.
"It means a lot to play here," Williams said Sunday. "I've never played in an MLB ballpark before."
The Longhorns are happy to have Williams play in any ballpark.
A hamstring injury suffered last baseball season has lingered for Williams, who has also battled shoulder problems. The Longhorns left him out of the lineup on opening weekend before deploying him as a designated hitter the following week against Michigan State. When Williams stretched a single into a double and slid headfirst into second base against the Spartans, Texas coach Jim Schlossnagle took Williams out of the game to — in Schlossnagle's words — protect him.
Last weekend, Williams finally got the OK to play defense. He started in right field on Friday and Sunday and entered Saturday's game in the eighth inning as a pinch hitter.
"Feeling good physically," Williams said. "Body's holding up. Feeling good."
MORE: Texas baseball coach Jim Schlossnagle reaches 1,000 wins. Here's what it took to get there
Schlossnagle has made it clear: He'd like, eventually, to deploy Williams in the outfield just about every time the Longhorns play.
Who wouldn't? Through 26 collegiate games, Williams is hitting .329 with an .800 OPS. When healthy, his speed can help Texas win games, too. He swiped three bags last season but has not yet attempted a stolen base in 2026. Last season, Williams achieved much of his production by hitting ground balls that found holes. But he appears to be driving the ball with more authority these days, as this weekend's exit velocities show. He managed just three extra-base hits in 2025 and already has two doubles this season.
Schlossnagle feels Williams, a lefthanded hitter, can succeed against both righties and lefties on the mound. It's just a matter of building Williams up to a place where he can handle the everyday workload physically. Schlossnagle said he's "pretty close" to arriving at that point.
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"We'll see how he feels after today," Schlossnagle said Sunday. "The goal was to get him out there, certainly by conference play, to be able to play almost every day."
Texas opens SEC action when it hosts Ole Miss on March 13.
Just before that, another variable is being introduced into Williams' schedule. The Texas football team opens spring practice on March 9.
Williams, a former five-star recruit, played 71 snaps at safety for the Longhorns on the gridiron last fall, while also getting 84 reps on special teams. Injury issues impacted his football development, too.
Williams said Sunday that coaches held a meeting to decide how to handle the coinciding demands of spring practice and the baseball season, but he did not delve into any detail on what they decided.
"I've got my schedule all planned out," he said.