Seth Williams’ recruitment has been one of the more compelling battles of the summer.

After one decommitment back in March and a postponement of his next commitment date in early July, the four-star safety finally revealed his college destination on Friday, choosing Georgia over Clemson.

It has been widely publicized that this has been a decision that Williams struggled with. In fact, he’s actually referred to both programs as dream schools at one point or another.

With Williams now officially headed to Georgia, we wanted to pass along some details from behind the scenes of this recruitment.

Back when Williams postponed his July 3 commitment date, he told TCI that the next time he set a date, he’d already know which school he was going to choose. Based on conversations with him, I’m not sure he had actually yet decided when he set his new date. I fully believe this decision was a struggle for him. However, in our most recent conversation, the blue-chip talent indicated he’d already come to a decision, and that of the two schools, he was going with the program that had the head start. That conversation happened about 10 days ago.

Clemson offered Williams back in March, and he actually committed on the spot, before telling the coaching staff the next day that he’d rushed the decision, he was backing off his verbal pledge and opening his recruitment back up. He literally blew up after that, with numerous big boy football schools extending offers, including Georgia. The Dawgs would extend an offer in early May, as Williams quickly became one of the most sought-after safeties in the class.

Having said all of that, 10 days is a long time in the recruiting world. A lot of things can happen during that kind of timeframe, and based on our last conversation with the talented defensive back, we believe something changed here.

It wasn’t until two weeks ago that Georgia finally picked up its first commitment from a defensive back, when four-star safety Adryan Cole committed on July 18. The day before, four-star safety Ta’Shawn Poole spurned the Dawgs in favor of Florida State. He is one of a handful of safeties they missed on during this current cycle. And Georgia still hasn’t landed a commitment from a cornerback.

With Clemson already having two four-star safeties on board in Jarrell Chandler and Harrison Luke, the Bulldogs really needed this one more than the Tigers. To be clear, no one is claiming Clemson backed off or didn’t really want Williams. To say that would be disingenuous. The fact that Clemson kept pursuing Williams hard after he decommitted speaks volumes about how badly he really was wanted.

Photo courtesy of Seth Williams on Instagram