Bill Norton, a 4-star strongside defensive end prospect from Christian Brothers in Memphis, saw no need to drag out his recruiting decision any longer.

He chose Sunday evening as his time to commit to UGA. That move from the Tennessee native allows UGA to again take over the top spot in the national 2019 team composite recruiting rankings.

He shared his decison on Twitter.

“I had a lot of thought about it,” Norton said. “We went around to all the schools and saw how I would fit in. I had a good time meeting all the new coaches and seeing places I had not seen and stuff. But at the same time, it was [defensive line] coach Tray [Scott] and coach Kirby [Smart] have known about me and shown love to me even before all the other [schools] knew about me. It has been the same ever since.”

Norton admitted he had been convinced about that commitment for a while.

“It was really a no-brainer,” he said. “The only reason I had been holding back for a little while was that I wanted to give every place a chance to see if any other places would be a good fit for me on the field and academically as well.”

What Bill Norton’s decision means for UGA

The 6-foot-5½, 270-pound player from Tennessee ranks as the No. 11 strongside defensive end in the 2019 class and No. 128 overall player in the nation on the 247Sports national composite rankings.

He has liked the Bulldogs for quite some time. Norton has always had the Bulldogs at the top of his list since a July 2017 visit to a Kirby Smart football camp at UGA.

Scott played a major factor in this decision. Scott has been recruiting Norton heavily since March 2017.

Norton took a weekend visit to check out Tennessee. He liked the visit and everything about Jeremy Pruitt and his new staff. But it still wasn’t Georgia.

He said he saw no need to string out his recruiting process. The junior told DawgNation that he hopes to make it to Athens for G-Day on April 21, if not sooner.

Christian Brothers does not allow its student-athletes to graduate early. That means Norton won’t take up residence in Athens permanently until June 2019.

The Bulldogs now have a trio of 5-star commits in the Class for 2019. Norton makes the fifth pledge with a 4-star ranking in that class.

He’s the highest rated of those 4-star recruits and the first defensive lineman in the lot.