This Sentell’s Intel rep on Georgia football recruiting has the latest with 4-star Seth Williams at Lakeside High School in Atlanta. He’s rated as a 3-star and the nation’s No. 39 safety and No. 449 overall prospect for 2027 on the 247Sports Composite. The Rivals Industry Ranking has him as a 4-star, the No. 35 S and No. 364 overall.
Clemson. Georgia.
Clemson or Georgia. Georgia then Clemson. Clemson then Georgia.
Play for Kirby. Or join Dabo’s team.
Those two schools have swirled in the mind of fast-rising Lakeside High School DB prospect Seth Williams. Williams, a former Clemson commit, has narrowed his decision to just those two. He had scheduled a commitment for July 3, but he backed off that timeline.
Those schools remain in close contact.
“Every single day,” Williams said. “I’m not going to say they haven’t let up a little bit. Because at this point of time with this situation, they’ve both done a lot. Everything you can do to recruit a kid. You’ve been recruiting him like that since March and April and May.”
“I’ve gone on all the OVs. Seen all the things I needed to see. It is really just my decision at this point. There is nothing that you can sway my mind that you can tell me that you haven’t already told me.”
He then described his status in terms of the popular revived “NCAA Football” video game franchise.
“They’ve spent all their hours,” he said. “They’ve made the house calls. We’ve brought you in on a visit. Now it is just like, what are you going to do.”
They’ve been sending the house for months.
“If this was the video game, I don’t know how either of these schools have any hours left,” he said.
Both schools have said they are holding a spot for his decision.
“I don’t do interviews every day and right now it is just in spurts,” he said. “It is not really days going back-and-forth anymore. One week it might be Georgia. The next week it might be Clemson. But really for me it is more so about not keeping it personal, but knowing what I am going to do before I will go tell somebody that I am going to Clemson or Georgia.”
Why would he choose the Dawgs? He rattled off three members of the Georgia staff, beginning with safeties coach Travaris “TRob” Robinson.
“The top three for me are ‘TRob’ and Kirby Smart and coach Andrew Thacker,” Williams said. “Those three guys are just like great in their respective fields. Coach Smart was a safety. I feel like if there were a coach I needed to play for, it would be Coach Smart because, you know, he did it. He’s coached the best. He’s produced the best and you’ve got ‘TRob’ who’s produced some of the best, too. He’s produced and had Caleb Downs at Alabama. He had Jaycee Horn at South Carolina. He has KJ Bolden at Georgia.”
“Then Thacker, he’s just a football head. When you see Coach Thacker, you’re like ‘Man, what’s up with this guy?’ but when you really get to meet Coach Thacker, he’s like really, really intelligent. Like really really intelligent. He’s one of the most intelligent people I’ve ever met. He’s really really really smart. A lot of people are just football smart, but Coach Thacker is smart in life. He’s smart in all aspects.”
Why would he come back to the 2027 class at Clemson?
“Just the relationships,” he said. “If you go there, it really feels like family. I feel like being there, it is a home away from home. Because [the state of] Georgia is literally home. So when you go somewhere, and it feels like a home away from home, it feels weird because you’ve never really been to a place that feels like home unless you’re with family.”
“When you go to Las Vegas, and you’re from Georgia, you’re like, this is not my place to be. Or I feel out of character here. But when you go somewhere, and you say ‘I can see myself here,’ it is just a different feeling.”
The weekly DawgNation.com “Before the Hedges” program is available as an Apple podcast.
What’s next for Seth Williams?
He still hears from both schools about 10 to 12 times per week.
“Something like that,” he said. “It is close to there.”
Williams has seen the nasty side of a recruiting showdown like this one. He saw it when he first decommitted from Clemson and began to seriously entertain UGA.
Some members of both fan bases have acted like fanatics. He’s had to wake up to comments portraying him as all about the NIL money. Or that he only wants to go to UGA because of his father’s preferences. That one is inaccurate.
Williams can laugh about it. He can say he doesn’t care, but it does affect him.
“My mom has to see those comments,” Williams said. “My grandma. My Dad. ... It is never really a great feeling to go through that, so I feel like once I make my decision I want to be fully into it.”
He wasn’t well-liked by the Clemson fans after that decommitment, but then he was getting loved up again after he placed the program in his final two.
“You get used to it after a while,” Williams said. “You know how to respond and it really gets easier from that point, but it is kind of crazy, but you learn how to handle it.”
He remains committed to choosing one of those two schools before the start of his senior season. Lakeside’s first fall scrimmage is scheduled for August 14. The first game will be on August 21.
“I’ve always felt like going into the season uncommitted is like a disservice to my teammates and my coaches,” he said. “Because my mind is elsewhere when I’m trying to make a play. Football has gotten me this opportunity and I feel like I can’t go and give my school 100 percent because I am worrying about something else on the football field; then it just wouldn’t feel right.”
Football used to be nothing but fun. When a practice or game was over, there was only one thing to think about.
“The most you used to have to think about was what flavor of Gatorade I’m getting afterward,” he said. “Now I have real-life situations and things of that nature to worry about.”
He’s got a wait-and-see approach with any new timeline.
“Definitely when I feel like the time is right, God will put that seed in my head and plant it,” Williams said. “We’ll go from there.”
