Highly recruited Williams has long held Georgia ties

Jamyest Williams is the kind of recruit who will have his pick of where he wants to play college football.

His home-state school Georgia, however, has a couple of ties working in its favor. Williams, who transferred to Grayson from Archer this spring, grew up quite familiar with the Bulldogs thanks to where he experienced his upbringing.

Until he moved to Gwinnett County as a freshman high schooler, Williams lived in or around Athens through his eighth-grade year, attending nearby Oconee County Middle School. Having grown up near Athens, Williams spent a lot of time as a child with former Oconee County football stars Tyson Browning and Tony Taylor, both of whom are family friends and played football for Georgia.

Taylor earned permanent captain status in 2006, along with the Vince Dooley Most Valuable Player Award.

Obviously, when Williams makes recruiting trips this summer, Georgia will be an easy one for him to drive to.

“I feel really good about Georgia,” Williams said. “It’s always good to go back to your hometown. It’s a special feeling.”

Coincidentally, Grayson head coach Jeff Herron coached both Browning and Taylor at Oconee County, although the connection with his former two standouts and Williams wasn’t made aware to him until the coach and player met at Grayson. Herron, who was at Prince Avenue Christian and Camden County before Grayson, was hired to coach the Rams prior to spring practice.

Herron described Williams as a two-way player who can excel at both receiver and cornerback. At the next level, Williams is considered a four-star cornerback recruit, according to the 247Sports.com composite, and ranks as the 48th overall prospect in the nation. Georgia defensive coordinator Mel Tucker and running backs coach Dell McGee are Williams’ primary recruiters.

Grayson quarterback Chase Brice, a Clemson commit, noted how the Rams’ passing game should improve with a player like Williams.

“It just helps me a lot because it takes a little more stress off of some of my main targets from last year,” Brice said.

In addition to Georgia, Williams said he wants to take recruiting trips to UCLA, Ohio State and South Carolina this summer. He also plans to release his final list of schools this summer before making a solid commitment during the fall semester. He has yet to decide whether he’ll enroll early in college or not.

Georgia does appear in good shape, for now, as Williams noted how impressed he has been with the changes head coach Kirby Smart has implemented thus far.

“Just how active he is out there during practices,” Williams said. “Spring practice showed me a lot with how they’re trying to change the program. Coach Tucker, too. They’re trying to get that defensive backfield right.”

Williams is one of four transfers Grayson picked up during the spring, with the other three being linebacker Breon Dixon, athlete DeAngelo Gibbs and offensive lineman Tony Gray. Georgia is recruiting all three, with Dixon already giving his pledge to the Bulldogs on Christmas Day.

Dixon previously said he’s working on recruiting Williams to Georgia, as well as the other Grayson standouts being targeted by major institutions. One of the pitches Smart and his staff are making to Williams is to make sure he finds the right school for him.

“The message to me is to make sure it’s the right fit,” Williams said. “It’s a great opportunity to have a lot of great guys up there that have been in the program for a while.”

This story was originally published May 24, 2016 at 2:45 PM with the headline "Highly recruited Williams has long held Georgia ties."