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Jason Seidel needed a defensive back for a two-day, 7-on-7 tournament in Georgia. He decided to approach Garrett Williams, who was in the middle of a quarterback competition with now-Charlotte quarterback Dylan Ratliff.

Garrett had never played the position before, but Seidel, then the football coach of Hickory Ridge High School, trusted he was athletic enough. Garrett ended the first game with five interceptions, including one that he returned for a touchdown.

When George Williams, his father, heard the news over the phone, he was confused.

“You mean five touchdowns?” he asked. It wasn’t until later that night that George learned his son had made the switch.

The move was initially temporary, but Garrett thrived early in the season and cemented himself as Hickory Ridge’s starting cornerback. The transition changed Garrett’s career. He went from a talented but raw quarterback to an elite cornerback, earning the interest of various colleges across the East Coast after his first season.

He entered his second training camp with Syracuse (1-4, 1-3 Atlantic Coast) expecting to earn the starting job, head coach Dino Babers said, and emerged as the starter soon after. In his first five starts, Garrett broke up three passes and accumulated 26 tackles while continuing to learn the position he entered four years ago. He’s slowly fitting into the role, George said.

“‘Don’t give him anything,’” Babers recalled George telling him. “‘He’ll earn everything, you just wait and see.’”

“And his dad was right.”

Seidel first saw Garrett as a speedy quarterback, an electric threat who was dangerous in the open field. The ball skills were obvious, and his game sense was impeccable, Seidel said.

Garrett played almost every position in Pop Warner, and George, his coach in the beginning, instructed him to play left and right tackle his first year.

Though he was smaller, Garrett learned to be craftier and tougher than other kids his age. He eventually moved on to slot receiver, running back and quarterback. The first time he carried the ball at 6 years old, he dashed 80 yards into the end zone.

“There’s an electrifying part of him that comes on,” George said. “I call it ‘G-dub.’”

George recognized “G-dub” at cornerback early on during that junior season with Hickory Ridge. Teams refused to throw the ball Garrett’s way, as he shut down future Division-I wide receivers, Seidel said.

He also had the luxury of practicing against future ACC and SEC wide receivers such as Jalen Brooks and Jarett Garner, who are now at South Carolina and Duke, respectively. Immediately after Garrett’s switch, those receivers challenged him, sometimes outmuscling him, running past him and forcing him to work on his press coverage technique, Seidel said.

If Garner or Brooks ran a slant route, Garrett had to learn how to jam them at the line of scrimmage to delay them from getting into their routes. His initial struggles against the tall and physical receivers helped him improve his release off the snap, perfecting his pre-snap stance and utilizing his long arms to his advantage.

“His body as he grew, along with the muscle he put on in the weight room, gave him confidence that he could run with anybody and that he had the power to stop any receiver,” Seidel said.

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George would see Garrett reading the opponent’s offensive coordinator’s signals, using his knowledge as a quarterback to anticipate what the receiver would do. He often read the quarterback’s eyes, understanding when they’d try to look off a defensive back. This allowed him to jump routes, and he snatched three interceptions and broke up 18 passes as a junior. Garrett said his athleticism allowed him to adjust seamlessly.

Then, against Butler High School, he ran down an end zone-bound running back. His other teammates gave up, but Garrett hadn’t. After a goal-line stand, he blocked the field goal and returned it for a touchdown in a 43-42 victory.

“That athleticism and effort was a given with him,” Seidel said. “Then it was just about learning technique.”

Garrett learned zone and man coverages “on-the-fly” during the 7-on-7 season before his junior year, Seidel said, and spending so many years reading defenses eased the learning curve. But Garrett said he didn’t refine his technique to match the Division-I level until he reached Syracuse. He redshirted in 2019, behind cornerbacks Ifeatu Melifonwu, Scoop Bradshaw, Chris Fredrick and Trill Williams.

Sep 26, 2020; Syracuse, New York, USA; Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets wide receiver Malachi Carter (15) runs with the ball after a catch as Syracuse Orange defensive back Garrett Williams (14) defends during the third quarter at the Carrier Dome. Mandatory Credit: Rich Barnes-USA TODAY Sports

Courtesy of Rich Barnes | USA TODAY Sports

George didn’t see “G-dub” in Garrett’s four appearances that season, which all came on special teams plays. Even though Garrett earned the starting job to begin 2020, George didn’t see that energetic player in the first two games, either. Instead, he saw someone who was playing not to make a mistake.

But against Georgia Tech, “G-dub” re-emerged. During one of George’s many viewings of every Syracuse game, he saw an emotional side of Garrett. Every pass thrown toward him was contested. And when he committed a defensive pass interference, Garrett simply stood up and smiled.

“The smile means he’s comfortable and doing what he does,” George said. “That’s what I expect in the next few years.”

Published on October 20, 2020 at 9:54 pm

Contact Adam: adhillma@syr.edu | @_adamhillman