‘I really felt at home’: Clemson lands commitment from 4-star Peach State safety
By: samneumann July 31, 2022

Clemson picked up a big-time commitment Sunday from a highly touted Peach State safety.

Milton High School (Alpharetta, Ga.) four-star Rob Billings announced his commitment to Dabo Swinney’s program on Sunday over schools like Duke, Florida State, Kentucky, Ole Miss and Michigan.

Billings — a 6-foot-2, 190-pound rising senior — is ranked as high as the nation’s No. 23 safety and the No. 26 overall prospect in the state of Georgia for the 2023 class by Rivals.

Sunday, July 30, isn’t a date of significance for Billings. Rather, he felt like now was the time for him to ultimately make his college decision. He wanted to be committed prior to his senior season and with Milton having a scrimmage coming up next week, he just felt like now was the right time.

Prior to Sunday’s announcement, Billings detailed his decision in an exclusive phone interview with The Clemson Insider on Sunday afternoon.

“Really my relationship with Coach (Mickey) Conn and ever since they offered me a scholarship, the communication hasn’t fallen off,” Billings said. “They’ve just showed their interest in me every day…They just really haven’t fallen off in their recruitment of me. They showed a lot of interest in what they want me to do with their program when I get there and how they see me fitting in.”

“They heavily recruited me,” Billings continued. “Like some other schools, maybe they didn’t recruit me as hard or show as much interest or they wanted me to camp. Clemson knew what I could do. They didn’t want me to camp. They just wanted me to commit and be a Tiger.”

It wasn’t last Monday’s All In Cookout that sealed the deal for Billings, although it gave him confirmation that he was making the right decision. The Peach State product was actually silently committed almost three weeks prior to Sunday’s announcement.

“The cookout helped me gauge that I made the right decision,” he said. “I got to spend a lot of time with some of the commits and some of the coaches on the staff. I really felt at home when I went up there for the cookout.”

According to Billings, when he informed Conn of his decision, Clemson’s co-defensive coordinator/safeties coach told him that he made his day. Conn couldn’t wait for him to announce it, so the rest of the college football world could find out about Clemson’s latest addition to its secondary.

With that being said, what’s the expectation for Billings once he does arrive on campus?

“Coach Conn has been preaching to me that he wants me to play free safety and then learn the free safety spot,” Billings said. “Eventually, he wants me to learn strong safety, so I could be able to play both and get some time on the field. He said that he’s not afraid to start a freshman. So, I’m just gonna go in there and work as hard as I can.”

Billings will come in and join Sumner High (Riverview, Fla.) four-star, Kylen Webb, as Clemson’s other committed safety in this class.

“Me and him, we got close over the official visit weekend,” Billings said. “Every time I go up there, me and him get along pretty well. I think our defensive back room could be one of the best in the country with Avieon Terrell and Branden Strozier and those guys. I think we have a pretty good chance to be pretty good.”

That’s with not mentioning the possible addition of Stockbridge (Ga.) three-star defensive back Shelton Lewis, who we now know was the only uncommitted prospect at last week’s cookout. Billings said he’s been talking with Lewis and that the fellow Peach State native should be making his own decision pretty soon.

“It’s definitely like a brotherhood,” Billings said of Clemson’s 2023 class. “We’re a pretty deep class and I just can’t wait to put on the orange and get to going with the guys. We’re pretty deep right now and I think we still not done yet.”

Billings will not be a mid-year enrollee, nor was he really looking to be one. He mentioned that he was talking to Conn about it and the message that he received was that there was no rush for him to get to Tiger Town. According to Billings, Conn wants him to take his time and enjoy finishing out his senior year at Milton High School.

What can Clemson fans expect out of Billings once he does arrive on campus?

“They can expect a hard-worker and a talented ball hawk and aggressive safety, that’ll put work in every day,” he said.

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