WR Preston Williams of Lovejoy (Photo by Verna Sampson)
Preston Williams is a lot of things, but one thing he will never be is boring.
The 5-star from Lovejoy High School stole the spotlight on Wednesday with his outrageous leather helmet to celebrate his signing of a football scholarship with Tennessee.
Williams choice of fashion was the buzz of social media, along with several national blogs.
Lovejoy coach Edgar Carson just laughed when asked about his star receiver’s Tennessee headgear.
“You know, he took his official visit to Tennessee this past weekend,” Carson told the AJC. “If he would’ve brought back a regular hat, it would’ve … shocked me. It would’ve been the same as everybody else, so that would’ve shocked me.
Georgia’s No. 6 overall prospect
“There was a regular hat at Tennessee last weekend, And there was that other hat. So it didn’t shock me that he choose the one he did. I mean, I couldn’t see him putting on a regular ballcap. He saw that hat, and said ‘Coach, I really love that hat.’”
Williams committed to Tennessee as a junior, and he remained loyal to the Volunteers until signing day – but there were a lot of adventurous moments along the way. For instance, he claimed to engaged as a high school junior, and wanted his fiancé to be able to attend Tennessee with him (they broke up later on).
As recent as last week, Williams was in the national headlines for going on an official visit to Auburn dressed in bright orange Tennessee colors to recruit other players – and he was supposedly asked to leave early by Auburn's coaches, although there were conflicting reports.
On Wednesday, Williams made his last day as a unsigned recruit a memorable one.
“When Preston put that hat on, he got the reaction he thought it would get,” Carson said. “There were a couple of chuckles, and a lot of people taking pictures. All of my kids really looked sharped today.”
