Clemson has been in contact with this Peach State ball-hawking safety since the end of his junior season at Milton High School.
Clemson co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach Mickey Conn has kept a watchful eye on Robert Billings — a three-star safety out of Alpharetta (Ga.) — who is aiming to pay the Tigers a visit sometime next month.
“We’ve been talking over Twitter, so we’ve been in touch about me visiting up there, after the dead period in February, one of these days in March,” Billings told The Clemson Insider. “I’m gonna pick a date sometime in March to come up there and see the campus and talk to some of the coaches up there.”
Conn has previously told Billings that they reviewed his film and that the Tigers are interested in him.
“They like how I’m very athletic,” he said. “I have a lot of range and I can cover. I can hit really hard, come down in the run game and make plays in the box.”
Billings said his relationship with Conn is “pretty good.” Clemson’s safeties coach stopped by the Georgia-based high school, as he made his rounds on the recruiting trail during the live period. He briefly spoke with Billings and wished the fast-rising safety prospect a happy birthday.
What does it mean for Billings to hear from a school like Clemson?
“It means a lot because when I was younger, me and my friend (four-star cornerback) Ethan Nation, we would go watch Clemson games,” he said. “His sister was a cheerleader. We would watch Clemson games together when we were younger and we always dreamed of playing at the same school or maybe at Clemson one day. If I got an offer from there, it would mean a lot.”
Billings has seen his recruitment take off since the start of the new year. The 6-2, 190-pound safety has earned offers from Buffalo, Georgia State, Florida State, ECU, Louisville, Duke, Vanderbilt, Jackson State, Cincinnati, Oregon, Kentucky, Mizzou, Indiana and UConn.
“Yeah, it’s very surreal because as a sophomore, I didn’t have any offers or anything,” Billings said. “No colleges were looking at me, but I was grinding and still working hard. All my hard work is paying off. It’s still surreal. One time, I got three offers in one day and I was like, ‘Woah, this is crazy.’”
For Billings, it was just a matter of teams getting ahold of his sophomore year film. He always knew that he had the potential to play college football, but he always told that teams needed to see his varsity film. Then, he finally started playing his junior season and the rest is history.
Billings had five picks this past season and was able to showcase his ball-hawking abilities.
“I’m a big, athletic safety with great ball-hawking skills,” Billings said. “I’m a playmaker, not only on defense, but on offense, I can catch the ball and play receiver. On special teams, I blocked two punts this year and took them to the endzone for touchodnws. I’m just a playmaker all around.”
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