The kid the Memphis press corps kept calling "the next Penny Hardaway" did not actually grow up in the rough parts of Memphis the way Penny did. Elliot Jerell Williams went to St. George's Independent School in Collierville, Tennessee — a small private school in the affluent Memphis suburbs, more known for tennis and lacrosse than for producing top-20 basketball recruits. He was an academic standout there, the kind of kid who played chess and pulled a high GPA and didn't make trouble. He just happened to also be 6-foot-5, left-handed, and one of the most explosive guards in his entire high school class.
Williams was born June 20, 1989, the son of Mexwayne and Delois Williams. He had two older brothers, Max and Antwaun, and an older sister, Erica Tamayo. His mother was the gravity of the household. "My dad and my parents clown me because they say I'm a mama's boy," Williams said years later. "But to be honest with you, my mom — she's so special to me in my life. She's done so much for me and done so much with me."
He averaged 26.2 points per game as a sophomore at St. George's, then 25.1 as a junior while leading his team to the Tennessee Division II-A state championship game. By his senior year he was the Division II-A Mr. Basketball in Tennessee, a Parade Second-Team All-American, and one of 24 boys named to the 2008 McDonald's All-American Game in Milwaukee, where he scored 10 points for the East team in a 107–102 win. Rivals.com ranked him the No. 3 shooting guard in the country and the No. 16 overall player in the entire 2008 class. Scout had him 16th overall as well. ESPN had him 18th. Every recruiting service agreed: Elliot Williams was a five-star.
The recruitment came down to Duke, Memphis, Virginia, and Tennessee. Memphis was the obvious one — his hometown school, John Calipari was at the height of his powers there, the Tigers were a Final Four program. But on November 25, 2007, Williams signed his National Letter of Intent with Duke. "When it was all said and done, it was Duke that offered the most things they were looking for," his St. George's coach Jeff Ruffin told The Commercial Appeal.
What he didn't know — what nobody outside the family knew — was that his mother had already been diagnosed with breast cancer. The disease had arrived in 2006, two years before he committed to Duke. The Williamses had decided to keep it private. Delois insisted Elliot go chase the dream. Mike Krzyzewski had no idea, when he signed him, that the clock was already ticking.