Joe Williams believes he made the right decision when he left the Utah football team a month ago. He also believes he made the right decision to return last week.

And he has no regrets. "Everything happens for a reason," he said.

"It felt at that time that it was the right decision [to leave] and I stuck with it. I had no regrets making it," he said. "I was happy with it at the end of the day but I’m also happy the coaches asked me to come back."

Williams left in mid-September because he was miserable, physically and mentally, and it showed in his play. The speedy, touted heir apparent to Devontae Booker rushed for just 75 yards and fumbled twice in the Utes' first two games. He was memorably seen on TV being upbraided by coach Kyle Whittingham after a fumble against BYU.

Williams insisted his performance "was never the reason for me leaving.” Instead, he said, it was a complicated mix of feelings and emotions and a flagging love for the game and its demanding grind that had started in the summer. He felt like the outward manifestations of his internal struggles also might potentially do damage in the locker room where the motto was "All In or In The Way."

“Complications," he said of his motivations to quit the team. "Psychologically and just my physical well-being. I just didn’t want to be... I didn’t want to be detrimental to the team’s success. After speaking to a couple of coaches and family members, I knew it would be the best decision. I had dwelled on it a couple of months before I had made the decision."

Then, one after the other, running backs who had or were in the process of eclipsing him on the depth chart in early September went down with injuries: Troy McCormick, Zack Moss, Armand Shyne and Jordan Howard. The situation was nothing less than desperate for an offense that prefers to run than throw.

So a series of phone calls were made between the Utes coaches and players and Williams. The team clearly needed Williams -- see a quick vote from the Utes' leadership council to bring him back. The bigger question was whether Williams needed the team.

"He talked to his family and those that are close to him and a couple of hours later he called back and said ‘Yeah, I’m all in.’ He said ‘Let’s go. Whatever I can do to help the team.’ So he came back," Whittingham said. "[Williams] was at practice [last] Tuesday. Had excellent practices Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. And you saw what he did on Saturday."

It wasn't just that Williams rushed for 179 yards and a touchdown on 34 carries in a gritty, rain-soaked 19-14 win at Oregon State after just a week of practice. It was that he looked reborn, like the darting, lizard-quick player he was at the end of the 2015 season when Booker was injured.

The 23-year-old senior who'd felt that he was "in the way" to start the season was clearly "all-in" for a nationally ranked team with aspirations for the Pac-12's South Division title and perhaps more.

“I wasn’t expecting the call," Williams said. "It came as kind of a surprise. I’m a Ute at the end of the day, so when they called there wasn’t that much hesitation to come be their running back once again.”

Said Whittingham, "That was beyond our expectations for his first game back... It was a very impressive outing for him."

The question now is what's next? The No. 19 Utes visit UCLA on Saturday and the initial euphoria of the crowd roar and the return to a sport he thought was gone forever will yield again to the demanding grind.

When asked about the fumbling issues, Williams demurred with a "we'll see" and added that he's continuing to work on his ball security.

The reuniting of individual and team, the redemption, the feel-good story will fade to the background now as the nuts-and-bolts of production and winning again move to the foreground. There are no guarantees Williams remains the featured ball carrier if other running backs return to health.

While the situation might feel precarious from many angles, Williams said he's made a final call to be "All In."

“I’m going to stick it out with my team," Williams said. "Hopefully we’re going to win the South and the Pac-12 championships and get a good bowl appearance.”