Alabama wide receiver Ryan Williams announced his arrival to college football with a pair of massive receptions against Western Kentucky on Saturday. An astonishing realization about his birthday puts the five-star wide receiver’s age in perspective and will make you feel old.
He has a very bright future ahead!
Williams, a consensus top-10 prospect in the recruiting Class of 2024, reclassified from the Class of 2025. The Saraland, Alabama-native should technically be a senior in high school. Instead, he arrived to campus in Tuscaloosa over the summer and enrolled as a freshman in college.
His youth clearly does not matter. Williams caught two passes in his debut for the Crimson Tide for 139 yards. Both of his receptions went for touchdowns. Casual.
Needless to say, the 6-foot-0, 175-pound wide receiver had no issues adjusting to a higher level of competition. He is going to be in the end zone a lot over the next four (maybe five?) years.
The Hilltoppers are on the upper end when it comes to ‘group of six’ programs and they didn’t have an answer. Imagine what Ryan Williams will be able to do after getting on a college strength training program for more than a few weeks.
While the statistical numbers and on-field performance were impressive, his best highlight of the day was in pregame. Williams made a slick one-handed catch without gloves in the rain and made it look so casual like.
Should be in HS btw. pic.twitter.com/utwp6maSfb
— Josh Batchelor (@josh__batchelor) August 31, 2024
It goes without saying that the 17-year-old is going to thrive in head coach Kalen DeBoer’s pass-heavy system. However, it was Nick Saban who recruited him — even though he wasn’t alive when the greatest head coach of all-time was formally introduced at Alabama.
Ryan Williams was born on Feb. 9, 2007. Saban’s first-ever press conference in Tuscaloosa was held on Jan. 4, 2007. That’s crazy! An entire era has passed.