The Alabama Crimson Tide clearly already have a very talented freshman wide receiver on the roster in Ryan Williams.
Not only is Williams just a freshman and has caught three touchdowns in the first two games of the season, he is only 17-years old after skipping his senior year of high school and choosing to enroll early in Tuscaloosa following two of the best seasons in Alabama high school football history for Saraland.
Williams became the first sophomore ever in Alabama to be named Mr. Football in 2022 and followed it up the next year by becoming the first-ever two-time winner of prestigious award.
Williams’ high school coach Jeff Kelly offered extremely high praise for the young wide receiver during an appearance with 105.5 WNSP in Mobile.
“Ryan is an amazing young man, he’s a great player, he’s explosive, he is gonna play football for a long time,” Kelly said. “He’s handling everything really well, there’s probably a lot of growth that he is gonna continue. This week will be a new challenge and a different level of competition that he plays this week…everything that has come his way, he’s handled it the right way, he’s handled competition the right way.”
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Kelly went on to say how he is most impressed with how Williams is handling his early success as such a young man.
“Going into a locker room like that at Alabama and having the success that he’s had early both on the field and all the fanfare off the field, that’s a challenge for a freshman, take the 17-year old part out of it. That’s a challenge for any freshman,” he said. “The people that really don’t know Ryan, they don’t understand how extremely competitive he’s wired. It’s not normal to have the type of drive and work ethic and expectations and all those things that he puts on himself.”
It’s safe to say that Alabama has a very special player both on the playing field and on the practice field in Ryan Williams.
Michael Brauner is a Senior Sports Analyst and Contributing Writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @MBraunerWNSP and hear him every weekday morning from 6 to 9 a.m. on “The Opening Kickoff” on WNSP-FM 105.5, available free online.
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