Booger McFarland marvels at Alabama WR Ryan Williams' debut performance

Week 1 of college football means a lot of big-time freshmen finally get on the field after months, if not years, of anticipation. The spotlight was certainly in Tuscaloosa on Saturday against Western Kentucky, with Alabama‘s Ryan Williams making his debut. After once decommitting after Nick Saban‘s retirement, Williams wound up signing with the Crimson Tide after being one of the country’s best players.

In fact, Williams probably should not even be playing at Bryant-Denny Stadium right now. He reclassified and finished up high school in three years to get to college football. Williams has not shown his young age at all, having an impressive night, and catching the attention of ESPN’s Booger McFarland.

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“Ryan Williams Alabama wr is supposed to be in high school,” McFarland said via X. “Reclassified and at 17 years old has 2 rec 140 and 2 tds in the 1st half. My God”

Williams played high school football at Saraland (AL) High School, where he was a Five-Star Plus+ prospect. He was the No. 5 overall recruit in the 2024 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Ranking, a weighted average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.

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When Saban announced his retirement, Williams decided to reopen his recruitment. Auburn was viewed as the biggest competitor, shaping up to be an in-state battle for the wide receiver. But once Williams made a visit to Alabama with Kalen DeBoer running the program, he hopped back in the Bama boat.

“There was so much thrown at him,” DeBoer said on Williams via AL.com in May. “New head coach, new coordinator, new position coach. And when I hear him talk about what it is within our program that he really enjoyed and is excited about, he retained so much of that information.

“Which leads you to believe this was an important decision for him that he was been really thorough, really thoughtful, and I just can’t wait to get him in there with our guys. Because that attention to detail is something that you can’t take for granted.”

Alabama is confident in what they have in the wide receiver room, likely having a larger rotation than what we saw under the previous staff. It’s early for Williams but thus far, nobody in the room has been more impressive.